Tank cleaning (inside)

[sidney81]

Hi everyone, looking for ideas on how to give my tank a good clean out it's solid just not been used in years , some people say coke, vinegar etc ,what are your thoughts please Thanks Chris 👍

[Yogi]

This is the stuff I use mate
rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F323527329443

Matt 🧸

[shaunthe2nd]

I've used that DeoxC with good results. Also used vinegar and that works surprisingly well.
I've also used the cleaners that come with the lining kits and they seem pretty good too.
So a few options.

For heavy rusting put in some nuts and bolts and give it a good shake to loosen it up..

[morgy]

Vinegar is good , I have also used electrolysis with good results..

[mak595]

I've used white vinegar but it flash rusts after 5 mins so you need to coat it straight away once you've washed it out with some oil/ diesel/petrol etc


EDIT - filled the tank to the brim and left it for a few days to do its job before flushing out

[jon]

Dec 28, 2019 10:02:02 GMT 1 Yogi said:

This is the stuff I use mate
rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F323527329443

Matt 🧸

+1

But it works better and quicker if warm. If you can get an old fish tank heater in there too it will be better.

Jon

[midlifecrisisrd]

Deox C all the way

Non corrosive so won't eat anything but rust

And no neutralising required

Steve

[steven]

Hi Chris,
A length of "Jack chain" is good to rattle about inside your tank,and easier to get back out than nuts/bolts/gravel.
Steven.
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-Metre-Single-Link-Galvanised-3mm-JACK-CHAIN-Hanging-Basket-Bird-Feeder/191315428271?hash=item2c8b49c3af:g:ws8AAOSwRLZUCXEL

[abar121]

Deox C or just plain Citric acid which is dirt cheap from Asian supermarkets.

If you don't have the time, brick acid works well. You do have to neutralise it thoroughly though.

[steeley]

Hi , i have used citric acid and phosphoric acid on tanks with good results . The phosphoric acid puts a grey coating on the steel . I rinse the tanks out after with a mix of bicarb and water then blow dry them out with an air line . You can use a hair dryer /paint stripping hot air gun or even a vacuum cleaner.

[sidney81]

Thanks everyone for your replies !! Im sure after all them recommendations I will have it covered ,thanks Chris

[tomtom1]

I've used different size nuts that Way the different sizes can get into the corents 10mm 13m 17m 19mm (spanner size) if you count 20 nuts in as long as 20 come out you laughing,
I used toilet cleaner with the nuts, then once washed out with hose pipe blow dry with compressor, put some petrol in with lots of 2 stroke oil, shake around and leave cap of for petrol to evaporat (no naked flames) then the oil should stop it flash rusting, that's what I did and it worked a treat, only caution is when shaking the tank about with the nuts try make them slide instead of bouncing about in there so you don't put little dints in the tank.

[wwwRD350LCnet]

i have used citric acid in a very rusty moped fuel tank and result is spectacular ! It's a quite cheap and natural product.

Xavier

[84rzrider]

Electrolysis did a great job for me on my 75 RD350. Washing soda, a couple of landscape spikes for a sacrificial anode and a 12 volt battery charger.

[nobby62]

I’ve used electrolysis in the past with good results but my new ypvs has only slight rust inside the tank so I have just ordered a gallon of evapo-rust. I will report on its effectiveness as soon as I have tried it.... but it is supposed to be very good.. time will tell.

[steve h]

Molasses. Works quite well with no flash rust that some things give. Swill off and wd40.

[mattybeckett]

Dec 28, 2019 12:00:25 GMT 1 midlifecrisisrd said:

Deox C all the way

Non corrosive so won't eat anything but rust

And no neutralising required

Steve

+1 Brilliant stuff 👍

[paulincayman]

Does anyone know of a sealant that can prevent rust forming in the future .. (No Dr Who jokes please )

[midlifecrisisrd]

Only seal if you have to

Caswell or floliner get good write ups

Personally I stick 50ml of 2 stroke in each tank full to keep it away

Steve

[seanclarky]

hi Guys, I'm going to try deox c in my tank, so do I need to rinse it out and put anything in to stop it flash rusting again? Or just dry it thoroughly? cheers

[midlifecrisisrd]

Usually not too bad with deox but I personally shake as much water out as possible then if not lining dump a load of wd40 into it and shake around to disperse any water in the seems then leave somewhere warm for a couple of days

Steve

[seanclarky]

thanks steve I'll try it

[paulincayman]

Jan 3, 2020 12:13:19 GMT 1 midlifecrisisrd said:

Only seal if you have to

Caswell or floliner get good write ups

Personally I stick 50ml of 2 stroke in each tank full to keep it away

Steve

Thanks for the advice Steve. 
 It took a month of white vinegar plus a blast of Phosphoric acid to get mine shiny...and that was after rattling around  with some clean gravel.
I wonder how much thinner it  has become as a result.

[nobby62]

That is one of the potential issues with using acid ( i say potential because i don’t know how fast it eats away the bare metal) but acid doesn’t discriminate between surfaces, it will attack anything that it comes into contact with. The rust removal products are different, they are intended to act against iron oxide only by breaking the iron out of the chemical bond with oxygen and thus destroying the rust....they are not powerful enough to break the iron out of the chemical bond with carbon so they don’t affect bare steel. Neither do they attack paint or plastic. But as I said earlier, i don’t know how well they work until i have tested it myself...its due to arrive soon.

[shandyboy]

I have used Phosphoric acid and Inhibited Hydrochloric acid in the past cleans tank back to new.

When using the Phosphoric fill the tank with warm water then add acid @ about 25% strength time will vary depending on rust, leave till clear.

When using the Hydrochloric same as above but is much faster normally 30 mins

Once cleaned empty out dry out with air/heat then fill with some petrol/ oil mix swill it around the tank to stop flash rusting job done !!! (some people fill the tank with Diesel to coat it too)

[nobby62]

Yep...i think the rising, drying then coating the inside straight after treatment is the only way to avoid re rusting.. i would def prefer 2t oil/petrol mix rather than diesel.

[nobby62]

Ok so the evaporust finally arrived, after the hermese delivery guys managed to split the first bottle and didn’t bother to report back to the supplier... So yesterday afternoon i rinsed the tank with fresh fuel, drained it off then refitted the fuel tap and poured the whole 5l of evaporust into the tank. The worst area was at the lower back end of the tank where it was quite rusty when you get a torch right into it.. So I sloshed it around and then left it in overnight. This morning I tilted the tank forward and left it until mid afternoon. It says on the bottle to leave the tanks for 3 or 4 hours, but it also says that rusty items can be left submerged for 24 hrs for best results.... so each end of the tank has had roughly 12 hrs of submersion. Looking into the tank you could still see debris but when poked with a stick it just wiped off. So I drained the fluid back into the bottle as it can be re used.... rinsed the tank 2 or 3 times and plenty of black sediment flushed out. Looking inside the tank afterwards and all the red rust is completely gone all that remains is a slightly grey slightly rough surface where it was rusty. So I dried it as best as i could with a hot air gun then sloshed a bit of premix around. Hopefully I have saved the tank. I can definitely recommend the evaporust, seems to work well and can be used over again on any rusty items...

[125lc1dt]

I once cleaned a tank using ceramic cleaning blocks, 2 cup fulls of WD 40 then putting the tank (packed) in an electric cement mixer for a while. Did a reasonable job