Does electrolysis ever stop bubbling?

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DougH

Member
So, I've got a cornbread skillet in the tank now, and it's the first piece I've put through the tank that was in relatively decent condition to start with. It had some rust and seasoning on it, but nothing too heavy to work through. I let it go a couple days, and took it out and gave it a scrub, and it looked really, really clean. But, I decided as an experiment to put it back in, and that was 2 days ago. Before I left for work this morning, it was still happily bubbling away.

I'm mostly curious, does the electrolysis process eventually "finish"? I cleaned the tank and started over before this skillet because one piece I did had paint on it, and that water was completely fouled from that. So, with this one, I can see it somewhat through the water, and it's still bubbling pretty uniformly from all over the piece.
 
It'll stop when the sacrificial anode is consumed (or too corroded to conduct current), otherwise I don't think so.
 
OK, so correct me if I'm wrong. The hydrogen and oxygen split is caused by electricity flowing through the electrolyte solution regardless of whether there is rust present or not.

I had thought rust was part of the equation, but it sounds like I was wrong on that point.
 
Now you got it :tongue:

Rust has nothing to do with the actual electrolysis. Although if your solution isn't basic enough to neutralize the local acidity at the anode and it is ferrous, it will rust. That is why I use a fairly strong (2.5%) lye solution instead of sodium carbonate for my e-tank electrolyte. No matter how much Na2CO3 you dissolve in H2O you can't raise the ph above 10. My electrolyte runs at about a ph of 12.5. But I digress.
 
I have my e tank running100% since I set it up one skillet a day,I haven't caunt how many skillets have gone thru e tank,iI think 60,which 10 of them were bad,rusted like some body pulled from sea before I get them.I haven't change water,the heat from electrolysis and sun consumes water,rain fill it back up,and it is running perfect,rust,cement,paint,carbon,and any thing you can imagine.:whip2:
 
Mine was still working fine with the fouled paint in the water, I just didn't like it. The paint was coating every piece, so it was a big mess whenever I pulled it out. That's the only reason I started over with the tank.
 
ShawnE said:
That is why I use a fairly strong (2.5%) lye solution instead of sodium carbonate for my e-tank electrolyte.
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Is there a FAQ on this method? You're using Lye instead of the Arm and Hammer to raise your pH to 12. I'm using graphite Anodes. Not sure if that matters, but I'd go Lye if that's better.
 
Lye helps protect your anodes from rust if you're using metal anodes. With graphite, you don't have that concern. Now, there are probably other benefits to quicker cleaning by combining the two most common cleaning methods into one, but I don't know if anyone has compared them side by side...would be hard to have a definitive answer.
 
DougH said:
Lye helps protect your anodes from rust if you're using metal anodes. With graphite, you don't have that concern. Now, there are probably other benefits to quicker cleaning by combining the two most common cleaning methods into one, but I don't know if anyone has compared them side by side...would be hard to have a definitive answer.
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I have compared them, and that is why I'm doing it this way. I started by doing it the way that has been suggested on this site. I then worked up a process for myself that just uses Lye at 2.5% (the same that most people use in their lye tank) as the electrolyte i n my e-tank. This has a few advantages for me. 1) I can take a piece as found and get it ready for seasoning in 3 - 8 Hrs start to finish. 2) I only need one tank. 3) I can use mild steel anodes which are cheap, locally available, and easily formed to whatever shape I need.

The downside is that the e-tank gets as dirty as most peoples lye tank, but since I have only one tank using this process, that's not a problem. A second problem for some is that since NaOH completely dissociates, the resistance of the tank is very low. I use a constant current supply, but it may be too much of a load for some cheap simple battery chargers used as a power supply.

To each their own, but this is the process that I worked up for myself.
 
ShawnE said:
I have compared them, and that is why I'm doing it this way. I started by doing it the way that has been suggested on this site. I then worked up a process for myself that just uses Lye at 2.5% (the same that most people use in their lye tank) as the electrolyte i n my e-tank. This has a few advantages for me. 1) I can take a piece as found and get it ready for seasoning in 3 - 8 Hrs start to finish. 2) I only need one tank. 3) I can use mild steel anodes which are cheap, locally available, and easily formed to whatever shape I need.

The downside is that the e-tank gets as dirty as most peoples lye tank, but since I have only one tank using this process, that's not a problem. A second problem for some is that since NaOH completely dissociates, the resistance of the tank is very low. I use a constant current supply, but it may be too much of a load for some cheap simple battery chargers used as a power supply.

To each their own, but this is the process that I worked up for myself.
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I guess what I meant by a "definitive answer" is that it would be hard to answer scientifically. As in cleaning equal pieces with equal amounts of rust/crud with the two different methods...that would be challenging. Now, doing what you did and comparing them in a more semi-scientific common sense kind of way, absolutely, I get it.

For me, I like the idea that as soon as I unplug the power supply, nothing else is dangerous. But, it takes my tank a few days for an average piece, as opposed to your few hours.

Please don't take this as a criticism or anything, I don't mean it that way. Just wanted to clarify what I meant from earlier.
 
By "dangerous" do you mean that there is lye in it? If so, how is this any more dangerous than the lye tank that you probably already use. The concentrations are the same.
 
Yeah, that's what I mean, but I currently don't use lye at all...I'm only using electrolysis.

And I know it's not dangerous when respected and handled properly. Just for me, I'm comfortable right now with the process I'm running.
 
DougH said:
Yeah, that's what I mean, but I currently don't use lye at all...I'm only using electrolysis.

And I know it's not dangerous when respected and handled properly. Just for me, I'm comfortable right now with the process I'm running.
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Fair enough.
 
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