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rusting stainless steel

eligius1427 - Friday, January 26, 2007 - 2:11pm
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Hello, I recently went to look at a stainless steel wall fountain I had installed about 1-1/2 to 2 years ago and noticed light rusting around drip marks on the outside frame. The face of the fountain, which is constantly covered by running water, has no rust at all. They cleaned up the frame with a stainless cleaner and the rust came back within a few months. The frame was made from 7 ga 304 stainless steel sheet and the face 16 ga brushed 304 stainless sheet metal. I used new grinding wheels and flapper discs for all grinding and finishing. The only thing I can think of is the chemicals they have been using to clean up the water. They have been having trouble keeping the water clean and I guess have dumped everything they can think of in the water to keep it clean. They also don't have a filter in the pool. With this info can anyone explain why this might be happening only on the frame and some solutions to make it stop? Any help would be grateful. Thanks. Jake


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stuartfish's picture

Stainless is tricky stuff.

stuartfish - Tuesday, January 30, 2007 - 1:37am

Stainless is tricky stuff. For the most part it truly is stainless, but I have seen certain elements in water cause problems. First and foremost is an acid of some kind. Most rust I have seen on stainless is the result of an acid reaction, and it usually wipes off nice and easy, but the way to solve it would be to make sure that the ph of the water leans a bit to the alkaline side.

The other possibility is chlorides. The place I have seen chlorides cause issue is in a filtered system where a carbon block filter does not get changed often enough. If the water is chlorinated to begin with then it tends to settle in places and when exposed to air and water will form chlorides that can pit and rust stainless.

That's about all I've got for you. Let us know how it turns out.

Nick


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Asterix's picture

stailess steel rusting

Asterix - Saturday, February 10, 2007 - 5:47pm

Hi eligius,
I have had this problem with 304 and was told by my abrasive supplier I had contamination on the surface of the stainless steel. I must have used a tool "file, saw, grinder" that had been peviously used on a carbon steel, the contamination rust then slowly grows away from the infected area. The solution was to grind out the infected area and polish back to an acceptable finish. Hope this helps.


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