Vinegar and Al tanks

[Ed Palma]

Got another Al80 to make my second set of doubles. There's a bit of oxide on the wall of the inside, but I'm too lazy to jerry rig a whip right now (not too much oxide to make it really worth my while). Will it be okay to just leave a very dilute solution in the tank to get rid of the oxide?

 

[Luis H]

Aluminum oxide actually protects the base metal. You don’t want to remove any aluminum oxide from the surface.

You may want to rinse it with water to make sure there are no salt residues and rinse off any loose aluminum oxide dust, but I would not use any vinegar or any other type of acid. It is best to use hot or at least warm water. After rinsing it you can dry with compressed air (from another tank).

Whips are also not recommended for aluminum tanks.

Just clean it and go diving.


Good luck

 

[Ed Palma]

Hi Luis,

The term escapes me at the moment, but what I was trying to remove were those small white "puffs" of corrosion inside the tank. Not quite like the popcorn rust in steels...

After reading throug Luxfers scuba cylinder inspection guide, it does contraindicate the use of acid based strippers. I guess by extension vinegar shouldn't likewise be used. This is on contrast to what you see out there, wher e a 50/50 solution is suggested for cleaning aluminum cook-ware.

I guess I'll just try attaching a small pad to the end of a stick and rub off those little buggers before I have my tanks re-hydroed. They've still got 2 years left of hydro, but I figured that it was better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Ed Palma]

double post