Removing Petseal or similar from tanks

Hi luke. As far as i know paint stripper is simply Caustic Soda with a gel thickener. You can get large tubs of Caustic Soda (sodium hydroxide) in its powder form and it is very cheap too.

The way I would approach the job is to place the tank outside firmly held horizontal on the ground. Half fill the tank with cold water and SLOWLY pour in the entire tub of crystals. Protect yourself with rubber gloves and eye protection and stir with a wooden stick untill the powder is completely dissolved. The water will get very hot, possibly near to boiling so be extremely careful. Then slowly add more water so the level is nearly flush with the top and remix very carefully. Leave for say 24 hours when you can pour away the solution. As far asI know it will be ok in the dirty water sewer system as it will also help clear drains and dissolves grease in the network.

Quickly hose off any splashes onthe tank and then hose inside where hopefully the lining will have been disolved and with several flushings may well find it has all come away. You could also try the old nuts and bolt trick of shaking them in the tank violently around to knock of any loose bits of rust and lining offtoo.

Done carefully you could well avoid any external paint damage done this way.

As a further tip: After you have done this work buy some "metal restorer liquid" (Swarfeger make a good one) It is mostly PHOSPHORIC ACID. (which is all you need and can be bought seperately too) pour a pint in and once again agitate the tank to spread it or dilute to the top (this will mean a weaker solution though) After several hours the inside metal will be etched to a clean bright grey metal which is quite resistant to further rusting, and onewhich I would imagine will be ideal for the base of new Sealant. Caution at all times MUST be observed. CAUSTIC SODA WILL EAT FLESH VERY EFFICIENTLY.... be warned but don't be scared either, just be VERY careful and always have a bucket of fresh clean water close by in case of accidents.

Les

Previously wrote:

I have a nice steel Mk 3 Roadster Tank and side panels (in Union Jack!)which I would like to fit to my Mk3 inter. Someone has sealed the tank with what I presume is Petseal or similar, and I'm aware that it will not stand up to modern 10% Ethanol fuel which we use in Canada. How would I deal with this stuff? Can I use a solvent to remove it? I'd like to seal with Caswell or similar but I'm sure I need to get rid of this stuff first.

Thanks

Luke Albanese

Hi Luke,

I can fully recommend this company for their Petseal remover as shown on the website:-

http://www.tankcareproducts.co.uk/

An expensive pastime especially when you have a number of tanks to be re-done because of this damn ethanol.

Regards, Paul.

I used some dichloromethane bought on Ebay at a fraction of the cost of Petseal remover (which I suspect is exactly the same stuff). Just pour in, seal the filler hole and leave for a few days. As Chris says, perhaps add a bit of methanol too for some extra oomph. Just remember it will attack your paint, cap and tap seals, skin and lungs so take precautions!

It has been mentioned already, but you need to be very careful to protect your paintwork. All the proprietary sealant dissolvers, and the basic chemicals mentioned, are capable of removing paint, probably with greater ease than they remove petseal.

I've not tested the effectiveness of clingfilm against these products, but I certainly would before using it as a masking product on paintwork.

Good luck, and please let us know how you get on.

Allan.

Previously wrote:

Hi luke. As far as i know paint stripper is simply Caustic Soda with a gel thickener. You can get large tubs of Caustic Soda (sodium hydroxide) in its powder form and it is very cheap too.

The way I would approach the job is to place the tank outside firmly held horizontal on the ground. Half fill the tank with cold water and SLOWLY pour in the entire tub of crystals. Protect yourself with rubber gloves and eye protection and stir with a wooden stick untill the powder is completely dissolved. The water will get very hot, possibly near to boiling so be extremely careful. Then slowly add more water so the level is nearly flush with the top and remix very carefully. Leave for say 24 hours when you can pour away the solution. As far asI know it will be ok in the dirty water sewer system as it will also help clear drains and dissolves grease in the network.

Quickly hose off any splashes onthe tank and then hose inside where hopefully the lining will have been disolved and with several flushings may well find it has all come away. You could also try the old nuts and bolt trick of shaking them in the tank violently around to knock of any loose bits of rust and lining offtoo.

Done carefully you could well avoid any external paint damage done this way.

As a further tip: After you have done this work buy some "metal restorer liquid" (Swarfeger make a good one) It is mostly PHOSPHORIC ACID. (which is all you need and can be bought seperately too) pour a pint in and once again agitate the tank to spread it or dilute to the top (this will mean a weaker solution though) After several hours the inside metal will be etched to a clean bright grey metal which is quite resistant to further rusting, and onewhich I would imagine will be ideal for the base of new Sealant. Caution at all times MUST be observed. CAUSTIC SODA WILL EAT FLESH VERY EFFICIENTLY.... be warned but don't be scared either, just be VERY careful and always have a bucket of fresh clean water close by in case of accidents.

