Zinc Anode, Would this work? Options

[balljoint]

A number of years ago I did a summer work term with a Toronto area Water Works Dept. We got to spend a lot of time observing various projects in the community as we were students. (Yup, I was one of the 8 gov't workers standing near the work that was being done but not really doing anything)

Anyway, one day we were at the scene of a watermain break and once they had the water shut off and the break located and dug up, they put a giant collar around the old cast iron pipe and then welded a giant piece of zinc (3 feet long by 10 inches in diameter) to the pipe to act as a sacrificial anode. This was to prevent further oxidation and hence weakening of the pipe.

I can access zinc pot draw samples from a local galvanized steel manufacturer. I have a zinc sample now that is 3 inches in diameter and 5 inches long. If I were to bolt this to the frame of my 914, would it help to reduce futher oxidation in the same way that the various zinc primers etc. work?

[davep]

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Basically, for it to work the assembly needs to be in an electrolyte. For water mains, that means ground water. For ships, and in particular ocean going ships, it is the seawater. That is about the only applications that I know that really makes use of a sacrificial anode. One interesting use of zinc appears to be a strip of zinc sheet used on the peak of a roof. I think the idea is that the acid rain dissolves the zinc, and these zinc compounds prevent the growth of lichen and moss on the roofs. I know my roof is affected except under the mains stack. There one can see that nothing grows below it.