Tank Rust

[BassCliff]

Which way? What's the dif?

I found one thing confusing between the two methods of electrolysis cleaning. In one example the positive terminal was connected to the tank and in the other the negative was connected to the tank. One stated that the flow was from positive to negative, the other stated the flow was negative to positive.

If I remember my electronics classes correctly, it is generally considered that electrons flow from negative to positive and current flows from positive to negative.

Obviously, in both cases the tank was cleaned. Is the difference the precipitate or the sacrificial element?

My brain hurts.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[dude608]

think i might try the electric thing. looks very cool.

[neil young]

I found one thing confusing between the two methods of electrolysis cleaning. In one example the positive terminal was connected to the tank and in the other the negative was connected to the tank. One stated that the flow was from positive to negative, the other stated the flow was negative to positive.

If I remember my electronics classes correctly, it is generally considered that electrons flow from negative to positive and current flows from positive to negative.

Obviously, in both cases the tank was cleaned. Is the difference the precipitate or the sacrificial element?

My brain hurts.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Good question....i'm not sure which would be considered the sacrifcial anode.but i will try to find out.basicaly it should be the same principal as the sacrificial anode that is added by the manufacturer to the hot water tanks in most residential homes to make them last longer.

[Nessism]

Spent another huge chunk of my weekend struggling with my failed POR tank lining job. Would have just junked the tank after the failed lining attempt but the tank is freshly painted and looks great – thus I don’t want to give up on it.

Bought another POR tank kit, but this time with the POR-Strip product included. The stripper softens the liner material but does not dissolve it. Went through two sessions with the stripper and managed to fish out lots of flaking sealer material through the petcock hole. Went to the degreaser which yet again produced loosened sealer chips. I’ve got the phosphate wash in the tank now and when I shake it around it sounds like there is yet more sealer chips coming loose. Frankly, I’m not sure I can get all the loose sealer off from inside which is a major concern to me – the new chips are coming from around the filler neck area I think. Went and ordered some of that Caswell epoxy sealer material stuff because I think it will do a better job of encasing any loose sealer than may remain in the tank after everything is all said and done compared to the POR sealer which is relatively thin.

[t3rmin]

Spent another huge chunk of my weekend struggling with my failed POR tank lining job. Would have just junked the tank after the failed lining attempt but the tank is freshly painted and looks great – thus I don’t want to give up on it.

Bought another POR tank kit, but this time with the POR-Strip product included. The stripper softens the liner material but does not dissolve it. Went through two sessions with the stripper and managed to fish out lots of flaking sealer material through the petcock hole. Went to the degreaser which yet again produced loosened sealer chips. I’ve got the phosphate wash in the tank now and when I shake it around it sounds like there is yet more sealer chips coming loose. Frankly, I’m not sure I can get all the loose sealer off from inside which is a major concern to me – the new chips are coming from around the filler neck area I think. Went and ordered some of that Caswell epoxy sealer material stuff because I think it will do a better job of encasing any loose sealer than may remain in the tank after everything is all said and done compared to the POR sealer which is relatively thin.

What a mess! Good luck.

[spyug]

I think there must be a couple of threads on this subject since I replied to another this morning.

Anyway Nessism I think you will find the Caswell product more user friendly for your application. It will grab the rusty surface and encapsulate any loose bits.

I did mine last week and have been painting the "tins" over this past weekend. The bike will now be gloss black.

I found the sealer job easy as the prep is negligble. a pint of acetone and a handful of drywall screws. Swish about to knock off loose flakes. Pour everything out. Dry with compressed air. Vacuum out larger flakes and use a magnet on coathanger wire to grab tiny rust dust. Prepare sealer and pour in. Plug holes and swish about to coat.

Pay attention to the mixture ratio (3 parts base to 2 parts hardner), mix well and use only 1/2 of the kit. As detailed in the other thread I used it all and the excess hardened in a lump in the area my sender unit was supposed to go. Plain stupidity on my part.

