At 04:46 PM 8/5/2008, Arild Jensen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >REPLY >Not to belittle Norm's concern; but does anyone know the exact >process and voltage by which chlorine gas is evolved from sea water >submerging the batteries. >I have conducted experiments in which I deliberately fed raw DC power >from a battery into sea water to test for stray current corrosion. >Minute amounts of hydrogen were generated but no sign of a greenish gas >like chlorine. > >I think it requires more than 12V or even 24V to create enough >electrolysis to create chlorine gas in any appreciable amounts at a >rapid rate. Submarine battery banks are series wired for several >hundred volts. Quite a different thing.
Chlorine is produced. The amount depends upon the current. This is how our Raritan Lectra/San MSD works. There are electrodes inside each chamber. The old set had 5, about 3" X 1-1/2", the new one I put in has 3 per side, about 4" X 3" I think. They're spaced about 1/4" apart. This gives enough surface area, and distance, to draw about 20 Amps. One has to add salt each flush if not in full salinity seawater. This thing produces enough chlorine so that if you operate it with the top removed, it'll "run you out"! No way is enough chlorine going to be produced between the terminals of a submerged battery. The current is way too low. It does make sense that hundreds of volts in a submarine would be a different story. As an aside, years ago Jacques Cousteau had a sub with the batteries AND electric motors outside, open to seawater. They filled the battery airspaces with some kind of oil, I think vegetable, and used motor brushes that wouldn't wear down in water. Motor cooling was the seawater going though the motors. I don't remember the voltage used. Rick ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The word 'experienced' often refers to someone who has gotten away with doing the wrong thing more frequently than you have. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
