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mytoyotasucks
09-19-2008, 01:53 PM
ok so i want to use two types of electrodes together.

i have tried carbon rods with carbon rods, and the positive rod erodes.

now i have tried ss with ss and the negative has build up on it.

cleaning ss plates now.

i did find 1/2" 12" carbon rods (my last rods were smaller that 1/4")
now what i want to do is use rods for negative and ss plates for positives.

i now when i was using the small carbon rods they used less amp, but dont know about production.

Any ideas?

Tremorfalcon
09-19-2008, 04:56 PM
I know that most people say not to use dissimilar metals, but I think that could work. I just did a test yesterday. One electrode was regular steel while the other was galvanized steel. When the galvanized steel was positive, the galvanization was quickly dissolved off. However, when it was negative it stayed galvanized just fine.

Today I tried stainless steel and regular steel. The regular steel seemed ok when it was negative, the small amounts of rust on it turned blacked, no new rust. The stainless steel on positive got a little rusted (the side I cross-hatched with sand paper rusted more than the smooth side). But its just very slight rust, probably from the other steel because it brushes right off when I use a wash clothe on it.

So as long as you used stainless steel for positive, I think you could go with much cheaper galvanized steel or carbon like you were doing. I'm not quite sure how it affects production though, I was just seeing how fast they corroded. Part of my pre-tests before I start building my actual unit.

H2OPWR
09-19-2008, 05:04 PM
There are only 2 metals you can use to electrolize water. Stainless Steel. Preferably 316L. The other is Platinum (need I say more). That only leaves Stainless. You will have no luck long term with anything else. In fact any other metal can and will eventually corrode and arc. The last thing you want to happen in your cell is an arc then an explosion. Carbon will not work long term at all. I would recomend against the stainless outlet covers you hear about people using. They are low grade and have very high electrical resistance causing thermal runaway.