Service Advisory for Aluminum Tanks and Electrolysis

[Leslie Judson Jones]

During our recent reengineering of a truckmount with an aluminum recovery tank, it came to our attention that the tank has developed a substantial amount of electrolysis corrosion. This tank is a little over 4 years old. If you have an aluminum recovery tank, this is an issue you need to address.

Our suggestion is to scrape the electrolysis off the inside of the tank and treat the inside of the tank with a mild acid like an aluminum wheel brightener from an auto parts store. We also recommend that you attach about 6 anodes inside the recovery tank. I will post a link to a place where you can purchase them.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... assNum=422

This is a very serious issue that needs to be addressed if you have an aluminum recovery tank. Electrolysis will pit through an aluminum recovery tank about 4 times faster than if the tank was just made out of carbon steel and rusting.















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[Bjorn]

you would think with such hi tech engineers designing those spaghetti machines some bright bulb would have thought of putting an magnesium anode in the tank

 

[MerCrewser]

This must have been caused by something electrical. Maybe an electric pumpout wasnt wired correctly? My tank is 12 years old and is not this bad. I agree that there are much better choices than aluminum.....

 

[GeneMiller]

never even cleaned my tank. looks new inside still. must be all the tile i clean or the special aluminum blueline uses.

gene

 

[Mikey P]

or the special aluminum blueline uses.

gene

lol!


that is a Blueline Thermal wave in the pics.

 

[Able 1]

My aluminum doesn't look that bad but I do see it starting to happen... I really don't GAS once it goes I'm getting a mytee waste tank. Like hell I'm going to go in there and scrape that shit off though. :shock: Why they use aluminum tanks after all these years of seeing what happens to them....

 

[The Great Oz]

Use strong alkalines and don't clean your tank much and it will look like that. Just like the rusty frame with detergent residue all over it, I wonder about the operator's care and concern of this unit.

 

[Leslie Judson Jones]

Use strong alkalines and don't clean your tank much and it will look like that. Just like the rusty frame with detergent residue all over it, I wonder about the operator's care and concern of this unit.

Bryan,


You bring up a good point about alkalis. He was using an extraction chemical that was recommended for that purpose by one of our leading chemical manufacturers. This just goes to show you, just because a company is one of our leading manufacturers of chemicals, doesn’t necessarily mean they have all the answers. We suggest using Judson soap-free O2 Neutral Rinse to prevent this from happening. We also suggest installing the anodes for further protection.

As mentioned earlier, we are reengineering this truckmount. One of the modifications we are making is that this unit has covers that prevent the operator from seeing inside the unit. This cover also creates a build-up of heat inside the truckmount. We are modifying these covers with expanded screens to improve visibility and ventilation. I agree it looks like moisture has gotten in that area. My point is that once the moisture got there, the current going through these grounds accelerated the corrosion. We still suggest adding a large ground wire from the grounding point on the frame to the negative on the battery to reduce the current flow through the frame.

 

[steve g]

where is the best place to install the anodes?? my prochem unit has a tank that is alot worse than that. it is 8 years old but has big time pitting.

 

[Art Kelley]

My aluminum doesn't look that bad but I do see it starting to happen... I really don't GAS once it goes I'm getting a mytee waste tank. Like hell I'm going to go in there and scrape that shit off though. :shock: Why they use aluminum tanks after all these years of seeing what happens to them....

My '87 WM with 150 gallon aluminum waste tank has never had a problem and I don't think it ever will. It only gets occasional use now (when my 03 WM with aluminum tanks goes in for for service) but with over 20000 hours on it, I think it was a good material to use.

 

[Ron Werner]

I tried putting those anodes in my old truck. Challenge is after a while they break down and then fragment. Can you not just throw a couple blocks of zinc in the tank?

 

[Able 1]

http://www.pressurewashersdirect.com/ac ... ozzles.php[/url]

 

[Bob Foster]

That's how they clean the inside of dairy tanker trucks.

 

[Ron Werner]

That wouldn't be that hard to rig up, though just use a lot of 80 or 110degree jets on a line inside your tank, or just use a lot of bulkhead fittings and run the pressure line on the outside. Run the pressure up to 1000+psi and rinse out the tank. Hard to reach everywhere with stationary jets

 

[Nate The Great]

http://www.pressurewashersdirect.com/ac ... ozzles.php[/url][/quote:3amaciiq]


Same thing I've been thinking for awhile. A local cleaner made something that sits a few inches off the ground and sprayers water everyday after work. I haven't had the time to check it out yet. I thought about mounting a spinner type to the inside of the lid.

 

[Ron Werner]

Same thing I've been thinking for awhile. A local cleaner made something that sits a few inches off the ground and sprayers water everyday after work. I haven't had the time to check it out yet. I thought about mounting a spinner type to the inside of the lid.

Of course, a spinner. Mount that on the top with a bulkhead fitting, one within each baffled area, all the plumbing stays on the outside of the tank. Put a fairly big jet on it and it would wash down the inside of a tank pretty nicely.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

A lawn sprinkler head...

 

[Nate The Great]

A lawn sprinkler head...

Pretty simple Lee. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Ron Werner]

would do a nice job at 1000psi, be cool to watch! Like the Belagio pond

 

[postaldave]

What I did to my Tank was ordering a few Magnesium metal wheels. from a boat supply store. then purchased a aluminum door strip, then screwed the aluminum strip to the Magnesium wheel ,placed it inside the tank ,touching the bottom of the tank,sitting in about an inch of water, then bolted it to the side of the tank. All Fixed now ,no more corrosion. Note Can't use Zink plates (like for a boat, won't work for fresh water), Must Be Magnesium.
Good Luck On It. Postaldave.