make small hot tank
 

my wife was thrown out a heated pan. so i will make small hot tank, but what chemical sould i use in it

Re: make small hot tank
 

Moonshine !

Re: make small hot tank
 

RedDevil Lye, drain opener. Very caustic so be careful, pore in slowly, it makes its own heat. Once the heat is gone, put a lid on it to seal for next use. Works better if heated. USE RUBBER GLOVES. Will clean and remove anything, rust, paint, grease. There are many different chemicals to use, depending on what you want done. I have large molasses, muriatic acid and electric tanks. Next is the stainless steel tank for the lye. Been Keeping an eye out at the recycle yard. Unbelievable what commercial restaurants throw away, I've found many large stainless buckets, pans for parts washing.
Mike

Re: make small hot tank
 

Heat makes chemistry work harder. Heated tanks are great. Buy your lye from a supplier as opposed to using drain cleaner. Not needing to be listed, don't know why, some lye based drain cleaners use heavy metals for a bigger kick, and are short lived. With a temp of 90+ try the Sam's club HD degreaser. Cheap and concentrated. If you plan on cleaning aluminum, lye and certain degreasers are a no-no.

Re: make small hot tank
 

Coleydog got it with the Red Devil lye ….cheap and effective.
I've been using it for years since machine shops have been getting rid of their old caustic hot tanks.
I use a large heavy duty 23 gallon storage tub with a bung installed on the side with an old oil pan heater element I had laying around in it .
I try to keep the temp around 175-80 and I have a tube thru the cover that I can hook up to the air hose to aerate the mix and keep it cleaning.
What ever you use for a container, if it's plastic make sure it will crush and deform , not crack .

Re: make small hot tank
 

Lye to water ratio?

Re: make small hot tank
 

Call a chemical supplier. Guessing on a concentration is not good. You are talking some real chemistry here. Over concentrated solutions are a pain to remove. Its not just a water rinse. You can force caustic salts into the pore of the metal and it will leach out over time, like into your cooling system or oil. Knowing the capacity of your tank and what you want to accomplish, i.e. degreasing, will allow the supplier to give you the concentrations and other tips. Depending upon how much you have in the tank, you may want a lid and an exhaust fan The warm mist travels thru the shop and contaminates everything Not being an alarmist, but good knowledge and safety goes a long way. Its simple when you get to know the works.SAFETY FIRST!

Re: make small hot tank
 

All my tanks are outside, covered. My shop is to valuable to lose.
Get online, good help from people on how to set up any type you need, a lot of do's and dont's

Re: make small hot tank
 

A good safe biodegradable cleaner is Oakite brand cleaners. We had a hot tank with their cleaner years ago. When we needed to change to fresh chemical we would mix it with soda ash to render it inert. Here is a list I found online of what they offer.



https://www.chemetallna.com/products...eralmaint.aspx

Re: make small hot tank
 

The oakite products that I have used were all alkaline. I don't think soda ash, also an alkaline, would neutralize them. All I have ever used is the old powder. Probably have something new I'm not aware of.
Pete

Re: make small hot tank
 

Just for the home shop and the inconvenience of dragging everything but the 50 year old seriously gooood up stuff to the machine shop --- I cut a house heating oil drum in two and shortened the legs , bolted two pieces of angle iron to the back, cut a piece of 3/4 " plywood for a cover and hinged it to the angle iron. Placed an old fireplace grate in the bottom , drilled a bunch of holes in a piece of 3/8 brake line with a valve and laid it under the grate for aeration . welded a bung in each end and screwed in two heating elements and the thermostat set at 180 from an old hot water heater. Used nothing but ( Tide ) . Took a little longer but smelled great. ------ Put it outside on the concrete pad and used the engine hoist for blocks. As they say " it worked for me"

Re: make small hot tank
 

with tide my parts are rusting in the tank

Re: make small hot tank
 

Lye will keep the rust away on a steel tank.
Two furniture repair guys, different size tanks. One, he's still around, has a 4 X 8 X 18" steel tank, open top, 35 years and no rust. The other had a 4 X 6 X 5 with a lid, not sure where that went. I like the fuel oil tank previously mention, I'm looking for one now.