# Stannous Chloride... POWDER (???)



## ALPHABiT

Hi guyz. I ordered (And now arrived) 2,5Kg of SMB and 250gr of Stannous Chloride.

Ok for SMB... It's white powder as i expected...
But stannous chloride ? I was expeting it was LIQUID... and not! It's white powder too! Now ?
Wrong order or just mix with water ?

On bottle i read: 
STANNOUS CHRLORIDE ACS - For Analysis
SnCl2 * 2H2O
Min. assay 98.0.103.0%
(oxidimetric)
IMPURITIES

What now to use ?


----------



## jimdoc

I got the stannous chloride powder as well and it
works great you mix it with HCl like you would with 
tin and it only keeps about a week so just make what 
you need. If it came as a liquid it wouldn't be good
because of the weeklong shelf life.
Jim


----------



## jimdoc

The directions I followed, they are either from Hoke or Ammen I think;

In 30-50cc dropping bottle add 1 dwt stannous chloride and 1 dwt or less of tin metal Fill the bottle 3/4 full of water. Add hydrochloric acid about 25 to 30 drops for a 30cc bottle. This gives a milky white liquid which is ready to use.The tin metal will dissolve slowly and serves to keep the solution in good condition. Test before use, as it lasts only about a week.

Jim


----------



## lazersteve

I add a gram of tin powder into 30 mL of HCl gently heat in an flask until the tin starts to fizz. Remove from heat and let it sit for 10 minutes. Some time remains in the solution as it clears. Mine lasts for a month or more if kept covered. The amounts are not critical and I just eyeball the reactants.

When it gets weak, I just add a sprinkle of tin and reheat. Every three months or so I make a fresh batch.

Steve


----------



## ALPHABiT

ERRRRR....
Ok... i feel dumb, guyz! 

So... 
Do i have to add HCl to some of my new Stannous Chloride ?
Or do i have to add HCl and tin and water to some of my new Stannous Chloride ?

I understood i have to male small quantities of test solution because it's easly "deathable" .


----------



## ALPHABiT

UHm... And last question...
What % of HCL (Muriatic) do i have to use ? I see there are 10%/30% and so on in stores...


----------



## lazersteve

The HCl I use is 31.45%.

The extra tin metal just makes the solution stay fresh longer.

I don't make mine using stannous chloride crystals, just tin metal and HCl.

If you don't have tin metal I think you can just make small batches as needed with the crystals and test it occasionally (against known pregnant solutions) until it quits working and make a fresh batch then.

Steve


----------



## jimdoc

Either way should work. I also used muriatic acid.
The formula I used only used the drops of hydrochloric
and it worked fine. Which ever you use, just test it on
a known gold bearing solution to make sure it works.
You will have to do that when you need to test it after
a while to make sure it is still working, and you will get
familiar with the results you are looking for.


----------



## ALPHABiT

I dont have tin, cose u forgot to send me ur offer... Remember ? 
BTW 30/40cl of 31,45% Muriatic each stannous crystal gram.
1 mini batch per time 'cose it expire quickly.
Many thanks.


----------



## ALPHABiT

> Either way should work. I also used muriatic acid.
> The formula I used only used the drops of hydrochloric
> and it worked fine. Which ever you use, just test it on
> a known gold bearing solution to make sure it works.
> You will have to do that when you need to test it after
> a while to make sure it is still working, and you will get
> familiar with the results you are looking for.



That's a great suggest... I'm goint into this... now! Thanks a lot.


----------



## jimdoc

The tin metal just keeps the solution fresh.
The stannous chloride is tin in some form.
You should be able to make some to test
and use that day with no tin using the 
stannous chloride. Just test it out, you will
see if it works or not if you have any known
gold in solution to test with. It has been awhile 
since I have done any testing or refining, and 
I will have to make a batch up myself soon.
Jim


----------



## lazersteve

alpha said:


> I dont have tin, cose u forgot to send me ur offer... Remember ? Wink



PM me and we will discuss this.

