cleaning rusty condensate?

jpf321

I was thinking today about perhaps rigging some very strong magnets (like the ones they use for door locks) to try to capture the rust from the water as it returned .. i did some goggling .. I came across these things .. anyone know anything about the?

<a href="http://www.wellanenergy.com/about.html">http://www.wellanenergy.com/about.html</a> they have some very technical discussions about their function .. but i can't quite understand how they work .. perhaps they're smoke and mirrors .. they are local to me in Long Island, NY .. perhaps I'll have to drop by and see what they're all about.



if anyone wants to comment on my magnet concept..i'm happy to hear from you.



thanks...

nicholas bonham-carter

magnets on the returns

i have some magnetic strips on my wet return. they are the knife-holder type, which would never fit in the right space in our kitchen. i have drained out samples of boiler water into a square-sided gin bottle. the magnetic effect on the iron in the water is easier to see with the flat sides. i don't think there is any advantage in buying specialist magnets--old speaker magnets could be used.

the benefit off trapping rust particles, using magnets is great, even though the particles will remain trapped in my system, and probably not flushed out.--nbc

lutorm

Rust isn't magnetic

Unless I'm totally mistaken, iron oxide is paramagnetic and not ferromagnetic like the metal. I think that means rust is not attracted to magnets, or if it is, to a much, much smaller degree than the metal.



But it seems it would be easy to test, just pour some condensate into a glass and try to get the rust out.

jpf321

Black and Red Rust

Here is an interesting piece .. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061224141352AAyrywl it mentions that Black Rust IS Magnetic .. but Red Rust is NOT. I believe that what we see as "rusty water" is likely RED rust.....but the mags will help I think to trap some particles .. but maybe not clean up rusty water ..

Unknown

Magnets

I tried some magnets about a year ago on my copper wet return just upsteam before the drain valve. They were rare earth magnets in the shape of an arc. I believe they are used in electric motors or generators. I got them off an internet site. Just look under "rare earth magnets". They (2 each) were about $10 ( plus shipping) I just taped them to the pipe with scotch tape. Unfortunately that's about all I can tell you as I didn't do any scientific testing on the result. I was in a hurry and just flushed the wet return and got a whole lot of black crud out. Whether the magnets collected it or not I don't know.

As for boiler treatments I've been using Rhomar's products and been quite happy with them. I generally try to remain additive free. This last spring I used the 903 to store the boiler during the summer.  [url=http://www.rhomarwater.com/products/residential-steam-system/  ]http://www.rhomarwater.com/products/residential-steam-system/   I'm not sure it made that much of a difference other than for me mentally, as now I'm aware of the possibility of corrosion problems where before I was blissfully ignorant!

- Rod       

jpf321

well i took some small ...

cabinet latching magnets and put them against my gauge glass .. and all the little specks in there stuck to the glass wall like glue .. so maybe mags won't clean the water to a sparkle .. but they'll grab whatever it is that's stirred up in my gauge glass..



i did do more research on cleaning boiler condensate .. there was a really interesting paper about it but on more of a commercial boiler scale ..  http://steamingahead.org/library/Strategies_in_Optimizing_Condensate_Return.pdf



i found a very strong electromagnet .. 4000lbs holding power .. http://www.lockandhinge.com/scripts/main.cgi?action=big&product=MM15 but for that amount of money .. i'm going to wait and see how empty my pockets get over this holiday season .. before I go "experimenting with pulling crap outta water"



i did run across an interesting comment which someone made in some forum about cleaning rusty boiler water ... they noted that if the water is rusty, then it has already done all the corroding it is going to do .. in effect the water has spent all it's corroding power .. and his point was don't go changing it for sparkling water which has all of it's corroding power intact.