First Shot at E-tank

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DougH

Member
So, I got all my stuff together and started up my e-tank yesterday for the first time. I decided to start with the worst piece I own...though common sense might have been to go with something not quite so bad off to start. But I decided to go big or go home.

Here's what I started with:

http://i.imgur.com/MI70wTR.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/LQveCKI.jpg

Here's after about 8 hours:

http://i.imgur.com/hMyEqDw.jpg

Here's after about 18 hours:

http://i.imgur.com/rgzQbNC.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/PkE818K.jpg

Size marking that was hiding under the rust:

http://i.imgur.com/PoTLUw6.jpg

It's a number 8 and a slightly lighter (not as deeply cast) letter A next to it.

I did leave it running in the tank overnight last night, but I decided not to leave it running while I'm at work today because I'm not sure if there is such a thing as too long in the e-tank. Can CI be damaged if left running in the tank?

Also, as you can see from the pics, it is still making progress, but there is rust still to be removed. When I turned it off this morning, it was still producing a steady pattern of fine bubbles, so it was still working as far as I know. Will it continue to work until the rust is all gone?

For now, I towel dried it and the rest of the way in a low oven before I left for work this morning. I'm planning to put it back in when I get home this evening and see how it goes.
 
Looks like good progress. If you haven't already, hit the rusty spots with a stainless steel scrubber or wire brush to mechanically speed the process along a bit. From the pictures it looks like a good bit of what's left would scrub off.
 
DougH
I have left pieces in the etank for multiple days and no damage was done.

Electro works on a line of sight basis. Since it appears the rust on the inside of the pot is not being removed perhaps you should hang it so that it tilts enough that one of the electrodes can "see" the rust. Alternatively you can try hanging an electrode inside, but not touching, the suspended pot.

Jack
 
JMoss said:
DougH
I have left pieces in the etank for multiple days and no damage was done.

Electro works on a line of sight basis. Since it appears the rust on the inside of the pot is not being removed perhaps you should hang it so that it tilts enough that one of the electrodes can "see" the rust. Alternatively you can try hanging an electrode inside, but not touching, the suspended pot.

Jack
Click to expand...

I do have it hanging in the tank from one of the side "ears", so it is hanging mostly horizontal, but not quite because of balance. It sits at roughly 15 degrees above horizontal, I would say. I have an anode at each end of the tank, so one facing the exterior and one facing the cooking surface. And both anodes are getting current...I checked them independently with my meter.

Now, because it's hanging on it's side, the bottom of the cooking surface would be the furthest point from the anode in my set up.

As long as no one comes along as says "whatever you do, don't leave it in the tank unattended for days!!!" then I'll scrub it a bit when I get home, throw it back in and see what it looks like after another night swimming.

Thanks for your help!

---------- Post added at 11:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 AM ----------
John E said:
Looks like good progress. If you haven't already, hit the rusty spots with a stainless steel scrubber or wire brush to mechanically speed the process along a bit. From the pictures it looks like a good bit of what's left would scrub off.
Click to expand...

I hit it lightly with steel wool, but have not really put any elbow grease into it. I think I'll try that when I get home and see what comes loose.
 
Looks like a BSR flat bottom stove kettle. The old catalogs show them with an assist ring, though. Could have been changed for automation. They were also sold as part of a double boiler set up with a DO nested in them.

Electro only works on rust. It won't affect intact iron. About the only thing you would not want to do is leave it running in an unventilated space for an extended period.
 
Doug D. said:
Looks like a BSR flat bottom stove kettle. The old catalogs show them with an assist ring, though. Could have been changed for automation. They were also sold as part of a double boiler set up with a DO nested in them.

Electro only works on rust. It won't affect intact iron. About the only thing you would not want to do is leave it running in an unventilated space for an extended period.
Click to expand...

OK, sounds good...I figured I'd be cautious today since I wasn't 100% sure.

Thanks for the guess on manufacturer. I am curious about maker and age, but I haven't done any of my own looking yet. There were no other pieces with it when I bought it. I got it for around $10, if I recall correctly...and really didn't know at the time how I was going to clean it up. At the time, it was far and away the worst piece I had purchased. It's still the worst so far, but I've picked up some others since that are pretty rough, so it's not so alone :)
 
Here's what it looked like when I checked before work...still making progress.

http://i.imgur.com/VybaQx8.jpg

I scrubbed it last night for a few minutes to get whatever was loose, and then put it in again overnight. When I took this picture, it was around 29 hours total swimming time. Still running now, so I'll check again this evening.

