Stainless steel Quality ?

[Bob]

a few guys have mentioned that the quality of stainless steel is very important for a
 "CLEAN RUNNING CELL"... and all along I was under the impression the only reason we used stainless steel was to prevent Rust... but it seams that even Stainless steel can be very dirty in electrolisis
...
I've used what ever "Quality" I happen to get when it comes to stainless steel...
and my results are dubious at best....
...I do know that even ONE nut of normal steel in with an otherwize completely stainless Steel generator
will eventually give you problems over a few months time...
...and I also found that my shimstock which was 315 stainless steel also rusted in that time...
(use in my Randy cells)...
this makes me think that the quality is INDEED VERY IMPORTANT in our Hydroxy cells but I'ed hate to make such a statement on only one example (mine) ...
have any of you had similar experiences , Or lack there of that you can contribute to better quality Stainless steel ? if so what grade are you useing ?
I think its important to know ,...for all of us !
...
Bob.......

[mileageseeker]

Bob

Check out what I wrote under Generator Plans under Electrolyte. Doesn't matter what grade of stainless you use, they all make mud, they all make hexavalent chromium. Some make more, some make less.

MS.

[hg2]

Bob

Check out what I wrote under Generator Plans under Electrolyte. Doesn't matter what grade of stainless you use, they all make mud, they all make hexavalent chromium. Some make more, some make less.

MS.

  MS my cell quit making the red mud after I installed the e-lyte pump for some reason,only a fraction of deposits now compared to before.I think it was from the cell fluid level dropping due to it being expelled and not able to stay full due to the backpressure.

[Painless]

Bob,

I've found, in my own research, that the most important factor when choosing stainless is to obtain the L (low carbon) varieties.  I've been using 304L for a while now and have had much less leaching / brown mess issues.  I would suppose that this makes sense as carbon has to be a contributing factor to rust or other gunk.

316L seems to be the absolute dogs nads.

Russ.

[Bob]

Thanks Guys !
MS ... got your info on the guy at the crome shop and if anyone would know he should ! thank you for the help!
...
thank you Russ ! I'll look for the 316L varity when I do my shopping on-line in a few days!
...
Hg2: I think Most of that is due to the cooling effect that the e-lite pump is giving ya...
I say that because I ran my cell at  lower amps/lower temp and didn't have much of a coffee brown problem, or green goo problem at all... then when I upped the amps and the heat the electrolyte went to hell quickly ! turned to dark expresso coffee color and flat gave up produceing, by then the cell was so filthy its a wonder it worked at all !...
but I'm thinking that the KOH don't like anything over 120deg. that or below and it only gets brown slowly...above that look out it will do it in about an hour!
...I seriously think its the KOH cooking in the cell that causes it.
the green goo is something else , as ya'-all say its leaching stuff from the metal and you'll probly get that from any stainless steel like MS said.... the answer is to condition it before ya use it
I guess because some guys here report no goo or coffee problems at all....yet they condition their cells very carefully.... so it makes you think !
... the most conditioning I have done to my cells(besides sanding the plates) is run them ,then flush them out, about 5 times and that usually takes care of the green goo problem....
...
however use normal steel and the green goo never goes away !    after about 12 times of flushing it I gave up ! HAHAHHAHA
....
Bob......

[hg2]

 Bob you may be right about the temp. being lower that the KOH starts to morph for some reason into the red muck when overheated.

   The KOH is clear and the color of lemonaid now since installing the pump and before it looked like coffee after about week after changing it.It's been a month now and it's still clear and when I top it off with distilled some mornings there is just a tiny bit of sediment on the bottom of the reservoir,barely enough to mention.Before the pump there was up to a 3/16" thick layer of red muck on the bottom,major difference.

[ROADKING]

My electro lite turned brown after the 1100 mile trip, so I have flushed it and starting with new,  I have been told it will do that until I have at least 80 hrs of run time on it,  I have not check the temp of the reservoir but I will.  I have also installed a larger reservoir for the cooling.

[hg2]

My electro lite turned brown after the 1100 mile trip, so I have flushed it and starting with new,  I have been told it will do that until I have at least 80 hrs of run time on it,  I have not check the temp of the reservoir but I will.  I have also installed a larger reservoir for the cooling.

  RK do you use an e-lyte pump on your system???

[ROADKING]

Yes, I am using a pump, 5 gal a minute.

[Bob]

Roadking:
when my electrolyte turned to a coffee color it coated the plates with something and the production went down slowly.... I just let it go like that because I didn't have the time to mess with it and eventually production went down to 1/4LPM from 3LPM  so it will eventually stop !
I did use Murattic acid and cleaned and flushed the cell afterward and got it real clean again
100% soulution for 30 min is what I did but Recomend 100% for 10min and then flush ( save the old acid!)
the force of the garden hose is what cleans it the acid just loosens the stuff!
...
Good luck to ya !
Bob........

[hg2]

Yes, I am using a pump, 5 gal a minute.

  Dang that's twice my gpm,and you're still getting red muck

[ROADKING]

I flushed my cell with CLR for 3hrs with the pump till every thing cleared up, the flushed with distilled water, then put in clean distilled water with the KOH  and I Will see what happends next.