Lye temperature

I've noticed it's ability to strip a pan in a reasonable amount of time drops off precipitously once the tank temp falls below 60 degrees. I'm in SE Wisconsin and keep the tank in a wood cabinet on my deck so usually I'm done using the lye bath for the season by mid-late October and start up again late april.
 
if you look into the world of ultrasonic cleaning tanks... they typically heat up to around 140 deg F. for lye solutions... there have been discussions of using fish tank heaters or cattle waterer de-icers... etc to heat the tank (caution if you are using a plastic tank!)
 
D_Madden said:
if you look into the world of ultrasonic cleaning tanks... they typically heat up to around 140 deg F. for lye solutions... there have been discussions of using fish tank heaters or cattle waterer de-icers... etc to heat the tank (caution if you are using a plastic tank!)
Click to expand...
What is the general temp limit on plastic totes? It is a clear one, but I have it in a larger blue tote.

Should it be left slightly open? I don't have any pets or children around to get into it.
 
I'll leave this to plastics and materials experts... I would think you would be safe going up around 100 deg F.. .but what do I know. There was someone on here who had a 'negative outcome' with a plastic tote lye tank and a heater of some sort... it wasn't secured very well and something shifted and and it made contact with the side of the container and released the contents... I don't recall if it was in a garage or outside...
 
The Blue 55 Gallon and 30 Gallon drums are HDPE and are one of the best to use for Lye.
This information was given to me by wwwthelyeguy.com who is my supplier.

The Blue barrels are Non-Refundable so they get thrown out most of the time.

If you saw the top off at the grove and flip it over it makes a nice top.
You can add a hinge and hasp for a lock.

The 30 Gallon can hold a lot of iron
 
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