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Laziest way to clean rust from a tank?


turbofurball
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  • 2 weeks later...

 
 
  • 4 weeks later...

Bit late on this thread but:-  Milk Stone remover, available from agricultural merchants ( or a friendly local dairy farmer ) . I believe it is Phospheric acid?  which will convert rust to an innert substance, does not affect the steel just the rust !

Mind you I did use it externally and sealed the area with paint, but it has never rusted again after 15 years.

Might be useful for future reference ?

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I've ordered cider vinegar and 45% phosphoric acid, I plan on trying one then the other (since I know you get flash rust after vinegar) ... hopefully I'll find time to do the vinegar sometime this week, depending on other motorbikes behaving themselves!

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Quick update - I left the vinegar in for the weekend, came back in on Monday to find it had eaten through the tap seal, poured out, and eaten through the epoxy floor paint.  Also, the inside of the tank is now far more rusty than it was.  I had checked it after 24 hours, and it hadn't appeared to do anything by that point ...

The other acid will hopefully go in sometime later this week (since I need to supervise it and have it outdoors), and this tank will be an emergency stop-gap as it's now pretty stuffed :(

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I do have enough to fill it, my plan was to put it in, leave it for an hour or two, and pour it back out.  I deal with lots of volatile stuff at work, so I should manage not to blow myself up!

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I'll be doing this in an outdoor industrial area used to store waste fuel, if there's any sparks the acid will be the least of my worries!  As for testing, the tank is already screwed, it'll either get better or be equally screwed ... guess I'll find out by the end of the week :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

A little trick I use to minimize the flash rust is, after you flush the tank with hot water and get it as dry as possible, spray the inside of the tank with WD40 and slosh it around. From a spray can it will make a fog inside the tank and get to all the nooks and crannies and also displace any moisture that is left in the tank. I have used this method on 2 tanks with good results but you have to be quick to spray the WD40 as soon as you think you have the water flushed. The only problem is you will have a film of WD40 so if you are going to use a sealer of some kind you will have to remove the WD40. I also have been using a product called Evaporust. It is non toxic  and  designed to remove rust in gas tanks and on tools etc. 

Good luck 

Sam

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