I found that it stays liquid for quite awhile ( maybe 90 minutes or so) at 70F then suddenly kicks and goes hard in a flash. Keep the tank in motion for as long as you can to get coverage all over.

The only real downside to it is that it is colourless and as such is hard to see if you've covered an area. A colour would give you a better sense of this for what little you can see.

Let us know how this works for you.

Cheers,
spyug

[byrdman76]

Called and talked to Por-15 today about my tank where the coating set-up before it covered the entire inside surface of the tank. The guy said that after the paint kicks off, nothing will stick to it thus I can’t just dump in another can since it will peal off. Also, if you don’t get full coverage, the void area will create an edge and gas in the tank can work its way underneath. In my case, I think the coating is going to have to be stripped back out and the entire process started again – major bummer. He said the coating may have kicked early because there was high humidity (it was drizzling that day) or if I left some moisture inside the tank (which shouldn’t have been the case since I baked the tank for 1 hour at 140 degrees F to dry it out). At any rate, major caution to those people considering doing a job like this – the conditions need to be perfect. If you don’t get the entire surface covered, the paint can peal off. If your tank is large, 5 gal or more, I’d recommend getting a full pint of sealer – you can always drain out the excess.

Man that sucks - 8oz is a bit slim. I was very concerned when I received my kit as well. I was able to get mine done, but I was working the heck out of my tank to get it covered. For anyone else that is thinking about the POR-15 kit, I would talk to the reps and see if they will double the sealant and charge you a bit more for the kit. Its better than running short and having to do it twice, and cost twice as much. After hearing that additional sealant cant be added later, I will surely keep this in mind when I do the next one.

Thanks for the heads up.

[Nessism]

Sorry to bump this thread back up since we seem to have two different gas tank rust threads going right now...

Drained the phosphate solution out of my tank after a day and a half. Most of the rust is gone and the surface of the tank has a white chalky coating. Unfortunately, using a flashlight to look inside the tank shows that there is yet more loose pieces of the old POR sealer so I'm going to have to go another round with the paint stripper. The Caswell website indicates that a paint stripper with Methylene Chloride is what is needed to strip out the POR/Kreem coating. Going to check the local shops for some of this type stripper since I don't feel like ordering anymore from POR.

Failure is not an option.](*,)

[TheCafeKid]

Sorry to bump this thread back up since we seem to have two different gas tank rust threads going right now...

Drained the phosphate solution out of my tank after a day and a half. Most of the rust is gone and the surface of the tank has a white chalky coating. Unfortunately, using a flashlight to look inside the tank shows that there is yet more loose pieces of the old POR sealer so I'm going to have to have yet another go at the paint remover. The Caswell website indicates that a paint stripper with Methylene Chloride is what is needed to strip out the POR/Kreem coating. Going to check the local shops for some of this type stripper since I don't feel like ordering anymore from POR.

Failure is not an option.](*,)

DO IT MAN!!! i have faith in you Nessim...

[Nessism]

Stayed home with my 8 year-old son today because he was sick. Read some Peanuts comics and one made an impression on me:

Linus says (while reading book), "It says here that we learn by making mistakes".

Charlie Brown (after a long pause...screams), "That makes me the smartest person in the world"!

Well, this tank restoration job has been one "learning experience" after another.

Finally managed to get all the old POR sealer out of the tank after another long session with paint stripper. New concern surfaced though, the phosphate left the metal with a chalky coating that acetone would not remove. The residue was a result of prolonged dwell time with the phosphate trying to get all the rust and old sealer off. Wound up buying a bag of aquarium rocks and more acetone. Swished that stuff around for a while and now the tank is clean. Finally! The Caswell epoxy is coming tomorrow so I'll do the coating when I get home from work. I'm confident that the tank is clean and ready for coating. Can't wait to finish and ride the bike again.