General non-MG related discussions. No politics here please!!
I saw this product on Truck U on the speed channel. Its an electronic rust prevention device. Seems like a bunch of snake oil to me, but I wondered if anyone has ever used anything like this?
http://www.counteractrust.com/
Looks cool. But you'd think that a product that great would be used on bridges, pipelines, ships, etc. where big companies and governments would pay big $$$'s for it. Instead they're marketing it towards the (high end) automotive aftermarket.
Plus, their website is pretty bad.
The hubby spent a great deal of his career designing Cathodic Protections for government bridges, water tanks, underground tanks, pipelines, ships, aircraft, etc. but I don't have an inkling as how to do it. I do know that Cathodic Protection works but I've never heard him mention that product.
My two cents ;)
Cathodic Protection works by providing a metal thatthe corrosion/rust etc attacks easier and earlier than the metal you wish to protect..
The electronic version supposedly does something similar and I think Twigworker was playing with thisa earlier this year..
Home gas water heaters have/had a sacrificial element in the middle to allow rust to it and not the outer tank walls.
Hmmm......
Lots of lists of testing labs, etc. But no publications from those labs showing the results. No Journal articles, or peer reviewed publications that would give support to their claims - AND no Patent numbers?
Very dubious if you ask me!
As stated in their blurb (which I took the time to read, to give them a chance to state their case), this is apparently different to the method used to protect stuff that is buried or submerged (which which I'm vaguely familiar, it's used a lot to protect buried and subsea pipelines, which is the business I work in).
My first reaction is - if this is actually doing what it claims to do, you'll get an electric shock every time you walk up to and touch your car. Could be a handy theft deterrent, however...
Secondly, they spend a great deal of space explaining that they are NOT an impressed current cathodic protection device, repeated time after time on several pages. On the other hand, only a few lines on one page attempts to explain what they ARE - and I was not entirely convinced by their explanation.
Most of the lab tests (as reported in the manufacturers words, not from a report we can see) only showed that the device turned your car into one half of a capacitor, not that being half a capacitor actually stops rust.
The one test that did slow (not stop) rust they, themselves, state was carried out at 100% humidity, which may well have caused enough condensation to create a layer of water over the car, greatly improving the effectiveness of the device - exactly what they have just slagged off the Impressed Current devices for doing!
Finally, no price mentioned on the website!
My money's staying in my pocket...
Richard & Sammy (rusty '73 Black Tulip BGT)
I showed the post to the hubby last night and he words were "nothing but a scam --if it worked the car manufacturers would have already bought it out and we would have never known. They would never want to sell a rust proof car" :)
Up here, Canadian Tire was (not sure if they still do) selling an electronic rust proofing gadget. They sold a bunch of them. Also, one dealer that I know of sells it as the only option they offer for rust protection. i.e. they don't offer any other methods.
I guess I'd like to fast forward about 7 years and see what those cars look like.
I'm pretty skeptical myself.
I'm pretty sceptical - Truck U on the speed channel is basically a 30 minute infomercial where the two presenters bolt on a gizmo they come across on to their truck. They seemed to trust this product without questioning.
I'll just try to keep my B away from salt and water.