Great....just f***ing great.

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LeeH
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Great....just f***ing great.

Post by LeeH » Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:32 pm

I left water in my HLT for a month or so as it’s for testing purposes only. Why waste water right?

Both the element and probe has failed.

Not good enough....no where near f ing good enough.

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LeeH
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Great....just f***ing great.

Post by LeeH » Sun Aug 19, 2018 1:55 pm

Looks like all the 5 probes will fail if left submersed. This is the one in the BK, the others are in the HLT.

I have probes in the tun, RIMS and heat exchanger from the same batch.

The RIMS element is from the same batch as the HLT so that needs inspecting.

The ripple elements are fine thankfully.

I wanted to get this build done this week, looks like I’ve gone backwards FFS.

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ciderhead
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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by ciderhead » Sun Aug 19, 2018 6:14 pm

Holy crap!
I left starsan on elements once for a weekand they went brown
Out with the wire wool and neat starsan?

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LeeH
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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by LeeH » Sun Aug 19, 2018 7:44 pm

I’ve cleaned the tank with Scotchbrite and bar keepers friend and soaked in diluted star san. I’ll smear some undiluted on tomorrow.

I’m waiting to hear back from the supplier.


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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by chris2012 » Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:29 pm

Bugger :(

Hope it gets sorted out.

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Meatymc
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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by Meatymc » Mon Aug 20, 2018 10:36 am

Jesus mate - that's just not on!!!

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vacant
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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by vacant » Mon Aug 20, 2018 1:10 pm

That's an astounding amount of rust for such a short time especially when you think immersion elements can work for decades submerged in a domestic tank.

From the depths of my memory, don't steel boats rust without anodic protection? It made me wonder if you had some residual electrical connection that could have caused this? Happy for this theory to be shot down as it is based on zero real-life knowledge.
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LeeH
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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by LeeH » Mon Aug 20, 2018 3:55 pm

Any theory is welcome vacant thank you. The control panel has been isolated both phase and neutral only leaving the earth connected.

The odd thing is that 2 ripple ULWD elements are fine from the same supplier.

Its looking like I will get no help from them apart from advice to try and clean them up even though you can see how eaten away they are. They do have a valid point that they have sold many of these with no issues.

What makes my pee boil even more is I will have to buy more elements (although from a different supplier of course!) as they seem to be the only ones on the market. Its obvious all the UK suppliers are buying the same ones.

Ill buy a ripple type for the HLT and source some probes from TLC direct and avoid the imported Chinese type.
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sonicated
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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by sonicated » Mon Aug 20, 2018 4:14 pm

When did you buy it? I would say that's not fit for purpose.

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LeeH
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Great....just f***ing great.

Post by LeeH » Mon Aug 20, 2018 4:49 pm

That’s what I thought but they are saying differently.

Too long ago or I would just get my credit card company deal with it.

3.5 years ago but they have had about 2-3 boils only.


The probes are in the bin, no going back with them. They have just corroded away at the welds.

Check out the pitting after a clean.

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guypettigrew
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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by guypettigrew » Mon Aug 20, 2018 7:29 pm

That's crazy! And it happened from leaving water in there for a month? It takes a lot to destroy stainless steel. Was it just tap water, or had you treated it somehow?

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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by gobuchul » Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:23 pm

"don't steel boats rust without anodic protection? "

Anodic protection is to prevent a galvanic reaction between 2 different metals. Basically you create a battery and this eats away one of the metals.

If you have 2 metals in contact and one is more reactive than another, the more reactive will corrode away first and less reactive will be left alone. That's why you have sacrificial zine anodes on a ships hull. The zinc corrodes before the steel.

However, it gets more complicated if you have too much reactive metal, then the more reactive metal survives and the less reactive begins to breakdown. "Over protection".

It's very possible that the above corrosion could of been accelerated by a galvanic reaction, even if the external power is completely isolated.

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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by guypettigrew » Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:26 pm

Umm. What does that mean in English, please?

What's a 'galvanic' reaction, why doesn't it need an external power source and how could it have happened in this case?

Thanks.

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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by gobuchul » Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:40 pm

"What's a 'galvanic' reaction, why doesn't it need an external power source and how could it have happened in this case?"

Not sure if this is a galvanic reaction? Just a wild guess prompted by what Vacant suggested. By rights, stainless steel in contact with stainless steel should not have this problem. However, if there are differences between the metal composition it might be possible. Some impurities from when they were made?

It doesn't need an external power source, as it's basically a battery. To make a battery you need 2 different metals, one more reactive than the other. If they are very close in reactivity then you battery will be crap but there will still be some current flow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion

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LeeH
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Re: Great....just f***ing great.

Post by LeeH » Mon Aug 20, 2018 8:47 pm

Electrically it’s sound, the insulation and element has not suffered.

I cleaned it with barkeepers friend and scotchbrite then neat star san.....which turned it blank.

But can use it in the HLT or will it just rust again?

I won’t be leaving anything submersed again that’s for sure.


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