frozen lye bath - does anything bad happen to iron inside?

[Lewis Downey]

I have an outdoor lye bath holding 10-15 pieces of cast iron.  The weather is turning older here (Freudian slip, I meant colder). I expect the LB to freeze over soon. Does anything bad happen to the iron inside if that happens?

Within a day or two of the time it freezes, I plan to move the LB & iron into the basement.

[Cheryl Watson]

I have never left any pieces freeze in the lye bath...

However, others have reported it is just fine.  It will thaw in the spring. 

I just never felt the need to test it... :)

[Lewis Downey]

Thanks for that info.

It is not that I want to risk some iron in order to test a theory.  I have about 10 gallons of a 5% lye solution in a short tub on the back patio. I would prefer to move it into the basement as a solid rather than a liquid. I could take the iron out and wait for the bath to freeze but that might not happen for days or weeks -- during which time I would not have useful access to the LB.

If there is no expectation of short term damage to the iron inside, allowing the lye bath to freeze at temps in the mid-50s is a benefit. I will wait for it to freeze, clamp the lid with c-clamps, get a friend to help lift the solid tub onto a dolly, and roll it into the basement.  It could be moved as a liquid, but I hate the idea of the lye sloshing around while the tub is moved.

I am counting on the LB thawing within a few hours of being moved into the basement.  If everything goes to plan, the bath will be frozen for less than 24 hours total.

[Valerie Johnson]

How long will it take for sustained temps below 32 degrees to freeze the lye bath?
I am up in NJ, it was 28 degrees when I went to bed at 11pm and 21 degrees here this morning when I woke up at 5am, I checked my lye baths, neither was frozen or showed any signs that they were even starting to freeze with 6 hours below 28 degrees, I have 2 baths, One is a rubbermaid tub that is apx 28" x 16" with 6" of liquid in it for large skillets and griddles, the other is 16" x 10" and has 18" of liquid for smaller skillets and pieces. No skim ice, no ice around edges nothing to indicate that there was any signs of freezing.
From what I understand lye does affect the freezing point of water but how much will a 5% solution affect it.

I found this on viscosity of different lye solutions.

https://www.vinnolit.com/vproducts.nsf/allPages/50AB7B8678A88129C12573B1004E7AC1/$file/Produktdatenblatt%20NaOH50-en_02.02.2011.pdf?open

[Lewis Downey]

I think you are exactly right. Somehow I thought that the LB would freeze in the 50's.

It didn't freeze last night and this morning we had frost on the ground. I decided to risk it and managed to move it inside this morning.

Thanks for linking to the technical info and for your insights.

[Valerie Johnson]

If you look at page 5 there is a chart that shows the freezing point of various lye/water solutions, The chart shows that up to 30% lye/water that lye actually acts as an antifreeze, a 0% solution(just water) freezes at 0 degrees C, yet when you get to an 18% solution it drops the freezing point to about -28C and when you get up to a 30% solution that the freezing point is back at 0 degrees C.
My tanks will remain covered on my back porch until they freeze solid if they ever do, At that point I will move them off the porch just in case one of my containers  ruptures from the freeze that way I won't have to worry about a lye solution weeping out onto my deck.

 

I do think the efficacy of the lye solution may be hindered by the cold and the reason I say this is that in the heat of July and August my solutions cleaned the iron faster than they have now that it is cold.

[Greg Stahl]

I had a lye bath in my unfinished basement and it froze one winter with many pieces in it, including #50 gem pan, and a few other valuable items.  It didn't hurt them at all.  The top froze down about 3 inches and the total bath is about 25 gallons.  I had those pieces in there for about 4 months

I have an outdoor lye bath holding 10-15 pieces of cast iron.  The weather is turning older here (Freudian slip, I meant colder). I expect the LB to freeze over soon. Does anything bad happen to the iron inside if that happens?

Within a day or two of the time it freezes, I plan to move the LB & iron into the basement.

[Jeff Friend]

Read this thread.  A lot of good information.

http://www.griswoldandwagner.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1219183465

[Valerie Johnson]

I left one of my lye baths set up for the winter, It is outside on my back porch, It is a rubbermaid container/tub with lid, It measures apx. 28" x 16" and has a little over 6" of liquid in it, I put a skillet in it on 12/31 and pretty much forgot about it until this morning the temps here have been steadily dropping from just freezing/32 degrees F. on 12/31 (overnight low temp) to 9 degrees F. this morning at 6am. I checked my bath a few minutes ago, It is covered so that probably helps a little, There was a little slush on top maybe 1/2" but no solid freeze, as a comparison my inground pool which has a mesh safety cover has a sheet of skim ice apx 1/2" thick and my retention/irrigation ponds which are 50'x 100' x 4' deep are frozen solid ice(not slush or skim ice) down about 1" to 1 1/2". The efficacy of the lye bath seems like the cold retarded it a bit but it still is doing a decent job of cleaning the skillet I put in it. I will be keeping an eye on the Lie bath I have set up but it looks like I will be able to keep it up thru the winter.

I am located in Pemberton Twp Burlington County NJ 08068 just for reference.