Zinc Test

I live in a waterfront community with 100 miles of concrete bulkhead (50 miles of canals) . Hundreds of boats in the water and a zillion powered boat lifts. All this electricity near the water does not bode well for zinc longivity. We (every one that I know) generally*get*only 2-3 months out of them.

I have been buying Canada Metals, Made in China, zincs from West Marine. I decided to change so I are going to install some*zincs by the*Camp Company and American Anodes Company. Each one is stamped Made in USA and meet*US Military standards.*I ordered them from USAzinc.com at a very reasonable price.

I have been told that all sorts of crap including battery acid may be in the China zincs.* So now the test is to see if the US zincs last longer.

Now we can start the discussion about other boats, shore power problems and other things that are not under my control. I had an electrician check my stuff and everything is fine. For good measure I had him install an extra ground rod on the house.

The boat has a galvanic isolator.

What about this Made in China vs Made in USA zinc issue? Anything to it?

-- Edited by Doc on Sunday 9th of January 2011 04:07:46 PM

If in doubt, do not buy zincs from the Chinese. Since I am a metals guy though, to me Zn is Zn. Chances are pretty good the Chinese refiner sells Zn to a big plating company who really checks things out, so you should be OK. Remember though, if in China and the zinc plating or alloy fails, the punishment to the owner of the manufacturer is pretty severe. If in the US or Canada, who cares if a zinc has elements of*Co or Ni ( the common problem elements) in its matrix.

Battery acid? It is not a problem with zinc, lead maybe but a real stretch. Zinc is rarely recycled, lead is 50%+* recycled.

I posted on T&T and got this answer:

West Marine sells "Made in China" zincs from Canada Metals, Corp. Others
sell "Made in US" zincs from such companies as Camp and American Anodes.

Is there a difference in how long they last?

REPLY
Yes there can be. It depends on how good their quality is.
Many chinese manufacturers rely on subcontracting out and this is when
quality control really suffers.

There is a MIL spec standard that defines how pure zinc must be to be
considered pure. Only a tiny amount of trace contamination is allowed.
Depending on what was used; scrap metal or virgin zinc from a mine the
amount of alloy contamination may shift the end product on the galvanic
scale. Shift it too far and it will not have the galvanic properties
required for adequate anode protection.

The consumer cannot determine alloy purity without a test lab. For that
matter neither can West Marine; so they have to rely on the declaration by
the manufacturer that the zinc anodes are good.

You can thank the well intentioned but hopelessly misguided
environmentalist for banning virtually all metal smelting in North
America, resulting in this Chinese Crap Cockup of questionable quality
metal alloys.
Arild

That would be an interesting test.* The last time we were in Seattle, we bought new "recycled" zinc's*from*Fisheries (downstairs).*

During that same trip we*hauled*at Canal Boat Yard and they had a*4'x4' plastic fish box for old zincs.* We were told that they*get recycled.* I*didn't think to ask where they went from there.* I wonder how pure our new*"recycled" zincs are? *

Doc

Not to worry, zinc refineries are alive and well in NA, Australia, SA and Europe. Also, the mine has nothing to do with the quality of Zn in you sacrificials, only the refinery. Lots of bunk in the TT Reply, but if it is on the internet it has to be true..

For*the paranoia lovers,*Chinese zincs coupled with inferior bronze and*crevice corrosion is something to keep you awake nights.*Also, be on guard for stray currents from the marina. Even worse, there is lots of Chinese Al being used in jet liners, Fe in hull plates, Ni in stainless steel and Mo in alloy steel. To add insult to injury, the Chinese have now garnered the rare earth markets with Yt, Ga and Nb likley becoming unavailable!

Arild is not know for bunk.

Sorry Doc, there is enough bunk in his TT comments to discredit his opinions. Best he stick to his known expertise, whatever it is.

"So now the test is to see if the US zincs last longer."

WRONG QUESTION!

The question is do US zincs make your underwater parts last longer?

