Ferric Chloride Freezing Point?

[Bill DeShivs]

I hate the extreme cold, but the summer heat you get in the South would kill me! I am looking for shade when it gets above 25C (77F)

We have BOTH kind of temperature control- heating AND air conditioning! To paraphrase the Blue Brothers movie.

 

[milesofalaska]

Here in Alaska outside can be 60 below zero. I heat shop with wood stove. I gather wood and keep an eye out for interesting burls patterns for knife work, cut that out and stabilize, all the scraps help heat the shop. My FeCl freezes and thaws, and this does not seem to bother it. I prefer nitric and muriatic so I can etch stainless.

 

[kdnolin]

Here in Alaska outside can be 60 below zero. I heat shop with wood stove. I gather wood and keep an eye out for interesting burls patterns for knife work, cut that out and stabilize, all the scraps help heat the shop. My FeCl freezes and thaws, and this does not seem to bother it. I prefer nitric and muriatic so I can etch stainless.

What is your container made of? My biggest concern is having it crack from freezing.

 

[milesofalaska]

What is your container made of?

For the FeCl, I etch only 1-2 blades at a time so cut the top off plastic soda containers. Only 3/4 full. I also let the bottles the FeCl comes in freeze after removing a tablespoon. It is one of the radio shack bottles plastic, about a pint. The nitric mix does not freeze, and is left outdoors, as no matter what I do it rusts everything in the shop, including motors. When I use this I use a Q=tip and keep coating the blade and keeping an eye on the etch depth. Dunk is baking soda water when done. Remove wax with gasoline. All his can be cold. I have had a concern about freeze and breaking, so for a while put bottles in bowl in case of freezing and spill. Never had an issue. Oh, when freezing it seems to crystalize and separate so I need to warm to get it to mix again, I heat it by heating a stainless bar with a torch and putting this in the liquid. I get the liquid to about 150 degrees. I have frozen and refrozen with no ill effects.

 

[kdnolin]

milesofalaska thanks for the reply. This is my first winter storing FeCl and you have addressed exactly what i was concerned about. My container is made of ABS pipe, so it is quite sturdy and shouldn't break. I suspected it was separating when it became slushy. Kind of like making freezer moonshine, the water freezes before the alcohol.

 

[kuraki]

Mine has never fully frozen hard, even at -30F. It just seems to turn to slush like my quench oil.

 

[Natlek]

I don’t have constant heat in my workshop and temps here will reach -30 C in winter and 2 winters ago hit -40. I have an ABS container and am concerned about it freezing and breaking.

If your ABS container is not 20 gallon one , take it out of you shop where it is warmer.You don t use it every five minutes .........Two page about three beers container