Steve


----------



## steveonmars

Where do you get tin? Where do you get Stannous Chloride crystals?

Thanks


----------



## Palladium

http://www.goldrecovery.us/
After you enter the site look at the bottom of the page and click :arrow: 
NEW: Purchase items from the videos! Click here to see price list.

The tin is at the bottom of that page. Cost $1 / Gram


add 1 gram of tin powder into 30 mL of HCl gently heat in an flask until the tin starts to fizz. Remove from heat and let it sit for 10 minutes. Some time remains in the solution as it clears. Mine lasts for a month or more if kept covered. The amounts are not critical and I just eyeball the reactants. 

When it gets weak, I just add a sprinkle of tin and reheat. Every three months or so I make a fresh batch. 

Steve


----------



## steveonmars

Thanks!! I should have know Steve had it.

There's a lot of Steves here.

Steve


----------



## goldpete

steveonmars said:


> Where do you get tin? Where do you get Stannous Chloride crystals?
> 
> Thanks


any place that sells chemicals should have it or will be able tpo order it.
the place i get mine deals mostly in swimming pool supplies but can access any chemical


----------



## ariep_fadli

Dear all, please help me, 

now i make stannous cloride by disolving 6 gram of tin for soldering (60 tin/40 lead), this tin prepared first by melting it first then recool and it form small granular of tin.

then mix with HCl 35%, then heat up until it fizz, after 1 hour fizzing, it start forming small crystal on bottom but remain solution its clear, then i remove the tin residue and put small piece fresh tin and add 10 ml of HCl to re-disolved the crystal. I was hope this already provide me tin(2) cloride solution.

For testing i make gold standart solution by disolve 24k gold foil with 200micron thickness and 16x4 cm squares wide with 10 ml AR, and the result the gold totally disolved, and deep yellow solution.
Then i took 1 drop of this solution, then put 1drop tin cloride solution, but nothing happen, it still remain deep yellow,
Is that some thing wrong in my step to prepare the stannous cloride solution? Please help me....

Thank you regard

Arief


----------



## jimdoc

You don't want to use "60 tin/40 lead"

Look for at least 95% tin with no lead, it will probably be antimony for the other 5% and that will settle to the bottom of your solution. Or pure tin would be better, if you can find it.

Jim


----------



## Irons2

Lead-free split-shot fishing sinkers are pure Tin. Available at any wally-world in the US.


----------



## jr81452

Judging from the wording of his post, he may not be in the US. Would it be possible to dissolve the 60/40 solder in HCL and then filter out the PbCl 2 powder/slime for clean Stannous chloride? Perhaps if you pounded the solder super thin first to ensure maximum exposure of Sn to HCL? Never had to experiment with alternative SnCl2 synthesis do to an abundance of on-hand Sn for casting. May have to mess around with it just to expand my knowledge :|


----------



## Palladium

ariep_fadli said:


> For testing i make gold standart solution by disolve 24k gold foil with 200micron thickness and 16x4 cm squares wide
> 
> Arief



The real question may lay here. Was the gold foil actually gold foil or fake gold foil?


----------



## AndyWilliams

lazersteve said:


> I add a gram of tin powder into 30 mL of HCl gently heat in an flask until the tin starts to fizz. Remove from heat and let it sit for 10 minutes. Some time remains in the solution as it clears. Mine lasts for a month or more if kept covered. The amounts are not critical and I just eyeball the reactants.
> 
> When it gets weak, I just add a sprinkle of tin and reheat. Every three months or so I make a fresh batch.
> 
> Steve






jimdoc said:


> The directions I followed, they are either from Hoke or Ammen I think;
> 
> In 30-50cc dropping bottle add 1 dwt stannous chloride and 1 dwt or less of tin metal Fill the bottle 3/4 full of water. Add hydrochloric acid about 25 to 30 drops for a 30cc bottle. This gives a milky white liquid which is ready to use.The tin metal will dissolve slowly and serves to keep the solution in good condition. Test before use, as it lasts only about a week.
> 
> Jim




Just trying to understand the reactions that are occurring. I am using tin sinkers and HCL (and heat to get to the fizz!). Now, as I understand it, the sinker reacts with the HCL to create Stannous Chloride. But thereafter, does it decompose, presumably from the loss by evaporation of the Cl, to metastannic acid? And is that why its advisable to keep it covered, thereby slowing decomposition? And am I right in expecting that the remaining sinker continues making Stannous Chloride which replaces the decomposed Stannous Chloride? Thanks in advance!


