I have a 214 tank that I stripped and soaked in rust remover. Unfortunately, the inside brown coating that Coleman uses is peeling off into big and micro bits. I have flushed the tank with water about 50 times but still little bits are breaking away. I have rinsed the tank out with white fuel and currently drying it out. I have removed 70% of the coating but concerned that bits might get sucked up clogging the tube, valve, and generator. As I said, I have removed all the big bits but every rinse I do some more small bits come out of the tank. Is there anything that i can poor into the tank that will eat or dissolve the coating that Coleman uses ? Would small particles of this coating block anything or are the chances slim. I have used a ballbearing but that can only do so much. Need your advise on how to tackle this coating, or do i remove what i can and hope for the best. Cheers
Some guys had luck with denatured alcohol removing the remnants of the brown liner coating. Denatured alcohol is safe on many surfaces and easily available. No harm giving it a try before you get on to more aggressive stuffs. Doubting that, I'd usually go for whatever more powerful solvents that are available to me. I do not know what is the exact composition or type of coating that Coleman used on the internal surface of their founts. But whatever it is, the coating would need to be fuel-resistant for such a purpose. It is also not a water-based coating but organic. Having these in mind, I'd usually look for solvents that'd attack paints, rubbers, plastics, etc. I normally start with some of the nastiest on the market. Example, paint strippers containing large percentages of methylene chloride(dichloromethane). These can even lift and soften cured epoxies. Methylene chloride will attack many organic coatings or materials. If you get some on your skin which is exposed to the air, you'd feel a stinging sensation. In my arsenal, ketones like acetone and MEK are ready for deployment at will.. These are known to attack Viton elastomers. Any combinations of solvents too. Needless to say, don't get them on the outside of a fount that's painted. They'd easily strip most paints. A good soak with the above followed with a shake with steel screws/nuts/balls in the solvent should remove all the last bits of the brown coating. A final purge with hot lye solution to remove residual solvents and other gunk. In case you had to use all these, be extra careful to protect yourself and other painted parts of the fount. Note:- Never use anything that will chemically attack the fount's metal for this purpose.
Thank you MYN for taking the time to reply in detail. I will pop into Bunnings and see what I can find to remove this coating. By chance do you know if the pickup tube inside the tank has a filter on the end or just an open brass hollow tube. Im just wondering if this could get clogged very easy if this could get clogged easily. Regards
There isn't any filter in the feedtube. Anyway, it might still get clogged by bits of the coating, at any point including up to the schrader valve.
