stripping down a water heater?

NickWheeler

NickWheeler

Joined
Dec 3, 1999
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So I've been planning a build for a new heat treating forge to use on clay coated blades.

With all the meth head tweakers around here trying to scrap steel for drug money, it has gotten pretty hard to find scrap suitable for this. I know quite a few makers have used hot water heater tanks....

The other day I see a dead water heater on freecycle. We went and got it last night. Since so many guys use these, I figure they must be really simple to break down..... right? :rolleyes: :foot:

Getting the hardware off was simple, and I zipped the skin with an angle grinder.

But is there a simple way to get the tank out from underneath all that foam insulation? That stuff is obviously sprayed right onto the tank, because it seems like it's freak'n epoxied to the tank. I spent quite a bit of time with a pry bar and didn't get very far.

My guess here is that it's a matter of a lot more time with a scraper/pry bar and making a huge mess- but if there's a better way, I'd love to hear it.

At this rate, hunting down a piece of pipe seems like it would have been a lot easier. :foot:
 
Spray foam? that's pretty new.
I'm still seeing the fibreglass pink insulation here


How about talking to businesses that do water heater installations and see if you can get a different easier one?




on that one -

Some wire, like a garotte / draw knife ?

Then an angle grinder with a braided wire wheel
 
Well, I hate that stuff. I do warranty work on water heaters and have had to scrape a fair bit of it off.

I'd maybe try a heat gun blowing in the water outlet and out the drain. You can go in the inlet too if you pull the dip tube if it's a bigger water heater.
The once it's warm, it might scrape off easier.
What size do you need?

Our shop is moving and I'm hauling away 100'+ of sch 40 and 80, 2"-8" pipe....free. It's all stored indoors so it's clean too.

If you're in no hurry, I could always get you an older dead WH that has the old school fiberglass insulation under the jacket too.
 
Use an older tank. Better yet, use something else. I've gotten squeamish about the possible zinc fume factor. I believe many water tanks are heavily galvanized.
 
In a well ventilated area I'd try building a small wood fire in the tank. At a certain temperature the insulation should start to seperate from the tank. Stand upwind as the fumes from the decomposing insulation/glue could be noxious or poisonous. I'd use something to hold the tank down while heating and a garden hoe to scrape the insulation off. Burning it off is a good idea but I don't know what the fire codes are in your area or how the insulation will burn.
 
I've got one I'm looking to dump/scrap ....
You're welcome to it (gotta come down to get it though!):)
 
If your out in the country where you can get away with it toss it on a bonfire, I would suggest doing it after dark, they make a lot of black smoke, or at least the foam filled fridge I burned did ;0)
 
I did one of these once........pain in the butt. I just sliced and scraped the foam off with a knife, and then wire wheeled the residue off with a cup wheel on a 5inch angle grinder. I found some old oil drums of about 14 inch diameter by 2.5 feet long so never again will I mess with a water heater if I can help it.
Darcy:)
 
I would try and disolve with gasoline. I've done fiberglass molds with expanding foam and thben disolvd it out of the hollow shell.


-Xander
 
Burning foam gives off a toxic fumes and carcinogens[sp]. If the the tank is galvinized then the zinc fumes can kill you to. I would opt for a different shell.
 
A couple of things come to mind.

Going off of Don Fogg's site, I have built a couple of these out of different size oil drums. They are really, really easy to come by here in Korea. Don't know about there.

They are both horizontal. If I had to do it again, I would look into building a vertical rig. It's just a real PITA to hold a long blade horizontally for several minutes. Can also lead to a bit of warping if the blade is not held perfectly vertical.
 
Just what size are you looking for. Might be able to come up with piece just like you want. My stainless mini forge is almost complete. Working again in a metal shop isn't all bad.
 
A hatchet works pretty good for removing the insulation. Once you get the insulation hacked or cut open the rest pops off pretty clean.

The ones I have done have some polyethylene on both sides of the foam. Once you break the mechanical bond its easy.

All the tanks I have cut up have been glass lined, rather than galvanized, some pump tanks are galvanized though..
 