----------



## mikeinkaty

This is a very interesting thread!

Making a AU test solution-
Hobby Lobby has 24K gold leaf in small quanties. The lowest my scale will go is 0.1 gram. That would probably be way more AU than needed.
But, what are the ratios for AR? I saw somewhere that for 1 ozt AU add about 300 ml h2o, 300 ml 31% HCL and 68% hno3 till the reaction stops. About how much hno3 would that be? Are these ratios close? If I can determine tha approximate ratios I can back calculate for a small quantity of AU. I hope the gold leaf says what the thickness is cause my micrometer would be useless. I presume this solution would have a long shelf life?

Trip tomorrow to get some tin fishing sinkers at Wally World. Need to get some pipettes too. Should the stannous chloride solution be filtered? I won't need to make up more than a few drops. Probably try to make 1ml at a time because of the shelf life.

Getting the AR ratios straight I can add that to my inquart spread sheet so I can plug in the amount of AU and get a rough idea of how much fluids to add. I would like to know before hand how much I can expect will be needed. Maybe with time it will become ingrained in my brain.

Mike


----------



## butcher

Hoke book She states it will take approximately 4fl oz HCl and 1 fl oz HNO3 per troy ounce of gold.
This is about 118.29 ml HCL and 29.57 ml HNO3 per troy ounce of gold.
Or about 3/4 cup HCl + less than <1/8 cup HNO3 per toy ounce of gold.
Or 12 tablespoons HCl and 2 table spoons HNO3 per troy ounce of gold.

From these figure's 4floz HCl + 1floz HNO3 /T oz we can calculate any volume in any measure
31.103 grams of gold in a troy ounce from this we get:

3.8ml HCl + 0.95 ml HNO3 / gram of gold

(For reference a teaspoon is about 4.93 ml) 
(1 teaspoon about 115 drops)
(3.5 ml about 1/4 tablespoon or about 3/4 teaspoon)

38ml HCL + 9.5ml HNO3 / 10 grams of gold

I have made a chart calculating how much HCl/HNO3 in ml needed for, from 1 to 31.103 grams of gold, this helps when I work.

From this we can also see why over use of acids is so common with people new to refining, I have seen pictures of a few grams of gold dissolved in large pots of acids.

Now we also should consider the nitric in these calculations or figures, depending on how the reaction is run we may not need as much nitric as is stated here, and also consider any excess nitric will need evaporated off to precipitate gold, or to use this solution for a standard gold solution for testing purposes, so heating the solution and adding nitric just a little at a time, and not using more nitric than needed, (and or leaving just a little undissolved gold to get later), we can use less nitric saving this hard to get acid, or make removing excess nitric when done very simple and fast, as if we have no free nitric or very little we would not have to spend countless hours evaporating solutions, or we can use a one evaporation method and a sprinkle of sulfamic acid and be done, Also acid contain some water and adding excess acids in large volumes means we will have large volumes to evaporate off to get rid of free HNO3 in solution, by using smaller volumes of acids the gold reacting with these acids uses up the acids to make salts of gold chloride, much more concentrated, very little of excess water or solution to vapor off the eliminate free nitric, with figures above we are using a little excess HCL to help keep the gold chloride acidic in some free HCl.