Doc, let's get*some facts correct.* "American Anodes"*is the brand name for a family of zinc anodes produced by a Chinese company called Stick Industry. http://www.stickindustry.com/pro6.htm.* They are imported into the US from China by USAzincs.com.*

-- Edited by Naples on Monday 10th of January 2011 09:05:46 AM

I can't say that I am surprised by anything anymore. The owner of USAzincs.com told me that he quit selling Made in China zincs. Who knew?

The American Anodes ones that I have are stamped "US Mil Specs" but not Made in USA as are the Camps.*I thought that they were all stamped USA. Next time I'll take a closer look. *I wonder if the US Mil Spec means that they are a better zinc.

Thanks for the info.

-- Edited by Doc on Monday 10th of January 2011 10:39:23 AM

Naples wrote:

Doc, let's get*some facts correct.* "American Anodes"*is the brand name for a family of zinc anodes produced by a Chinese company called Stick Industry. http://www.stickindustry.com/pro6.htm.* They are imported into the US from China by USAzincs.com.*

-- Edited by Naples on Monday 10th of January 2011 09:05:46 AM

Click to expand...

Interesting link.* I was in the die casting business in a different lifetime.* We had a sub-contractor (Oakland California) who made shaft zincs, and I know for a fact that he had very little quality control in the raw materials he used. When I asked him about it, he showed little interest in even knowing.* Additionally, when I worked in the shipyard, we re-cycled all the zinc on site.* About every six months, one of the yard guys would melt it all down, and poor it into flat plate molds.* The question of quality came up, and everyone felt they were just fine. I once got a few mil-spec zincs and put them on my boat.* They lasted about half the time of the off the shelf ones.* I only did that once, and went back to the off the shelf ones, and never saw a problem with my underwater metals.* Still, as FF said, a poor quality zinc is liable to last LONGER, but at what price?* ..............Arctic Traveller

Doc,* answer me this riddle:* how can he say he "quit selling zincs made in China" when he is selling American Anode zincs indeed made in China?* Something doesn't add up.

We look forward to seeing your test results.*

-- Edited by Naples on Monday 10th of January 2011 11:36:56 AM

Doc wrote:

I wonder if the US Mil Spec means that they are a better zinc.

Click to expand...

It could also mean that the marketing guy said, "Hey, let's stamp "Mil Spec" on them and everyone will think they're great."

For years we've used "Divers Dream" zincs sold or made by Martyr, which I believe is a Canadian company.* Recently they have changed the molds and the same zincs are labled "Mil Spec" and where it used to say "Martyr" on the top it now says something else ending in "Savers."* The "Divers Dream" label has been moved to the side.* But I would suspect that all these changes including the "Mil Spec" are marketing/branding changes only.

*

Man, this guy at USAzinc.com must be a total crook. His web site states that all the zincs he sells meet US MIL A18001 Standards. This is stamped directly on the American Anodes transom plate. *Again, who knew?

-- Edited by Doc on Monday 10th of January 2011 04:09:34 PM

Naples wrote:Doc,* answer me this riddle:* how can he say he "quit selling zincs made in China" when he is selling American Anode zincs indeed made in China?* Something doesn't add up.

We look forward to seeing your test results.*

-- Edited by Naples on Monday 10th of January 2011 11:36:56 AM

Click to expand...

He can say what ever he wants.* It only becomes a problem if he gets hauled into court.* Or Guido visits him.* Either way problem solved.*

Doc* Who says* the zincs in question are not up to "US" standards (an otherwise meaningless term). Google ISO, it has been the world standard for all things metal on a world wide basis for at least 20 years. The website for the zincs in "question" say they are up ot ISO standards.

sunchaser wrote:

Doc* Who says* the zincs in question are not up to "US" standards (an otherwise meaningless term). Google ISO, it has been the world standard for all things metal on a world wide basis for at least 20 years. The website for the zincs in "question" say they are up ot ISO standards.

Click to expand...

I wonder if Chinese toy manufacturers are ISO certified.

*

I don't know where they are made, but I've been buying my anodes from

http://www.boatzincs.com/

Certainly less expensive than the big marine chain and free shipping if your order is over $100.