What kills dip tank solution?

[Shanarchy]

It seems my dip tank solution is completely dead. Dead as in you can soak a screen for an hour and it won't soften the emulsion. This has never happend to me before. What caused this? I don't change the solution, just keep topping it off. I'm guessing as ink an emulsion comes off in the tank and sit on the bottom it causes the solution to constantly work, making it weaken. I once heard that metal will neutralize the solution. Is this true? I mean our screens are metal. Or is aluminum fine but other metals may not be? I have switched from Newman's to Shur-Loc EZ frames. But I have a hard time believing these frames are not dip tank compatible. Can someone using these frames confirm they are fine in their diptank? I just never had a solution go dead before. Also, what do people do to to keep their tanks clean (as in removing the sediment crap from the bottom)? I'm thinking it would be nice if there was a mesh liner made for our tanks, this way you could regularly pull all the yucky stuff out.

Thoughts?

Also, I use Easiway Supra.

Thanks!

[Printficient]

So how long from a fresh tank of chems are we talking?  What other chems are you using in your shop area on the screens?

[Binkspot]

Emulsion, if the emulsion is coming off in the tank your dipping too long, just need to soften enough so they come clean. Your right about the chemicals working them selves to death.

[Shanarchy]

Sonny:

Easiway Supra in the tank, power wash, Easiway 901 for removing the remainder of the ink. I filled this tank maybe a year ago and have just been topping it off (not diluted) as I go.

Brian:

I'm trying to clean the bottom of the tank out by hand. A lot of pieces of scotch tape, but not too much crap on the bottom. I'm pretty surprised. I do pull them out while the emulsion is soft, but still on the screen. There was a small zinc plated steel shim that I use for holding off contact that was at the bottom of the tank. Could this be the cause? I make sure these don't go in the tank but it must have slipped in.

[mk162]

I am pretty sure it's only ferrous metals, but maybe it's a zinc alloy or it's a zinc coating that chipped off in one spot.

with ours we finally did have to replace after a long time of topping off, so it just might be dead finally.

[Rockers]

Just out of curiosity, at the bottom of the tank we find at times a "lot" of sludge. I take it this is emulsion and maybe screen filler or am I`m mistaken making this statement? But if it is emulsion will removing the sludge turbo charge the dip tank solution again?

[Binkspot]

We avarage 12-14 months, about 20 screens a day with our tank. I killed two batches in less then two weeks over the past 4 years and thought it may have been the mix match of frame materials being aluminum, steel and stainless but both times after a little CSI it turned out someone left screens in the tank over night to soak.
I do not clean the tank over the course of the year. When we do change the solution we have a solid mass of ink, tape and emulsion a few inches thick at the bottom.
I do add a few ounces of straight chemicals to the tank every Monday.

[Colin]

in our shop with our automatic screens with our dip tank using the easyway emulsion remover:

We get 330-360 screens before the emulsion becomes difficult to reclaim.  At this point we clean out the tank and fill it back up.

After the last clean out I to have started to "top off" the tank as the fluid level dips down below the screen frame.

[Shanarchy]

I added about 4 gallons of solution to it and it's working great. I just never seen it go completely dead before. I'm wondering if that piece of steel in there did anything. I'm also thinking the guy I had working here was leaving the screens in for way too long.the solution never died, but probably would weaken. Lot quicker.

[Mr Tees!!]

I added about 4 gallons of solution to it and it's working great. I just never seen it go completely dead before. I'm wondering if that piece of steel in there did anything. I'm also thinking the guy I had working here was leaving the screens in for way too long.the solution never died, but probably would weaken. Lot quicker.

...ferrous metal will render the tank solution inert. The solution is essentially speeds the process of rusting.

...when I got my first job in this industry cleaning screens out of high school, I mentioned to the owner that I could pre-mix a bunch of reclaiming solution (they bought the powder), in an unused 55g steel drum that had just been emptied of another chemical. He agreed that it was smart and a time-saver, so he ordered a LOT of powder and I mixed a full drum. Within a few days, the chemical stopped working, and rust started getting pumped up from the bottom of the drum. We panicked and had to contact the supplier to figure out what went wrong. A VERY expensive lesson learned, but neither one of us knew it would react that way (I had only been there a few weeks).