(For just few gold foils less than a gram foils I would figure in drops of acids needed).
Or add a few foils to a small vessel or test tube, add 4 drops of HCl + 1 drop HNO3 heat test tube and repeat till I had gold in solution or most of it then back off on the nitric drops and heat (maybe leaving a few foils of gold or adding a little at the end, to eliminate (use up) free HNO3, one drop of dilute H2SO4, heat, cool, then dilute with 4 times water, let it set covered (to ppt AgCl and PbSO4) pipette off solution through a small filter funnel, adding this to a small clean glass medicine bottle this will give you a standard gold chloride solution to test your stannous chloride testing solution, or for practicing what you read in Hokes book when you practice her getting acquainted experiments to better learn recovery and refining.

Hope this helps


----------



## mikeinkaty

Wow Butcher! That about says it all! Thank you!

One more question though. What concentration hcl and hno3? Can I assume 31% and 68%. No water is necessary for AR?

Mike


----------



## butcher

No added water is needed, the acid have water even at this concentration,and water hill also form from the reaction, so at this strength there is enough water in the reaction to keep the gold salts soluble.
31% HCl and 68% HNO3 is fine.


----------



## mikeinkaty

butcher said:


> No added water is needed, the acid have water even at this concentration,and water hill also form from the reaction, so at this strength there is enough water in the reaction to keep the gold salts soluble.
> 31% HCl and 68% HNO3 is fine.



Thanks again. So many people here do not state the acid concentration in their posts.


----------



## butcher

It is normally stated so often that I just assume every one already knows, it is hard to include every small detail in one post.
Hoke's Book will include more details, which I missed in my short description.


----------



## AndyWilliams

AndyWilliams said:


> Just trying to understand the reactions that are occurring. I am using tin sinkers and HCL (and heat to get to the fizz!). Now, as I understand it, the sinker reacts with the HCL to create Stannous Chloride. But thereafter, does it decompose, presumably from the loss by evaporation of the Cl, to metastannic acid? And is that why its advisable to keep it covered, thereby slowing decomposition? And am I right in expecting that the remaining sinker continues making Stannous Chloride which replaces the decomposed Stannous Chloride? Thanks in advance!



Does anyone know enough to know if this is what's occurring?


----------



## butcher

Tin dissolved in warm HCl make a tin chloride salt SnCl2 called stannous chloride (water soluble) since tin is above hydrogen in the reactivity series of metals, Hydrogen gas is evolved as tin reacts with the tin (the hydrogen cation is what makes acids), if all of the HCl was used up in this reaction the stannous chloride would no longer be acidic (just a stannous chloride salt dissolved in water (water left over from the acid and produced in the reaction).

Sn (s) + 2 HCl (aq) → SnCl2 (aq) + H2 (g)

Stannous chloride oxidizes with dissolved oxygen in water over time.

Solutions of tin(II) chloride dissolved in HCl contain water you need some free acid and tin in solution to maintain the equilibrium towards the left-hand side Solutions of SnCl2 are also unstable towards oxidation by the air, so keeping in a closed container will help.

6 SnCl2 (aq) + O2 (g) + 2 H2O (l) → 2 SnCl4 (aq) + 4 Sn(OH)Cl (s)

This oxidation can be slowed down by keeping a little acidic and a little free tin metal in solution, and storing in a closed container, I use a small plastic drip bottle.


----------



## AndyWilliams

butcher said:


> Tin dissolved in warm HCl make a tin chloride salt SnCl2 called stannous chloride (water soluble) since tin is above hydrogen in the reactivity series of metals, Hydrogen gas is evolved as tin reacts with the tin (the hydrogen cation is what makes acids), if all of the HCl was used up in this reaction the stannous chloride would no longer be acidic (just a stannous chloride salt dissolved in water (water left over from the acid and produced in the reaction).
> 
> Sn (s) + 2 HCl (aq) → SnCl2 (aq) + H2 (g)
> 
> Stannous chloride oxidizes with dissolved oxygen in water over time.
> 
> Solutions of tin(II) chloride dissolved in HCl contain water you need some free acid and tin in solution to maintain the equilibrium towards the left-hand side Solutions of SnCl2 are also unstable towards oxidation by the air, so keeping in a closed container will help.
> 
> 6 SnCl2 (aq) + O2 (g) + 2 H2O (l) → 2 SnCl4 (aq) + 4 Sn(OH)Cl (s)
> 
> This oxidation can be slowed down by keeping a little acidic and a little free tin metal in solution, and storing in a closed container, I use a small plastic drip bottle.



