E Tank Question

Joe C

New member
can you leave a pan in the electrolysis tank too long?

i can't seem to remove the carbon on the cook surface without scrubbing with stainless steel wool.

if I leave the pan in the tank for a week or more, do I do damage?

thanks

Joe C
 
Joe, I don't think you can leave it in there too long. I've had pans, I pretty much forgot about, that were in there for a week.

They say the e-tank doesn't remove baked on crud, only rust, but I've found those last few bits of stubborn crud come off easier after several days in the e-tank. Of course, it might not be the electrolysis doing the work. It might be a long soak in washing powder/water.

Still, some crud is so stubborn it needs to be removed with a Chore Boy and lots of muscle. I've even had to use the edge of a metal spatula to pop off some stubborn spots.
 
Occasionally I've gone a step further than Spurgeon's spatula and (carefully!) used the blade from a utility knife to get under the hunk of carbon and get it to pop off.
 
Joe, I've been using my e-system for over a year now, and believe you can not leave a skillet in too long. My observation is that sound metal is not affected by electrolysis when using similar metals. I'm using a stainless steel anode. For dissimilar metals, you'd probably get ion transfer resulting in plating. As long as I have current flowing, I get the bubbling - think that is the result of current going through the electrolyte, not the cast iron "cooking". Finally, I've had times when I ended up CAREFULLY using the tip of a drywall spatula and occasionally, a regular screw driver to remove persistent carbon that just won't come off. I always put it back in the e-tank afterwards and then use 0000 steel wool, which removes any trace of tiny scratches from the spatula/screw driver. Good luck!
 
I'll just add using the combination of lye (in one form or another) and electrolysis seems to work best... the lye will remove most gunk and what it doesn't remove it seems to 'soften up' for faster removal by electrolysis... I typically only run the electrolysis for 30-60 minutes per piece (I do use anodes on two sides, so I'm doing front and back at the same time)... but like the others have said, sometimes you encounter black crud that is so carbonized the lye doesn't have anything to react with and it stays on through the electrolysis... but a little pressure, not necessarily scraping, just pressure on it and it seems to just pop off or crumble.
 
Just will offer one more solution to those hard to get off carbonized areas. Try using a high pressure power washer (1500 psi and above) right after taking your piece out of the lye tank. It has worked well for me in the past and you won't chance scratching the surface with a metal scraper. Be sure to use the proper safety gear especially glasses.
Good luck....
 
after 3 days in the e tank, the black slowly disappears with help from ss chore boy and some muscle.

thanks for all the advice!
 
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