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Thu, Feb 23, 12 at 18:38
| I have a 55 Gallon stainless barrel (Type 304 food grade) and would like to make a tumbler for composting, all I want to know is would I need to be concerned about chromium leaching from the stainless alloys into the soil? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| No. 304 is immutable to the organic acids developed during composting. Careless fabrication may cause worked areas to be compromised ( susceptible to corrosion). Even so, this would be of small concern. |
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- Posted by toxcrusadr (My Page) on Fri, Feb 24, 12 at 12:08
| I would agree with alphonse. 304 contains both Cr and Ni (a fact I just learned by Googling, I learn something new every day around here). The small amounts that may come off it will be insignificant. There is a small harmless background of many metals in soil, and in fact it takes quite a bit to increase that to dangerous levels given the total weight of soil in your garden. I've made calculations - not on a SS barrel but other materials with the same idea - and was surprised at the results. Boy if I had a container like that I'd go into home brewing on a larger scale. :-] |
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