Thanks Butcher, one more question if you please. Does the stannous decompose into metastannic acid? 

Thanks again, 

Andy


----------



## FrugalRefiner

Andy,

I'll take a crack at this part of your question. Butcher or someone else can correct me if I'm wrong.

I believe stannous chloride (SnCl2, aka tin(II) chloride) decomposes into stannic chloride (SnCl4, aka tin(IV) chloride)

Here's a link to the Wiki if you want to learn more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin(II)_chloride. (Not sure why this link won't paste correctly. You may need to copy it and paste it into your browser.)

Metastannic acid is the result of combining tin and nitric acid, something you don't want to do.

Dave


----------



## butcher

Thanks Dave,
I will post this also.
I do not like tin in any of my solutions (except for my testing solution of stannous chloride).

No there is not enough hydrogen from acid or enough of an oxidizer to form H2SnO3 meta-stannic acid,(in the stannous chloride testing solution), That you would normally get from tin in nitric acid with its highly oxidizing properties.

Meta-stannic acid H2SnO3 is what forms in nitric acid, by the strong oxidizing properties and the highly acidic solution of nitric acid.

Tin with HCl forms stannous chloride SnCl2.

Tin in aqua regia forms stannic chloride SnCl4.

Tin with cold very-very dilute nitric acid forms stannous nitrate and ammonia.

Tin in nitric acid forms meta-stannic acid H2SnO3.

Tin in hydroxides can form Sn(OH)2 or Sn(OH)4.


----------



## g_axelsson

A working link to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin(II)_chloride
You have to use the URL-button above the edit window.
Hold the mouse pointer above it or press quote on this message to see how to write.

/Göran


----------



## butcher

Ok
Help out a computer dummy, 
what is a URL button.
What is a exit window.


----------



## g_axelsson

butcher said:


> Ok
> Help out a computer dummy,
> what is a URL button.
> What is a exit window.


Finally I can give something back. 8) 
When you press "Reply" on the end of the page or "Quote" on a post then you get to the page to edit your message.That is what I call the "edit" window, not exit. I think I should actually have called it the edit box instead of a window... my bad.
Anyhow, above the box you write your message in there are a number of buttons for *bold*, _italic_, strike under... and so on. At the end one button is labeled "URL". Pressing it puts code for writing URL:s (Universal Resource Locator), ie links. Usually the forum is smart enough to create links of the text we just writes with the http in the beginning, but some are harder to recognize as links, for example when there are parenthesis in the link. Then the URL-button is your help.
If you hold the mouse pointer above a button a help text appears between the buttons and the edit box, describing the usage.

/Göran


----------



## butcher

Thank you very much, I think I understand now, so maybe now I can also use the quote button too.

You guys may have trouble now reading my post when I begin to play with these buttons.


----------



## FrugalRefiner

Göran,

Thanks for posting the working link and explaining how to paste it. My links usually work but this one wouldn't work for me even after copying and pasting it a couple of times. I thought it was the underline character that caused the problem with this one. Now I realize it was the closing parenthesis.

Thanks,
Dave


----------



## AndyWilliams

So after clicking my edit box. . . lol!

Thanks Butcher and Dave. Don't know why, but the chemistry of Stannous was bugging me. Thanks for your time!! I'll read up on the link.


----------



## butcher

Andy, 
I think tin is so reactive it is kind of complicated to understand all of its chemistry; I am still trying to learn much more about it myself.

The better we can understand this useful and troublesome metal, the better we will be able to use it, and deal with it and the problems it causes us.


