cheap zinc puller

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pdecat

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Often zincs get hard to remove. The brass comes out but the zinc is stuck inside the cooler. I use an all thread coupling nut of the thread size as the zinc. Screw it in onto the zinc and wiggle it around with pliers and soon enough you can pull the old zinc. Grinding off the points on the nut adds clearance.

I cant get the links to work so if folks don't recognize the term Google all thread coupling.
 
You are clearly referring to pencil anodes. I don't recall ever having the zinc pencil stuck in there, but that it is a good tip to think of if it does happen. ( Could the pencil be a little too long for that installation if it is getting stuck the cooler or H/Ex?)

After I separate the remains of the pencil from the brass cap, I toss the cap in a small jar of muriatic acid for a couple hours to remove the zinc debris from the brass threads for next use (after 1st installing my stand-by caps w/ pencils.)
 
Had me a little confused, too.

Maybe leaving the zinc in a little longer, it'll get eaten up enuff to remove. Hey! It was just a thought.[:I]

Oh, And coupling nuts come in handy for tons of stuff. One of the more off the wall things is testing torque wrenches against each other.[:P]
 
yes pencil zincs. In some common heat exchangers there is little internal clearance for swollen zincs.

I never reuse the brass plugs because the pipe threads are designed to distort and seal for a single use.
 
Good tip. I'm had plenty of zincs stick in the hole while the nut backed out clean.
 
What's causing the zincs to get stuck. The zincs should, ideally, be placed in the output side of the raw water compartment , of which there is one on each end. It should have a single diversion plate.

This for a San Juan heat exchanger.
 
They swell up as they break down and wedge themselves into the neck of the hole. And then when you go to back out the threaded head the zinc get unscrewed from the head and stays in the hole.
 
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