I cut away the outer metal sheeting of a used hot water tank to make a batch heater and discovered the insulation surrounding the tank is a hardened foam type that forms a solid rigid mass around the tank and is adhered to the water tank inside. Do you have any recommendations for removing this insulation easily so I can use the steel tank inside for my batch heater?
I'd just use a wood chisel to get most of the foam insulation off. Then I'd use a paint scraper to finish the job.
After you scrape and scrape take the tank out in an open area and with kerosene you can burn off the remainder in a short time, do not breathe the fumes but this will clean the outside,be careful with fire use safte practice.
After I scraped and scraped, I would take the tank in an open area and put kerosene on the outside and burn it for a few minutes, this will strip all the unwanted insulation off, then I sand with an air sander prime and then use the bar-b-que black heat paint, the burn will only take 5 minutes or so but will remove all unwanted insulation.Be careful and use good fire safty handeling procedures, have water hose and wear gloves.Remember to let the tank cool before you handle.
I have a hammer drill that has a hammer chisel option- I simply plug it in, set it to chisel and go to town. A little loud (hollow metel cylinders do that) but very effective. I tried the old chisel and hammer option but found it very tedious. The second choice would be a sawz-all (reciprocating saw) with a nice, long flexible wood/bi-metal blade. Good luck, building my own 3 tanker right now!
I REMOVED THE FOAM BY CUTTING IT INTO SECTIONS WITH A RAZOR BLADE KNIFE THE SAME WIDTH AS MY SCRAPER, THEN I GOT UNDER IT WITH THE SCAPER AND JUST POPPED THEM OFF,PLACED THEM IN A LARGE BOX AND DISPOSED OF THE WHOLE MESS WITHOUT LEAVING A MESS
I made just what you are talking about I used a saw to cut through the insukating material and then sanded off the residue with a belt sander. Wetting the insulation helps to loosen it also. After that paint it flat black and put it in the sun . My heater pre heats the H2o to between 100 and 120 degrees depending on the cloud cover Make one it's fun.;
We skinned out our old hot water heater and want to use the tank for a bbq pit, but cannot seem to get the old residue inside the tank to burn off - even after 2 intense wood fires in it. Any ideas? We want to make sure it is safe for cooking in...
I agree with the other person and I would LOVE to see pictures of what you are doing. We are hoping to make a passive solar hot water heater still this summer. and I need all the encouragement that I can get.
Best of luck with your project
Suehttp://goinggreenish.blogspot.com/
Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.