----------



## howdee500

Is it possible to use bit of tin can tops? Are they really tin or steel?
My soldier all either contains lead, has no or vague contents labeling or is non magnetic
Beena while since buying any fishing gear, didn't know about any non-lead weights, wally world=Walmart?
I know I can buy the powder online but was hoping to test today


----------



## philddreamer

Go to Radio Shack, buy some Lead-Free solder, 96% Tin/4% Silver.
Take care!
Phil


----------



## FrugalRefiner

howdee500 said:


> Is it possible to use bit of tin can tops? Are they really tin or steel?
> My soldier all either contains lead, has no or vague contents labeling or is non magnetic
> Beena while since buying any fishing gear, didn't know about any non-lead weights, wally world=Walmart?
> I know I can buy the powder online but was hoping to test today



Howdee,

"Tin cans" usually do not have any tin content anymore.

Wally World does = Walmart. I bought some tin split shot sinkers there that work well. They have a few different sizes, all the same price. Check them all for the greatest weight per bag. I've also seen tin sinkers at stores other than Walmart.

Dave


----------



## AUH-R

philddreamer said:


> Go to Radio Shack, buy some Lead-Free solder, 96% Tin/4% Silver.
> Take care!
> Phil




Does the bit of copper matter in that type of solder?

I saw a guy on youtube using 60/40 tin/lead solder for his stannous and it looked to be working fine. What would be the problem using this?

Regards,

AuH-R


----------



## butcher

Lead is pretty much insoluble as a chloride, so most of the lead would precipitate from the stannous chloride solution as a white powder of lead chloride.
So it could work.

Here is the problem I see with using 60/40 solder, when I work with gold, I have a lot of time, energy and usually money invested, pure tin solder is cheap, easy to get, gold is very expensive and not easy to get, as important as testing is to determine where your gold is, and where it is not, or to determine if you dump a solution into the waste bucket that may or may not hold value, trusting a test solution is important, and can determine if you win or lose, so why gamble with anything other than the pure tin to make such an important decision.
Solder can also contain fluxes, so you want to be aware your 95% tin solder does not have a flux involved.

With lead being removed from much of our solders nowadays tin solder is very common, tin can be found in fishing weights, which is also getting much more common.

copper is a metal that will strongly color solutions, with the stannous chloride test we need to read a color, why make your test solutions with a metal that will influence the color of such an important reaction.


----------



## g_axelsson

butcher said:


> Solder can also contain fluxes, so you want to be aware your 95% tin solder does not have a flux involved.


The easy way to remove the flux would be just to melt the solder before usage.



butcher said:


> copper is a metal that will strongly color solutions, with the stannous chloride test we need to read a color, why make your test solutions with a metal that will influence the color of such an important reaction.


Don't know where the copper came from.

If lead would be a problem then we shouldn't be able to use stannous in solutions saturated with lead chloride. I don't think there should be a problem to use 60/40 tin/lead solder, just test it with your standard solution before usage as with any stannous. I've tested it once just for fun and it worked just fine. I dissolved the solder from a circuit board
But I would use tin whenever I have it available, the lesser unknowns in a reaction the fewer problems you will run into.

Göran


----------



## AUH-R

g_axelsson said:


> butcher said:
> 
> 
> 
> Solder can also contain fluxes, so you want to be aware your 95% tin solder does not have a flux involved.
> 
> 
> 
> The easy way to remove the flux would be just to melt the solder before usage.
> 
> 
> 
> butcher said:
> 
> 
> 
> copper is a metal that will strongly color solutions, with the stannous chloride test we need to read a color, why make your test solutions with a metal that will influence the color of such an important reaction.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't know where the copper came from.g_axelsson
Click to expand...