I'm pretty sure it's to the point where I could scrub it clean, but I feel like letting the process run just to learn as much as anything.
 
Thanks for sharing this, Doug. It's great to see what you're doing and how well it's going.

Looks great and thanks again!
 
Here it is this morning, after approx 53 hours swimming:

http://i.imgur.com/fGuXzj1.jpg

It's still making some progress, but in reality it's time to scrub and be done. I just didn't have time to do it last night or this morning, so I figured I might as well leave it in the spa. I hope to have time this evening to scrub whatever is remaining and get an initial seasoning on it.
 
I bet the whole line-of-site thing isn't optimal when stripping a deep item like this. If you had the anode as a rod down into the item, I wonder if that would be better.
 
TedW said:
I bet the whole line-of-site thing isn't optimal when stripping a deep item like this. If you had the anode as a rod down into the item, I wonder if that would be better.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's probably not optimal, but I do have it hanging on it's side, so it could be worse.

I have other DO's to do, so I may see about getting a piece of rebar down inside and nearer the cooking surface...I'm sure I could rig something with a little thought.
 
TedW said:
If you experiment with a rod down in the kettle, I sure hope you post more pics.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GRAPHITE-PL...130?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f310aa242

Graphite "rods" - I might pick up a batch
Click to expand...

Sure, I'll put my experiment and results up if I try that out. If it makes a big difference, I may pick up some graphite rods as well...but I have scrap rebar laying around, so I think I'll play with it and see how it goes before I put more money into this setup.

I know it's not apples to apples comparison, but the price is right :icon_thumbsup:
 
The "line of sight" thing is not as literal as it is sometimes made out to be. With a single anode, both sides will see release of build up and conversion of rust, just not as fast or as well on the away side. Most things can be hung or positioned for even internal surfaces to adequately face the anode. Hanging anodes inside a piece is usually only necessary for very large pieces that can't be put in the average e-tank.
 
I'll play around with this and report back.

With the concern about ghosting or shadows in e-cleaned pieces, seems the line of site thing might possibly benefit from rods.

I've never done this, but have collected the thoughts and feedback from folks. Again, I'll post my findings.
 
I had a bit of a set back in the seasoning process.

Here's what it looked like after a good scrub with steel wool. It's still wet here, which makes it look better than it really is, but still...it's pretty clean.

http://i.imgur.com/XyY9vfh.jpg

I dried it in a low oven and then did my normal crisco seasoning process (wipe on layer on warm iron, then into oven at 300 for 15 minutes. Take out and aggressively wipe down all surfaces, then back in oven for 2 hours at 400. Let the oven and piece cool to room temperature together after 2 hours is up).

I set the oven to turn off after a couple hours, and went to bed. When I checked this morning, it has clearly has some rust in the pitting on the cooking surface.

Exterior: http://i.imgur.com/DQ0JNEt.jpg
Interior: http://i.imgur.com/QcFg8yw.jpg
Interior close up: http://i.imgur.com/o0oPocE.jpg (looking down into the DO, perspective on this picture can be hard if you don't know what you're looking at)

I wondering if maybe I didn't get enough crisco down into the pits on the cooking surface, and then that rust is flash rust because it's bare iron there. I'm not sure. It was harder to season because the surface is a bit rough, so it was eating up my shop towels and leaving lint behind.

If this is flash rust, then hopefully I can season again and be ok. I'm thinking maybe I'll try applying with a towel or rag instead of show towels...hoping they would stand up to the rough surface better.

If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, or has dealt with a similar problem, I'm open to ideas.

Thanks!

Also, as an aside, I knew this piece would be pitted because of the huge amount of rust I was starting with. But honestly, it's not as bad as I expected it to be. I figure this will be mostly a deep fry pot anyway, so it shouldn't matter much.
 
A cheap natural bristle paint brush works well at getting oil into things like cornstick pans and waffle iron. Should do the same on pits.
 
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