Guys, the galvanize tanks won't kill you....unless they fall on your head. Also, the forge shell should never get hot enough to start smoking. Cutting it up and welding on it may give off some zinc oxide fumes, but standard shop safety practices will make that not an issue.

We have this pop up about once a week - so I'll post my comments again:

Metal Fume Fever is the condition you get from breathing zinc oxide fumes by burning/welding on/heating galvanized metal. It is a flu like feeling. Red itchy eyes, nausea, runny nose, etc. It is not fatal. Drinking milk, and getting fresh air and a good nights sleep are the treatment.

Zinc Poisoning is an entirely different condition, and is of concern with animals ( especially birds) but rare in humans.It is caused by absorption of zinc through food and skin contact. In its most severe case, it causes liver and kidney failure.

Zinc Oxide is a stable compound of zinc, and is not absorbable through the skin......or all the life guards would be dead. Like any fine dust ( and smoke), breathing zinc oxide should be avoided.

Heavy Metals is a poorly and improperly used term ( and not actually a medical term), that refers to any metal that is....well...heavy. Problem is that all the "heavy Metals" are not heavy....and all are not toxic ( the medical term is Toxic Metals). Some heavy metals are required for health. Zinc is one of these, Iron is another. Others ,like lead, mercury, cadmium, and many of the radioactive metals, are toxic, and can lead to death. The ones that are of a worry are the ones stored in the blood and tissues that slowly disable the ability of your blood and nerves to work properly. Zinc is not one of these.

Jim "Paw Paw" Wilson died of severe pneumonia caused by working in a closed shop for hours with heavy smoke. The presence of the zinc fumes surely did him no good, but it is misleading/wrong to say he died of zinc poisoning. His death was sad, but it probably was avoidable. Great overexposure to smoke and particulate inhalation, and severe pneumonia is what killed him....not metal fume fever.
Stacy

We all need to avoid exposure to dust and smoke, but working safely and intelligently is the best way to do that....not fear mongering.

Wear filtration - a good P100 cartridge filter mask or hood will avoid 99% of all metal/wood working problems.
Have good fresh air flow in and out of the shop.
Vent exhaust gasses. Even better run forges outside when possible.
Remove dust at the source -vacuum systems or other dust collection is almost a must for safe shop work. At the very least, vacuum up the work area after ( and during) dirty work.
If feeling woozy, take a break.
If feeling sick ,knock off for the night. Tell someone you don't feel well and were working in the shop.
If ill, see a doctor! Tell him what you do for a hobby, and what metals and woods you have been using. (BTW, doctor regularly confuse metal fume fever/heavy metal poisoning, too. They hear the same stories we do.)
When working with galvanized metal and welding or burning on it, keep upwind.
 
Thanks guys- :)

This tank is actually bigger than I really wanted anyway- maybe I'll make a bbq out of it instead. ;) :D

Brian- thanks for the offer. Unfortunately, I'm thinking something in the 14-20" diameter range.

John- have you gotten my emails and the updated sketch??? Hadn't heard back so I wasn't sure.... Hope so. :)


THANKS guys! :)
 
I'll look to see what we have at the shop Tuesday. There's a small chance we have bigger stuff.

As a note on water heaters.

I've been working on them for 16 years. I've never seen a galvanized WH tank. I've been to the factory in McBee South Carolina. The water heaters are steel shells welded up, threadolets welded on and then they are placed in a large furnace with glass beads. The shells are rotated so the beads melt and coat the inside of the tank preventing the tank from rusting. This is where the term "glass lined" comes from. I've heard people refer to the fiberglass insulation on older tank as the glass lining. That is incorrect.
There is no worry about galvanizing on any standard WH made in the last 20+ years from my personal experience. The oldest tanks I've pulled, worked on were from the sixties and they were not galvanized.

Sorry for the hijack Nick.
 
When I was in high school shop class we processed a lot of tanks. It was for cutting torch and welding practice, we split them and made hog troughs and the like. We put up an ad in the paper and it was unreal the amount of tanks we got in such a small town.
 
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