Here in the UK I'm finding it really difficult to get hold of pure tin for some bizarre reason. I have done endless searches on google and fleabay. The copper came from the lead free solder available to me, they all seem to have this break down: LEAD FREE SOLDER - 95% TIN / 4% SILVER / 1% COPPER



g_axelsson said:


> If lead would be a problem then we shouldn't be able to use stannous in solutions saturated with lead chloride. I don't think there should be a problem to use 60/40 tin/lead solder, just test it with your standard solution before usage as with any stannous. I've tested it once just for fun and it worked just fine. I dissolved the solder from a circuit boardg_axelsson


Good to know thanks.



butcher said:


> But I would use tin whenever I have it available, the lesser unknowns in a reaction the fewer problems you will run into.butcher


Butcher thanks for the response I really want to use pure tin but I'm struggling to find a cheap source here in the UK.

Best wishes,


----------



## jason_recliner

Why does Stannous Chloride only last a short time?
I made mine by chunks of fluxless 99.3% Sn / 0.7% Cu solder in a glass bottle of HCl. It's always got spare metal in the bottom and has a well sealing lid. It _appears_ to still be acidic (I don't have litmus paper, but putting a swab down still makes scrap timber go yellow).


----------



## g_axelsson

jason_recliner said:


> Why does Stannous Chloride only last a short time?
> I made mine by chunks of fluxless 99.3% Sn / 0.7% Cu solder in a glass bottle of HCl. It's always got spare metal in the bottom and has a well sealing lid. It _appears_ to still be acidic (I don't have litmus paper, but putting a swab down still makes scrap timber go yellow).


It oxidizes.

Göran


----------



## jason_recliner

I'm making some new stuff again today. Last time I cut and squeezed my fluxless, almost pure tin, "solder" into chunks with pliers to increase surface area. This time, just for kicks, I thought I'd see how far tin will hammer out, for faster dissolution.
Seems to go a long way! The length of rod hammered on was about as long as the coin.


:?: Now, how do the rest of you highly ecologically responsible people dispose of expired, oxidised stannous chloride? (maybe that's perchlorate?)
Keeping in mind all the issues tin raises in potential future recovery of values from the pot, I thought it would be better to keep a separate stash of "Stannous Chloro Wastus" than to stock pot it. Maybe just a dedicated jar outside with sodium hydroxide solids in the bottom and no lid?


----------



## g_axelsson

Put the old stannous with the other liquid wastes. Only liquids with values in it should go to the stock pot.

Göran


----------



## jason_recliner

Cheers, Göran.


----------



## ExNuke

g_axelsson said:


> butcher said:
> 
> 
> 
> Solder can also contain fluxes, so you want to be aware your 95% tin solder does not have a flux involved.
> 
> 
> 
> The easy way to remove the flux would be just to melt the solder before usage.
> 
> 
> 
> butcher said:
> 
> 
> 
> copper is a metal that will strongly color solutions, with the stannous chloride test we need to read a color, why make your test solutions with a metal that will influence the color of such an important reaction.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Don't know where the copper came from.
> 
> If lead would be a problem then we shouldn't be able to use stannous in solutions saturated with lead chloride. I don't think there should be a problem to use 60/40 tin/lead solder, just test it with your standard solution before usage as with any stannous. I've tested it once just for fun and it worked just fine. I dissolved the solder from a circuit board
> But I would use tin whenever I have it available, the lesser unknowns in a reaction the fewer problems you will run into.
> 
> Göran
Click to expand...


I'm a raw beginner/hobbyist at refining but I've been an Electrician/ET most of my life. Be aware that a lot of electronics since the ""War on Lead" started have gone to using "lead Free" solder or 90%+ Tin. This is good and bad, Tin in solid state electronics, carrying electrical current, tend to grow whiskers of Tin that were suppressed by the lead in normal solder. Those whiskers are the cause of a lot of failures of electronic products.


----------



## g_axelsson

I'm well aware of newer solders usually are lead free. The gist of my post was to show that older lead-tin solder is perfectly all right to use and people doesn't need to hunt for lead free solder to make stannous chloride test solution.
It even works by just putting a piece of an old circuit board with solder on it in hydrochloric acid, I've tried it. So any excuse for not using stannous to test for gold in solution is just a bad excuse.

But of course, lead fee solders works just as fine to make stannous chloride, just as an old pewter bowl does.

Göran


----------

