Hi, I am thinking of using POR15 to protect a Bialaddin brass tank that is showing signs of early stress cracking on the outside. At this stage it does not leak, and I have carried out the "oven anneal" that Neil (Mackburner) kindly advised. Now: if I go ahead with the POR 15 treatment, which is quite expensive, do I need to use the POR 15 pre-treatment products as well? eg. "Marine Clean" and "Metal Ready". I ask this because the POR 15 Sealant was designed for steel fuel tanks. Do I need these additional expensive products to treat a small brass tank? I am sure that any advice/guidance forthcoming will be very much appreciated by CPL members. Thanks - Steve.
Hi Steve i have been looking at and thinking of purchaseing some POR15 to preserve the PL53 tank you gave me but for just a small job it is very expensive and once the tin is open it dont last long so there will be wastage,but if you have to buy the extra pre treatments i will become very expensive and could well exceed the lamps value,lukylie the steel tank on the PL53 is very sound,I dont know if the POR15 would work on a pressure tank that has stress cracks that leak but in your case where they do not and you have anealed the tank as by Neils advice and the stres cracks are not leaking i am sure it will strengthen the tank and possibly stoping them spreading,but it may work out far cheaper soucing a spare tank if it is not a rare tank
Yes it is not cheap to set up but in fact is not so bad when you realise that you don't use a great deal of the marine clean on each lamp and the metal ready is reusable anyway. The only waste is left over epoxy because that does not keep. You can't really get away without the cleaner. The resin won't bond to a dirty tank. You might get away without the prep for a brass tank because there won't be any rust but any steel in there and you have to use it. I supppose it rather depends on how many lamps you might need to re line in the future. Sressed and leaking will still seal. I have sealed tanks on kero appliances that looked like crazy paving and that I thought would never hold but they did. Mind you I would be more cautious about it with a gasoline lamp. ::Neil::
Just thinking aloud, here, but if you slightly pressurised the tank while the epoxy was still liquid, would that force it into the cracks a little way, thus giving a more structurally sound tank when everything had 'set' Just wondrin', is all...
I had a very slight leak in the solder joint at the pump tube on an Optimus lantern. With a tablespoon of POR 15 in the (already cleaned) fount, I pressurized it and inverted it, allowing the POR to puddle around the leak. Under pressure it slowly leaked through the crack and eventually stopped. I left the fount pressurized in this position for a day or two. It worked very well, much better than me attempting to re-solder it (another story). Dan MacPherson
Sounds good to me. Mind you the only time I tried this was with a pair of Radiolite table lamps and they would not seal even after puddling the POR 15 in there and holding to full pressure until it hardened. That however is rather different as they were stress cracked because the base rim flexes under pressure and in use the POR 15 is hard and just cracks when the lamps flex again. One of these days I might have another go at one and see if third time round it works. ::Neil::
Thanks Neil, I am going to give it a try, expensive as it may seem, but I consider it another small step up the learning curve of lamp fettling. I will post results of how I get on, so that others may gain from my bumbling efforts. Steve.
Well it won't be all loss. That Marine clean is awesome stuff for cleaning out tanks and removing fuel residues from just about anything. Best stuff I have ever used for sure. What I found was that once I had got the stuff all here I kept finding more lamps that wanted lining. ::Neil::
OK, Update as promised. I bought the POR 15 kit; "Marine Clean", "Metal Ready" and "POR 15 Sealant". Not at all cheap, but boy does it work! The "marine Clean" is magic! really does clean out a tank. I used the "Metal Ready", even though it was a brass tank. I think that maybe this could be left out in brass tanks, but did not want to risk a failure, but is definitely needed for steel tanks. I followed the instructions to the letter and it worked a treat. Really good product that sealed all the stress cracks. I pressurised the tank before the sealant had set to drive it into any crevices inside the tank. Test fired the lamp and run for 3 hours with no sign of leakage. WARNING! Having said that I "followed the instructions to the letter", I did forget to wear gloves! If you get that POR 15 sealant on your hands there is nothing that will remove it, and I mean NOTHING! You just have to wait for the natural process of skin shedding for it to wear off. I am almost clean of the "Black-hand Gang" now. Steve
You need gloves for all that stuff. Marine clean has a soapy feel and that is because it is disolving skin and as you say the sealer does not come off. ::Neil::
Aye, I don't know what that Marine Clean actually is but if it has a 'soapy feel' it's a fair bet it's some sort of strong alkali, possibly sodium hydroxide. If so, what's happening is that it's saponifying the body's natural fats and oils thus converting them to soap - hence the way it feels on your skin. Definitely wear gloves...
Aye, My membership of the "Black Hand Gang" is no longer valid as hands are now clean (took about 10 days). Serious note though friends: please do wear the gloves. Great product for what it is intended, and I will certainly use it again when the occasion requires it. Steve.
So very glad for this thread! I have a "seeping" Tilley R1 tank that I need to heal, and I just ordered the Marine Wash and Tank Sealer. I suspect that it'll come in handy around the farm as well as for leaky lanterns!
Marine Clean is 1-5% WT Potasium Hyrdroxide 3-7% WT Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether Water and a drop of Nonylphenol Ethoxylate according to the MSDS
