METAL WATER TANKS

[dosse]

G'Day All vcers.I would like to know if there is a chemical i can buy
that would clean the in side of a caravan water tank of a rusty film.Has not been used for some time
Regards David
dosse

[bigdidda]

David,
I cant think of a chemical cleaner and if this tank is for drinking water i would be careful of chemicals.
But i remember years ago using small pebbles in a metal tank.
You just kept agitating it until the muck fell off,rinsed it out and kept doing it until all was clean.
I presume this tank is not a huge one.
Hope this helps.
don

[Roehm3108]

There was a long thread about this subject about a year ago - from memory Reddo was the eggspurt (and Belinda?)!
My tank in the Propert sprung a leak on the seams last year, and my mate's son who is a stainless steel apprentice made an exact copy in stainless for a mates rate of $100. Tank will now outlive me!!
Ray

[dosse]

G'Day Ray
Would your mate's son do another water tank at mate's rate or abit more.
My tank is about 1m x 350 x 100
Regards David
dosse

[Deleted]

Hit the nail right on the head Ray .

Throw it away and get a stainless tank made up Dave. Belinda got a new one made. from memory it was around $150... dont quote me.
Where abouts do you live ?? I have three sheets of stainless steel . Each are big enough to be folded into a tank the size of a jerry can...... Hmmmm theres another option... use a new jerry can for water tank.
Anyway mate , you can have a sheet of s/s for free if you can find some way of picking it up from Newcastle.


I had a gravity fed galv tank over the sink in "Just Cruizn" my first Bondy.
I tried nuts and bolts in the tank and shook the tank for ages. I thought i had the problem cured but within a day or so of filling the tank the water went orange again.
If you are gunna percevier with the old jobby then the
Only product / chemical i didnt get around to trying was CLR . I think you can get it at the supermarkets or hardware stores.

Have a scratch around in the "technical" section on "page 3 "and have a read of thread on "gravity fed water tanks" or the other thread... "cleaning water tanks"

Hope this helps
Reddo

[dosse]

Thanks everyone for your advice,i have taken the tank to be done in stainless today.Reddo
i appreciate the offer of the stainless, long way to come from brisy. Thanks again.
Regards David
dosse

[Roehm3108]

Hi Dosse I never got back to this thread till now - are you organised for your tank?
Ray

[dosse]

G'Day Ray
I have sent my tank away to be done but they have not started it yet.
Is your mates son able to do another tank in stainless, and if so how much.
Regards David
dosse

[Deleted]

Hi vintage vanites

I went to a local swap meet at Maitland on the weekend. Spotted Humpty2 and a few of the Hunter Antique Touring Society Cronnies doing the rounds. Spent hours trolling through hundreds of sites looking for old bike stuff . Managed to find a few NOS goodies like a kick start return spring for the missus's 1932 BSA as well as a few knee pad rubbers for the tank.
New set of rubbers for the commando fastback and a hooter for the '39 BSA M21 600cc sidevalve. ... Yeah i know ... all double dutch to you vanners.
After a few laps of the sites my mind drifted to Vintage van stuff.
quietly plodding along ( Quietly??? that just not me) scanning through the mounds of goodies ....plenty of old 40s, 50s, 60s odds and ends old box brownies, toaster, jugs etc........ Then bang out of the blue i found a nest of goodies.

Managed to score a perfect wall mount galv water tank with working brass tap and filler lid. no dents, no rust. I took it over to a nearby site that was selling torches and conned the lend of one. All appeared perfect inside . Half filled it with water , sloshed it around and drained it. perfectly clean clear water.
Ended up scoring it for $10.00.

Further excavation back at the site unearthed 3 brown bakelite light switches complete with round timber mounting blocks. for $1.00 ea.
Gunna use all the goodies on the TD project. Can anyone supply me with a few old wooden rectangle mounting blocks with switch/power point/ pilot light mounted on them???

I shake my head when i think back about the number of old points and switches i smashed off the walls of houses when i was a 'Lecko. 20 years of rewires etc and i never kept one of them. Sorta reminds me of other foolish things i have done in the past that i will never forgive myself for. Like shoving a windowless FJ Panel van over a quarry cliff because it had rust in the lower left rearguard . I am still make regular visits to the shrink to prevent myself from having thoughts of hanging/shooting myself over that teenage indiscretion

Anyway on a brighter note.

Ended up selling about $500 worth of Shi......ummm .....Good stuff ,so the fuel and accomodation for the east coast tour is now covered. Just gotta find another $500 to cover the drinks bill ;D.


Reddo

[belinda]

We've just had a week's holiday at Kiama with our van, and something that occurred to me was "in the era of the fridge magnet, a stainless steel tank wouldn't be such a good idea".
Like the fridge at home, the (gal) tank over the sink was rapidly covered with info on surf safety and what was showing at the Gerringong flicks.

If we had a stainless steel tank there would be nowhere to stick that stuff (no rude comments on that one Reddo!) and I doubt our family would be able to keep functioning.

[Deleted]

Hi Belinda.

Reddos handy hint for today:
Got a stainless steel water tank that your fridge magnet wont stick to???.
Want to post your surf safety hints and "wots on at the flicks" info in your BONDWOOD van.

Weeeeellll your prayers have been answered!!!

fresh form the "shed of invention" is my new product called "The nail"

Simply select the spot on the side of your BONDWOOD van where you want to post your information and with the help of a hammer. Bash in a 3" nail to a depth of at least 1/2'........pierce the paper with the nail and BINGO.... problem solved .

If this idea does not appeal to you then you can always nick down to the papershop and buy some "blutak" for your non original / replica/ pretend vintage water tank.

reddo

[groovy]

Or you could have a tank made from 304 or a lesser grade SS. Not all stainless is anti magnetic, I have a magnet to "hang" my SS carving knife etc on in the kitchen.

Greg

[belinda]

Apparently 304 still isn't magnetic - a magnetic grade of stainless is 3CR12 (it helps at times to have a metallurgist around the house).

While his wife likes a tank you can stick the movie program to, Mister Metallurgist's main problems with stainless are that lower grade SS tends to pit and SS tends to crack around welds in water (depending on what's in the water).

[groovy]

Hi Belinda
I cannot argue against a metallurgist about the grades of SS.

One reason for SS cracking alongside welds is due to poor welding techniques, the welding crystallises the metal, it doesnt have to be in water to crack.

The reason I mentioned 304 is that I have seen bowrails made from it that have gone rusty, but from what your "metallurgist around the house" ;D has said, it obviously wasn't 304, just sold as 304 grade to suckers who paid 316 prices for it.

Greg

[belinda]

Hi Greg,

the metallurgist around the house says that's probably exactly right.

cheers

Belinda