Re: Electrolysis

From: Jim Nolan (panache426@hotmail.com)
Date: Thu Jan 27 2000 - 08:27:26 PST


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        West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
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The chances of electrolysis are small in fresh water. (I originally thought
this was an off topic post about hair removal). Some weighs to check for
this are:

1. Measure pH of the water, this gives an idea of ion concentration. A cheap
garden soil pH meter may work.

2. Put two disimilar metals in the water, measure the potential. Put a
copper penny and a zinc nail on the two leads of a voltmeter, stick in the
water and measure the potential. If you get close to zero volts I wouldn't
worry.

3. Hook the ammeter portion of your voltmeter between the keel and the
stainless hardware or outboard motor in the water. See what the current is.

I don't believe electrolysis can occur between electrically isolated
components under water. There has to be a hard electrical connection between
disimilar metals and the water forms the second leg of the conduction path.
Thats why the zinc anodes have to be connected to the electrolysing metal in
question. If your keel is not connected to any other underwater metal
component then the chances of it electrolysing with other components are
very small. The keel however can electrolyse with itself if it has galvanic
variations within the metal. There's not much you can do about this except
paint it.

There's electrical ways to reduce electrolysis by introducing potentials in
the water via a cathode. The zinc anode also works well. I don't know if
keel degaussing helps, I'll have to think about that one. I wouldn't
recommend trying to change the pH of the lake by dumping a few truckloads of
lime into it, this is not eco-friendly. But in general I think fresh water
poses no problems of electrolysis.

>From: RL Reno <rlreno@worldnet.att.net>
>Reply-To: rlreno@worldnet.att.net
>To: "wwpotter@tscnet.com" <wwpotter@tscnet.com>
>Subject: Electrolysis
>Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 21:15:18 -0800
>
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> West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
> dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
> List hosted by www.tscnet.com
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>I may end up getting a slip this summer...
>Has anyone had eloctrolysis problems on a P19 left in a fresh-water
>slip? If so, has an anode on the daggerboard helped solve the problem?
>
>Thanks,
>Ron
>HMS 18 #42 Bluebelle
>

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