Brown water

[myoldyourgold]

Will not work and is not made out of gold.

[847563]

Some sheets are, those that can be eaten are gold & these were the ones I was intending to use.

To the other members that responded sarcastically, I was hoping for some serious responses. Ultimately, I want to electroplate some large surface areas with gold, so your jokes about large gold electrodes are in fact spot on. I have already made a wet cell with SS wire so I am capable of manufacturing whatever I want. I was asking, hoping to draw from other people's experience. Not sure if I've joined the right forum now.

[myoldyourgold]

Some sheets are, those that can be eaten are gold & these were the ones I was intending to use.

To the other members that responded sarcastically, I was hoping for some serious responses. Ultimately, I want to electroplate some large surface areas with gold, so your jokes about large gold electrodes are in fact spot on. I have already made a wet cell with SS wire so I am capable of manufacturing whatever I want. I was asking, hoping to draw from other people's experience. Not sure if I've joined the right forum now.

Well your wire reactor gives you some credibility. That is one I have never built. Now electroplating of gold on some base metal I guess is what you are going to attempt. It is going to have to be something very exotic because the electrolysis process will just strip off the gold from at least one electrode. Is this going to be a unipolar reactor or a bipolar reactor? Are you going to have the same voltage across the new reactor cell or cells as the wire reactor? Well electroplating of gold is not really my expertise so give it a try and report back. I am always willing to learn something new. I think if you do some research on the forum you will find what happens when you electroplate a surface and then use it as an electrode. I guess if it dose not work you can always eat it. Now that is just a joke do not do that!! Good luck wire man you might find something that will work. Only the ones that try have a chance of succeeding and if it doesn't try something different.

[Left-handed individual]

847563 I say go for it man. Give it a shot and see how it works out for you. What didnt work out for one person might work for another.. never really know till you try it for yourself and see results first hand.

Biofarmer93 I appreciate that advice. I started out using copper all the way into the cell directly to the S/S plates and instantly saw corrossion and discoloration from the copper. It makes sense that S/S all the way down might not be such a good idea, and although i really apreciate the advice against doing it that way I figure ill just try it out.. if it doesn't work out ill just simply and easily switch back to copper.

I'm almost done making my whole thing air tight. I'm using automotive silicone to seal it up.. looking good so far. I estimate that my cell will produce no more than 3/4L per minute based on the previous test run.. but given design ill be more than happy with that.
I haven't heard of anyone trying gasket based silicone as an adhesive so ill give it a shot. I'll post results here after a day of driving with it installed.

[BioFarmer93]

Some sheets are, those that can be eaten are gold & these were the ones I was intending to use.

To the other members that responded sarcastically, I was hoping for some serious responses. Ultimately, I want to electroplate some large surface areas with gold, so your jokes about large gold electrodes are in fact spot on. I have already made a wet cell with SS wire so I am capable of manufacturing whatever I want. I was asking, hoping to draw from other people's experience. Not sure if I've joined the right forum now.

Maybe you did join the wrong forum. Do you actually think that gold has not been tried before? Do you you really believe that we're all just idiots for using stainless steel? Don't you think we'd all be using nickel200 if we could afford it? Have you bothered to read back in the archives to find out what happens to electroplated metals when exposed to electrolysis in caustic or acidic environments? Well? There's a damm (sp) good reason it's not done.
By the way, fabricating a wire wet cell in no way qualifies you to "manufacture whatever I want" In any event, the sarcasm you received was mild and humorous, and essentially nothing compared to how we razz each other here. If your skin is that thin then you might want to pack up your delicate ego and hit the old digital highway.
On the other hand, if you can take the heat then you might find that good things are cooking in the kitchen, it's up to you- hope you weren't waiting on an apology...

[Left-handed individual]

I had found myself having some free time today so I decided to get this S/S wiring out the way. I gave it a shot today and it still worked decently well. I compared copper wire and S/S wire (both the same gauge) using only tap water and then with 1 tbsp of lye then with 2. My results showed that on either occassion there was a bit more productivity using the copper rather than stainless steel.. confirming what many said. The difference wasn't much.. but given the fact that you want these things running for long periods of time the gap in production using S/S wire will make a big difference.

Well.. got that doubt out of my head. about the arking... I don't know too much about that but from what I saw it can still get the job done just not as good.

Getting back to the real subject here... This brown sludge.. is it really a product of the actual electrolosys process itself? As in will it be produced by the use of water only or only when you use an electrolyte.. or both?

I would like to know because maintenance will be a great issue with my current design.

[847563]

No apology required, I've been insulted by experts !

[aceras624]

I had found myself having some free time today so I decided to get this S/S wiring out the way. I gave it a shot today and it still worked decently well. I compared copper wire and S/S wire (both the same gauge) using only tap water and then with 1 tbsp of lye then with 2. My results showed that on either occassion there was a bit more productivity using the copper rather than stainless steel.. confirming what many said. The difference wasn't much.. but given the fact that you want these things running for long periods of time the gap in production using S/S wire will make a big difference.

Well.. got that doubt out of my head. about the arking... I don't know too much about that but from what I saw it can still get the job done just not as good.

Getting back to the real subject here... This brown sludge.. is it really a product of the actual electrolosys process itself? As in will it be produced by the use of water only or only when you use an electrolyte.. or both?

I would like to know because maintenance will be a great issue with my current design.

STOP WASTING TIME WITH A WET CELL!!!! go dry cell ASAP!

[Madsceintist]

I compared copper wire and S/S wire (both the same gauge) using only tap water and then with 1 tbsp of lye then with 2. My results showed that on either occassion there was a bit more productivity using the copper rather than stainless steel.. confirming what many said. The difference wasn't much.. but given the fact that you want these things running for long periods of time the gap in production using S/S wire will make a big difference.

Getting back to the real subject here... This brown sludge.. is it really a product of the actual electrolosys process itself? As in will it be produced by the use of water only or only when you use an electrolyte.. or both?

I'm missing something about what you said. Your using copper inside the cell with the stainless ?? Or just to the cell. You shouldn't have anything but stainless in the cell !

Yes the brown sludge is due to the Electrolysis of water ! Tap, distilled, or any form of water, without electrolytes. I've tested them all ! The best way that I've prevented getting sludge was boiling distilled water with a speaker magnet held in the water while boiling. Poured it through a coffee filter and then ran it for 2 days with my gen in it, Next to nothing from the water, where as everything else was showing sludge. I think the distilled water from Walmart is probably not truly distilled. I cant comment on whether or not a dry cell creates the same effect but i would think it should.

[aceras624]

I'm missing something about what you said. Your using copper inside the cell with the stainless ?? Or just to the cell. You shouldn't have anything but stainless in the cell !

Yes the brown sludge is due to the Electrolysis of water ! Tap, distilled, or any form of water, without electrolytes. I've tested them all ! The best way that I've prevented getting sludge was boiling distilled water with a speaker magnet held in the water while boiling. Poured it through a coffee filter and then ran it for 2 days with my gen in it, Next to nothing from the water, where as everything else was showing sludge. I think the distilled water from Walmart is probably not truly distilled. I cant comment on whether or not a dry cell creates the same effect but i would think it should.

Just stick with DRY CELL, Distilled water (they are ALL the same) with NaOH or KOH, and high grade low carbon stainless. The sludge is from the ferrous metals degrading so 316L is most commonly used with best results.

dont bother with the copper vs stainless test. Copper bad, stainless good