Chem treatment of water system?

About two years ago I needed to paint my machine shed. After close inspection I found that it was rusted badly. I had NO desire to try and remove all that rust, the shead is 14' tall, 40' wide, and 60' long.

So... I spoke to a couple people and after lots of talk I cleaned the loose paint and rust (quick wire brush) and and then wiped all the rusted surface with Navel Jelly.

Contray to what many believe, Navel Jelly is NOT a sealant of any sort. It creates a chemical reaction that changes iron oxide (rust) into iron phosphate. The iron phosphate will never rust again.

As I said, this was two years ago and the shed looks as good as the day I painted it and there isn't a bit of rust to be found anywhere, even a small area I left exposed (non-painted) just to see what happens.

My question is, wonder how this would work if I flushed the engine, exhaust manifolds and risers with it? Would it prevent (or help prevent) the manifolds and risers from rusting out and greatly extend their service life?

Re: Chem treatment of water system?

Ayuh,....

Sounds pretty far fetched to Me,.....

But, Hey,....
Somebody invented the wheel once too......

Re: Chem treatment of water system?

It would probably destroy gaskets, impellers, hoses, etc. it contains phosphoric acid. Why don't you just use something designed for flushing the engine. Like Salt-Away and flush your engine regularly.

Re: Chem treatment of water system?

The big difference between your shed and the interior of your boat engine (and why it won't prevent the corrosion in the long run) is that your shed doesn't get heated to high temperatures for long periods of time under a high flow of water. An additional point and a very important one is that while it would probably be ok for the cast iron, what about some of the other materials... such as bushings in the water pump, gaskets, don't forget rubber, and so on...

A good thought overall

finally, I've read some concerning things about saltaway and corrosion. I haven't done the homework, but I'm not sure that it is in the best interest to use in a cast iron block and heads... I can look at the details tomrrow if I have some spare time at work (I'm curious...).

Re: Chem treatment of water system?

Don, not looking for a flush as much as a way to prevent or slow the degradation to the manifolds and risers.

Click to expand...

Which is exactly what Salt-Away and the other salt neutralizes do.
It gets rid of the salt and the corrosive minerals.
Have you ever noticed how fresh water boats have manifolds and risers that last forever??????
That's because they don't have to deal with salt.
I'm not saying it will make your manifolds last forever, even exhaust manifolds on cars fail. But don't go off the deep end and destroy everything else in the engine to save the manifolds and risers.

Re: Chem treatment of water system?

A novel idea.

What would it do to the drive, impeller, rubber hoses, engine mounted water pump, t-stat, and heat exchangers?