Les hello,?? phosphoric acid is that the stuff they call mustered gas in world war 1 at burn out your lungs and kill you as a result ?

Previously wrote:

Previously wrote:

Hi luke. As far as i know paint stripper is simply Caustic Soda with a gel thickener. You can get large tubs of Caustic Soda (sodium hydroxide) in its powder form and it is very cheap too.

The way I would approach the job is to place the tank outside firmly held horizontal on the ground. Half fill the tank with cold water and SLOWLY pour in the entire tub of crystals. Protect yourself with rubber gloves and eye protection and stir with a wooden stick untill the powder is completely dissolved. The water will get very hot, possibly near to boiling so be extremely careful. Then slowly add more water so the level is nearly flush with the top and remix very carefully. Leave for say 24 hours when you can pour away the solution. As far asI know it will be ok in the dirty water sewer system as it will also help clear drains and dissolves grease in the network.

Quickly hose off any splashes onthe tank and then hose inside where hopefully the lining will have been disolved and with several flushings may well find it has all come away. You could also try the old nuts and bolt trick of shaking them in the tank violently around to knock of any loose bits of rust and lining offtoo.

Done carefully you could well avoid any external paint damage done this way.

As a further tip: After you have done this work buy some "metal restorer liquid" (Swarfeger make a good one) It is mostly PHOSPHORIC ACID. (which is all you need and can be bought seperately too) pour a pint in and once again agitate the tank to spread it or dilute to the top (this will mean a weaker solution though) After several hours the inside metal will be etched to a clean bright grey metal which is quite resistant to further rusting, and onewhich I would imagine will be ideal for the base of new Sealant. Caution at all times MUST be observed. CAUSTIC SODA WILL EAT FLESH VERY EFFICIENTLY.... be warned but don't be scared either, just be VERY careful and always have a bucket of fresh clean water close by in case of accidents.

Les hello,?? phosphoric acid is that the stuff they call mustered gas in world war 1 at burn out your lungs and kill you as a result ?

I've just googled mustard gas, and I can't see any mention of phosphoric acid. Just as well, as many of the over-the-counter rust dissolvers contain it! The only issue that I can see with obtaining any kind of 'neat' acid from a chemicals supplier, is that we don't know what concentration will do the job and still be relatively safe to use (given the usual health & safety considerations and use of goggles and gloves etc.)

I would stick with proprietary products.

The mention of mustard gas brings to mind another wartime chemical mix - napalm! Now, that will clean your tank out!!

Allan.

Don't worry Anna, you have probably drunk pints of it. It is one of the ingredients in most fizzy pop drinks.

ALLAN, It always makes me laugh when someone comes back and says don't do something tut tut tut, even though they have NEVER TRIED IT THEMSELVES. as is evident that you had to GOOGLE it !!!

I did mention a brand of metal cleaner, Swarfeger! The acid is used in it is is at the most highest common strength and that is around85% and even at 100 % is not considered that dangerous. Perhaps you have sometimes filled a battery with Sulphuric Acid? Even at that strength Sulphuric Acid is far more corrosive. In counterbalance Iguess you consider that riding a motorcycle is NOT dangerous then as you obviously ride one?

Les

Previously wrote:

Don't worry Anna, you have probably drunk pints of it. It is one of the ingredients in most fizzy pop drinks.

ALLAN, It always makes me laugh when someone comes back and says don't do something tut tut tut, even though they have NEVER TRIED IT THEMSELVES. as is evident that you had to GOOGLE it !!!

I did mention a brand of metal cleaner, Swarfeger! The acid is used in it is is at the most highest common strength and that is around85% and even at 100 % is not considered that dangerous. Perhaps you have sometimes filled a battery with Sulphuric Acid? Even at that strength Sulphuric Acid is far more corrosive. In counterbalance Iguess you consider that riding a motorcycle is NOT dangerous then as you obviously ride one?

Les Sorry Les, I was Getting Mixed Up With Phosgene chloride ww1 now that's nasty stuff and did not what any one getting gas-ed Now do we? Yours Anna J

Robin previously wrote:

I used some dichloromethane bought on Ebay at a fraction of the cost of Petseal remover (which I suspect is exactly the same stuff). Just pour in, seal the filler hole and leave for a few days.

That's what I did. It worked fine. I bought 5 litres but only used about 1L. On Ebay for less than £25 including postage.

Anna, mustard gas used in the Great War was Phosgene, COCl2, Phosphoric acid, H3P04 is a completely different chemical.

Phosgene is not mustard gas. Mustard gas came later in 1917.

http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Chemistry/MOTM/mustard/mustard.htm

Thank you Alan for posting the interesting article. I got it wrong, but Neither 1,1-thiobis(2-chloroethene) nor phosgene are the same chemical as phosphoric acid.