Generator Gas Tank Rust

[jkuro]

After cleaning use something like this:

https://www.classicindustries.com/product/RE49216.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23270976439&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_8TJBhDNARIsAPX5qxSOmSG7-H6UJ9k4vZip67fKc9UQilDciDIuxiCdzNqAZIDtgIVTaggaAulpEALw_wcB

 

[Fodeman]

I like purple degreaser......I use ZEP, but purple power and castrol super clean are also similar.

I've not seen a need to neutralize vinegar. Just rinse well, dump, then rinse out with alcohol. The alcohol will take the remainder of the water with it so there's no H2o left to flash rust. I HAVE coated a couple tanks in the past with Red Kote (they were BADLY pitted), if you're going to coat it, that's the only one I would use.

Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.

 

[zendriver]

If the generator is good, buy a new tank and then don't use the tank at all, unless you need to.

I have a Predator gen, really have not used much - yet. Seemed kind of lame to fuel the tank, just to test run the gen periodically, then have to deal with the fuel sitting in the tank. Drained, cleaned and dried the tank, maybe for good.

Now I have a small plastic gas engine tank, attached with hooks, that Ill tap into the gen carb to test run and dump out when done. if/when the time comes, fuel tank condition will never be an issue.

Fuel sitting in it, is most likely why yours went ****-up. Delicious ethanol does not help.

 

[rust in the eye]

$75 for a replacement tank??
I don't remember the price but I'm positive I paid way less than that for one not too long ago.
Keep shopping for a new one. By the time you get done dicking around with a rusty old one you'll have spent as much and worked harder.
Here you go: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1963478298...id=2&mkscid=101&itemid=196347829808&targetid=

 

[JABgj]

Another vinegar vote here. Very rusted motorcycle tank, filled as high as possible with 6% vinegar. Regular vinegar strength vinegar is 5%, some stores have both. Rotate the tank daily until rust is gone. Does take a while, but it worked well for me. When done, I washed it out with hot water and added WD40 to dry out the water and coat the tank before it flashed. Got a bunch of loose rust flakes out, metal inside looked very nice.

 

[walta]

great idea. and a gallon of vinegar should agitate nicely.

Drop roofing nails inside, wrap in a moving blanket, then stuff into a concrete mixer for a while.

I did a snowblower tank this summer. Clamped the tank in the lathes chuck and let it spin with some sand rocks and water for an hour or so and coated it with POR## inside and out.

Strap the tank to any wheel and let it spin.



Walta

 

[Fodeman]

I appreciate everyone's suggestions, but after I've seen what new metal tanks can be bought for on ebay in the $30 - $35 range, I'm going to return the 7 gallons of vinegar I bought and buy a new tank. I just need to find the correct bolt layout. This generator, a Generac GP6500, was given to me, so I'm not out anything yet. I'm going to test run the genset right out of a 5 gallon can, and if all goes well I'll buy a tank. I always use e-free gas with sta-bil and keep the tanks on all my small engines full, so all is good.

 

[mreisner]

Buy a new tank and wine it with red coat liner and you'll never have the problem again. You don't have to worry about it getting on the top and the side so much is the rust is only going to be on the bottom when the moisture settles out of your gas.

 

[Fodeman]

Buy a new tank and wine it with red coat liner and you'll never have the problem again. You don't have to worry about it getting on the top and the side so much is the rust is only going to be on the bottom when the moisture settles out of your gas.

That's why I use Sta-Bil in all my small engine tanks year 'round. This particular rusted tank was on a generator that was given to me, so a new tank it is!

 

[driftpin]

Another vinegar vote here. Very rusted motorcycle tank, filled as high as possible with 6% vinegar. Regular vinegar strength vinegar is 5%, some stores have both. Rotate the tank daily until rust is gone. Does take a while, but it worked well for me. When done, I washed it out with hot water and added WD40 to dry out the water and coat the tank before it flashed. Got a bunch of loose rust flakes out, metal inside looked very nice.

Home Depot has 30% vinegar, by the gallon. Add 1 gallon water, now it's 15% and you have 2 gallons. Add another 2 gallons, and now the mix is 7.5%. That will clean your tank in a couple of days or less. You should heed the advice about not exposing any potmetal to the vinegar, you will lose it as the metal disappears into the solution.

I've used the vinegar method on motorcycle gas tanks, and it works well. You just need to monitor it to ensure that you stop processing it once the gas tank's interior is clean. I don't find it's a necessity to coat the insides, but it may stop the potential to rust in the area above the fuel level.

If you decide to take a break on the tank work, and leave it 'to dry' after emptying it, before you do any coating, you will get flash rust in a matter of minutes.

 

[MarlynOC]

I cleaned a 200 gallon boat fuel tank by removing it and using a hose to wash it out then poured about 2 gals of Oxyllic acid in it with small buck of stones. Put it on a round log and made it see saw that way for about an hour at a time for a few days then washed it out let it dry and reninstallled.