Letter 28091

Electrolysis in New Construction Finishes Design [Oregon] 

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I work for a general contractor in the the state of Oregon, warranty division. In 1999 we built a shopping center in Battleground Washington.The canopies at the entries to the buildings are constructed using a painted hot dipped galvanized steel frame connected to aluminum panels and flashing for the roof. The galvanized steel is showing a lot of pitting and rust. Could this be caused by ELECTROLYSIS, because of the connecting of the two dissimilar metals? If so, Who can I contact to verify this condition and help to come up with a solution. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

H. Wayne Buck
Construction - Portland, Oregon, USA

I don't think that the Aluminum could cause the galvanized steel to corrode; it should be the other way around.

I'd look into the internal corrosion starting from inside of the steel pipes which were pickled before the galvanizing and remained uncoated with zinc. You would have probably been better off not galvanizing the pipes as the pickling operation before galvanizing started off the rusting.

Khozema Vahanwala Automaxx   Bangalore, Karnataka, India

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