CorrosionX

[Eric Brown]

Has anyone out there tried to thin out CorrosionX for better spraying and atomizing ? What could you use that would not degrade the effectiveness of the CorrosionX ?

[WLIU]

Does it need to be thinned? The tech who sprayed my wings used some long tubing type nozzles to get it everywhere. And my understanding is that it seeps into all the sheet laps and causes problems if you want to strip and paint anytime soon after application.

What tool are you trying to spray with?

Best of luck,

Wes

[Eric Brown]

I'm using a home made long wand set up. The spray nozzle isn't the most efficient. It disperses water just fine, but the X is a bit thicker. Need to thin it down to water viscosity.

[Eric Page]

Isopropyl alcohol? A quick test would tell you if CorrosionX is soluble in it, and if the alcohol flashes off to leave the product behind.

[Eric Brown]

Interestingly enough, that's exactly what I did. Mixed it at 1/4 alcohol. Still a little thick, but seemed to permeate out.

[dclaxon]

CorrosionX makes an Aviation version which is already thinned down. They also make a Heavy Duty version, which a lot of cable and satellite TV installers use on the cable connectors. I talked to a CorrosionX rep at Airventure several years ago, and he said they are all the same chemically, but the Aviation version has a thinner carrier fluid so it will creep into tight places such as lap seems, and the Heavy Duty is thicker so it will stay where it is put.

[Mayhemxpc]

How about a handheld pump sprayer (with the Aviation grade Corrosion-X) or an empty Armor-All spray bottle? They handle some fairly thick stuff.

[Eric Brown]

My home made spray devise is a hand held fire extinguisher bottle with an inner tube filler valve installed on it for compressed air charging. The wand is a 6 ft long 3/16" brake line with small holes drilled in the end and attached to the extinguisher discharge trigger. I used this unit successfully on my previous C150 wings, but I was spraying ACF-50 which is much thinner than the aviation Corrosion X. With the X alcohol mix, it at least gave me a "dispersed ooooze" from the wing strut attachment point to the wing tip area. I had the wing on a rotating rack and could position it every 90' for dispersion and penetration. For the rest of the wing I used a siphon sprayer. With the next such project, I'll go back to using ACF-50. The Corrosion X is foul smelling stuff. That means it must work, right ????

[Eric Page]

The Corrosion X is foul smelling stuff.

Indeed it is.

Funny story: My last home, in Phoenix, had its air handler situated in the attic, where it was placed by crane before the roof sheathing was installed. You can imagine the trouble and expense involved in replacing that unit at the end of its life. While replacing a failed thermostatic switch inside the unit, I noticed that its heat exchanger was showing significant corrosion. Wanting to avoid replacing it due to loss of refrigerant from a rust penetration, I decided to spray it with CorrosionX, which I happened to have a quart bottle of in the garage. It did a very nice job stopping the corrosion from getting worse, but being inside the house was virtually unbearable for the better part of two weeks afterwards, and it took more than a month for the odor to dissipate completely!

Incidentally, the guy who bought the house from me walked through it once, made an above-asking-price offer and waived inspection. Houses are like airplanes; never waive inspection!