What is wrong with my Evapo Rust

dalmatiangirl61 · Jun 15, 2021

Anyone seen this before? Not sure what is wrong with my evapo rust, it is producing a slime. Texture wise it feels like grease, but everything gets degreased before going in. I use purple stuff to degrease, maybe I did not rinse well enough and it reacted with the E-R? Other thought is biological growth? Last 2 batches in the bucket showed small amounts of this, this piece was in for 3 days but the E-R is still only 65F.

john.k · Jun 15, 2021

More likely its an organic iron complex.....put a bit of HCl in a sample ,and leave it overnight....very likely you will have orange rust.

Sudsey · Jun 15, 2021

dalmatiangirl61 said:
Anyone seen this before? Not sure what is wrong with my evapo rust, it is producing a slime. Texture wise it feels like grease, but everything gets degreased before going in. I use purple stuff to degrease, maybe I did not rinse well enough and it reacted with the E-R? Other thought is biological growth? Last 2 batches in the bucket showed small amounts of this, this piece was in for 3 days but the E-R is still only 65F.

Water in it.

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dalmatiangirl61 · Jun 15, 2021

john.k said:
More likely its an organic iron complex.....put a bit of HCl in a sample ,and leave it overnight....very likely you will have orange rust.

I did not save any to test, thinking I will filter it, then maybe see about aerating it, for the most part its kept in a sealed 5gal bucket, although I have forgotten to close it a few times too.

dalmatiangirl61 · Jun 15, 2021

Sudsey said:
Water in it.

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Care to expound, 9 letters does not say much. Is water not a constituent of E-R? I did add some water to it a few weeks ago so as to completely submerge a part.

john.k · Jun 15, 2021

On ebay a lot of sellers have "cheap"Evaporust.....catch being it diluted 4/1 .The full strength solution here is $100 a gallon.....so I wont be buying any,although my brother says its good stuff.......Im quite happy with electrolysis ,net cost of solution is minimal.

dalmatiangirl61 · Jun 15, 2021

john.k said:
On ebay a lot of sellers have "cheap"Evaporust.....catch being it diluted 4/1 .The full strength solution here is $100 a gallon.....so I wont be buying any,although my brother says its good stuff.......Im quite happy with electrolysis ,net cost of solution is minimal.

At $100 per gallon I don't blame you for not using it, its $16 a gallon on Amazon with free delivery, so that's what I use. I looked into electrolysis, 2 things that turned me off were the line of sight issue for electrodes, and the off gassing, I work indoors, and if I put it outside it would freeze solid in winter. Looked at molasses too, no hydrogen/oxygen gas, but a funky smell which would lead to freezing

.

Sudsey
Everything I'm seeing says E-R is water based, and you can add water to deal with evaporation. I close bucket most of the time, but sometimes forget, and everything evaporates here. I added about a quart of water to 4 gallons of E-R, care to fill us in?

Sudsey · Jun 16, 2021

dalmatiangirl61 said:
At $100 per gallon I don't blame you for not using it, its $16 a gallon on Amazon with free delivery, so that's what I use. I looked into electrolysis, 2 things that turned me off were the line of sight issue for electrodes, and the off gassing, I work indoors, and if I put it outside it would freeze solid in winter. Looked at molasses too, no hydrogen/oxygen gas, but a funky smell which would lead to freezing.

Sudsey
Everything I'm seeing says E-R is water based, and you can add water to deal with evaporation. I close bucket most of the time, but sometimes forget, and everything evaporates here. I added about a quart of water to 4 gallons of E-R, care to fill us in?

I didn’t know it was water based

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reggie_obe · Jun 16, 2021

Are you using it outside in Sunlight or indoors? Looks like an Iron rich Algae.
What is the issue with electrolysis electrodes? Use graphite EDM scrap, solution stays clear, no red residue.

dalmatiangirl61 · Jun 16, 2021

E-R bucket stays inside, no natural light gets to it, temp wise it was in the low 60's all winter, with yesterdays blazing heat indoor temps are getting closer to 70 now.

My understanding of electrolysis is it works line of sight only, so on something like a gas tank it will clean outside, but to do inside would require dangling an electrode inside the tank. Not that I fool with rusty gas tanks, but same applies to anything with a complex shape. I did setup an electrolysis bucket a few years ago for one part, got lots of red foamy residue, and noted the off gassing, it was in a drafty warehouse so not a problem, this place is better sealed and I don't need a cloud of Brown's gas forming waiting for an ignition source.

Meant to do something with filtering the E-R last night, got sidelined by the local tweeker/junkie stealing my favorite brass hammer off the front porch, got it back about midnite

JST · Jun 16, 2021

If the piece needs 3 days, that seems as if it is depleted of whatever the magic ingredient is. "used up".

For me it always works overnight at worst.

dalmatiangirl61 · Jun 16, 2021

Sometimes I get a little sidetracked, too many projects not enough time. I usually try to keep it to 24hrs, bucket sits on cold concrete floor, seems to work slower when cold. Bucket has been in continuous use since December or so, still seems to be doing its thing, the slime situation just started happening in the past week.

PeteM · Jun 16, 2021

Sounds like it's depleted (in use since December, taking days to work).

Also might well be that some iron-loving bacterial slime decided to take up residence: Iron-oxidizing bacteria - Wikipedia

jermfab · Jun 17, 2021

My favorite part of the desert was not worrying about rust… or stuff to eliminate it…

and swamp coolers.

Gawd I wish swamp coolers worked out here like they do in Vegas.

Water doesn’t evaporate and stuff rusts quick.

Ditch the stuff what ain’t working and hope the next round does better.

I’d KILL for some dry heat right about now and it’s not even summer yet.

Be safe

Jeremy

tdmidget · Jun 17, 2021

jermfab said:
My favorite part of the desert was not worrying about rust… or stuff to eliminate it…

and swamp coolers.

Gawd I wish swamp coolers worked out here like they do in Vegas.

Water doesn’t evaporate and stuff rusts quick.

Ditch the stuff what ain’t working and hope the next round does better.

I’d KILL for some dry heat right about now and it’s not even summer yet.

Be safe

Jeremy

Come on out. 112 F last 5 days. you'll love it. Or not.

reggie_obe · Jun 17, 2021

dalmatiangirl61 said:
My understanding of electrolysis is it works line of sight only, so on something like a gas tank it will clean outside, but to do inside would require dangling an electrode inside the tank. Not that I fool with rusty gas tanks, but same applies to anything with a complex shape. I did setup an electrolysis bucket a few years ago for one part, got lots of red foamy residue, and noted the off gassing, it was in a drafty warehouse so not a problem, this place is better sealed and I don't need a cloud of Brown's gas forming waiting for an ignition source.

Meant to do something with filtering the E-R last night, got sidelined by the local tweeker/junkie stealing my favorite brass hammer off the front porch, got it back about midnite

Wrap a graphite piece of any shape in fiberglass screening, derust a cavity or complex shape. Electrolytic tank is to some extent, self heating from the current flow, stays liquid even below 32F.

jermfab · Jun 17, 2021

Low to Mid-90’s here with 10,000% humidity.

Hard to tell if you’re walking or swimming some times.

Jeremy

john.k · Jun 17, 2021

Dont knock the little iron oxidizing bacteria......they put us on easy street out here.

What is wrong with my Evapo Rust

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