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OT- Hot Tank Solution

Simple hot tanks usually run straight lye.

You buy it in powder form from your local chemical supplier in 30 gallon kegs.

You will dissolve a lot of powdered lye into 200 degree water to make it "hot" and strip ferrous stuff quickly.

If you plan to put non-ferrous stuff in there then a hot tank is the wrong tool. Aluminum formulations don't like just soaking overnight. They need pressurized spraying to work because, well, they lack lye.
 
TSP (trisodium orthoophosphate) is very good as a saturated solution, either hot or cold. Removes paint and aluminium doesn't dissolve instantly although it does etch and pit in time.
Also, washing soda as a hot solution.

Both will remove paint and grease and are much safer than lye.
 
Both will remove paint and grease and are much safer than lye.

What is unsafe about lye? Yeah, it will dissolve your skin if you leave it there long enough, but so will Coca Cola. I've been up to my armpits in the stuff and got high concentrations in my eyes before. Really wasn't that bad. Lye is pretty safe compared to most other chemicals IMO.
 
What is unsafe about lye? Yeah, it will dissolve your skin if you leave it there long enough, but so will Coca Cola. I've been up to my armpits in the stuff and got high concentrations in my eyes before. Really wasn't that bad. Lye is pretty safe compared to most other chemicals IMO.

I count you a brighter guy than average.. but "What is unsafe about lye?" Must never have been exposed to serious STRONG Lye, then?

Mind, our outfit used it by the CONEX container, 100%, "Anhydrous" technical grade flake, mixed with "just enough" water to fast-strip CO2 molecules from high pressure air, so about as concentrated a slurry as could be mixed and still be pumped @ 5 HP.

Side-effects do tend to bias a body. Dissolve rubber sandals, combat boots, skin, muscle, dead animals etc. before you know it has even started.

And you do have me wondering just what it is you consider "most other chemicals"?

:)
 
I count you a brighter guy than average.. but "What is unsafe about lye?" Must never have been exposed to serious STRONG Lye, then?

Mind, our outfit used it by the CONEX container, 100%, "Anhydrous" technical grade flake, mixed with "just enough" water to fast-strip CO2 molecules from high pressure air, so about as concentrated a slurry as could be mixed and still be pumped @ 5 HP.

Side-effects do tend to bias a body. Dissolve rubber sandals, combat boots, skin, muscle, dead animals etc. before you know it has even started.

And you do have me wondering just what it is you consider "most other chemicals"?

:)

I have a 30 gallon drum of pure sodium hydroxide I bought from MT Hood chemical for my hot tank. I don't think it gets anymore pure than 100% pure.

One of my hot tanks came with the ZEP product mentioned above. I gave it away. Didn't work anywhere near as well as pure lye I learned to use in the race engine shop I spent several of my late teen years in.

It doesn't immediately burn you. It dissolves your skin and you can tell it's happening. I've boiled an arm to grab something important out of a 200 degree tank at saturation with lye, washed my arm off and it was fine.

In a dark, dry cabinet I have a gallon of Hydroflouric I keep next the DDT.
 
Pure isn't the issue. It's "concentration".

2 tsp per gallon - fine... Mix 30lb with 5 gallons of water and stick you arm in that. See what's left after 30 seconds.

How much per gallon are you putting in?
 
Pure isn't the issue. It's "concentration".

2 tsp per gallon - fine... Mix 30lb with 5 gallons of water and stick you arm in that. See what's left after 30 seconds.

How much per gallon are you putting in?

20 gal powder sodium hydroxide to 150 gallons water is about where that was at. I would call that a pretty heavy concentration. You can watch the powdered lye reach a point where it doesn't readily "go into" the water anymore. I'm not chemist, but that point is where I was always told you are at max cleaning potential. Seemed pretty safe to me and cleaned parts well. Much rather play with lye than nasty acids or chlorinated stuff.

My experience has been temperature had the greatest effect on cleaning action past a certain point of concentration. over 150 degrees was important. almost boiling was amazing, but the electric bill was staggering and I found a balance between temp and cost was required.
 
What is unsafe about lye? Yeah, it will dissolve your skin if you leave it there long enough, but so will Coca Cola. I've been up to my armpits in the stuff and got high concentrations in my eyes before. Really wasn't that bad. Lye is pretty safe compared to most other chemicals IMO.

Lead paint argument all over again, but it comes down to basic risk management and a little chemistry. Guys who aren't lucky with lye in the eyes don't see so well; it's generally regarded as fairly unforgiving stuff.
Risk/benefit isn't so good either, as lye reacts with carbon dioxide in the air to form sodium carbonate; like all reactions, it's faster at temperature. One may as well start with sodium carbonate and avoid the real risks involved in mixing lye with water.

Essentially, there are chemicals that as as effective that carry lesser risks. Some of them also have a longer effective working life.
If you are confident handling chemicals, that's good-your informed choice- but for those that aren't, lye can be bad news fast.
 
The strongest caustic solution (lye) you can buy is 50% and it is a pain to deal with because it freezes at 68F. We use caustic in the waste treatment business because nearly every waste stream has low pH and we need to bring it up. I have had a drum of 25% or 50% caustic on every job I've done in the past 15 years. It is very nasty if you get it on your skin it burns like hell, and get it in your eye you will be blind. 25% caustic doesn't freeze down to about 0F so is much easier to work with.
 
Well visiting an old thread, and am wondering if anyone has any real experience with the ZEP hot tank solution. The company I have been buying from for thirty five years- Mt. Hood Chemical Corp has disappeared. I bought several of their products including STRIP their hot tank solution. Long ago, I did make my own using sodium hydroxide, and TSP. Worked well. These days you go on the internet searching for hot tank solution and the top company is in England and the second company is in Canada, Has the US completely gone off the rails, not wanting to sell chemicals? I used powdered sodium hydroxide, not any sort of liquid. So I'd say it was 100%. Someone having caustic FREEZE, must be buying a liquid.
 
If you want a paste/gel, dissolve 1lb of lye into 5 gallons of water, then stir in corn starch till you get consistency you want (1 to 2 lbs). You can make it thick enough that it will stick to a vertical surface. It works best hot (freshly made).
 
The strongest caustic solution (lye) you can buy is 50% and it is a pain to deal with because it freezes at 68F. We use caustic in the waste treatment business because nearly every waste stream has low pH and we need to bring it up. I have had a drum of 25% or 50% caustic on every job I've done in the past 15 years. It is very nasty if you get it on your skin it burns like hell, and get it in your eye you will be blind. 25% caustic doesn't freeze down to about 0F so is much easier to work with.

Do you know what this "-" means? As in "minus 68 degrees"? Duhhhhhhhhhh
D
 








 
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