I’m using Pico Quench Guard G and I haven’t I haven’t I haven’t noticed any ill affects from it.
Sterling cool is also considered an inhibitor of growth of organisms, inhibits rust, very little sediment on machine or metal and completely biodegradable. And totally safe for the environment. A 5 gallon bucket is $158 dollars. They say FREE SHIPPING but there is a catch: We offer FREE SHIPPING to the majority of the USA! Currently, there is a small flat rate shipping fee for orders shipping to CA, WA, OR, AZ, UT, NM, NV, MT, WY, CO, ID, FL and TX.
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I bought my Pico from trick-tools. Looks like current price is $157/5 gal. To my S Indiana zip the shipping was $18.00.
PICO-G, Quench Guard G Anti-Corrosive Additive for Plasma Tables (trick-tools.com)
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The MSDS sheet for Physan-20 is pretty sobering, and there are multiple cautions about the vapors and dangers of exposing it to heat, fire, etc. I misread (misremembered) and used a TBSP to my water table’s volume, instead of a TSP to 75 gallons as recommended on this thread. The lower concentration may make Physan’s safety a moot point, but it sounds like it’s probably not a great choice for a plasma water table under any circumstance.
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One TBSP per table (about 3-4 gals) is about 75 times the concentration recommended in the standard formula. That’s not trivial. I use the standard formula and haven’t had an issue with rust or bacterial build up and the flame only touches a very small percentage of the fluid. I also ventilate the surface of the table when I’m cutting so, overall, this has not been a problem and has only cost me $30 in material and I have about 1/3 of concentrate mix left after over three years.
OTOH, lots of choices. I wouldn’t breathe the vapor of any of them.
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I’ve got the bigger table, so it’s ~12-13 gallons, but, yeah, it was a boner for sure. I didn’t think much of it to be honest. Now I have to dispose of 13 gallons of this crap! 
Oh well…
That was my conclusion with the fine print.
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I read this article a while back. Thought it may be interesting to some users
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I just came across it last night, and it solidified my decision to try the Sterling product.
I’ll add, my biggest concern with spending the money on Sterling Cool was evaporation, because I live in the desert and that’s a HUGE factor here. Sterling says their product doesn’t evaporate. I can’t even wrap my brain around how that’s possible, but here’s hoping.
Does anyone know what the ingredients are in the SterlingCool? I plan on having my plasma table in an enclosed area with a 6 inch inline exhaust fan, the kind growers use. A glass window and a way to reach in if necesarry, like those mad scientists making new viruses. I won’t be breathing any plasma cutter smoke.
Check out this link it gives the exact chemical breakdown.
Ingredient name. %
Triethanolamine 10 - 15
Ethanolamine 1 - 5
n-Butylethanolamine 1 - 5
1,3,5-Triazine-1,3,5(2H,4H,6H)-triethanol 1 - 5
3,5,5-Trimethylhexanoic acid 3302-10-1. 1 - 5
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Thanks, I couldn’t find it on their site.
Just bought two boxes of Borax at Walmart: $6 per box. I think I am going to like that solution for me.
The ingredient list sure allowed for significant variation of the last four ingredients: 1% to 5%.
I am guessing they only needed 1% for the desired effect.
has anyone tried the Boiler Rust Inhibitor or know if it would work?
amazon - " Chemworld Boiler Rust Inhibitor - 1/2 Gallon - Treats 125 to 250 Gallons of Water"
Welcome to the community!!!
Seems interesting. Tell us how it works out! It has Nitrite and Phenolphthalein as a pH indicator. Since the phenolphthalein is damaged by heat, it is not likely that it would remain active in the water table.
I sent an email to their “General Information” and their “Tech support” emails to see if they would suggest that it would be safe and ask for a copy of the MSDS. I also posted a question on their product page to see if they saw any safety or environmental concerns with their product being used in that manner.
Their normal price is $73 per 1/2 gallon and currently priced at $45. That would work out to about $3 per fill of the table at the lower price. I think the Borax would be cheaper and no one has grown an extra arm or ear yet.
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Why, why, why?? Just buy plasma water table additive and be done with it… You won’t reinvent the wheel but might end up dead fuc#ing around with chemicals that don’t belong in plasma cutting water.
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That’s why I asked if anyone know about it.
Which table or you using. You waste less that 20 gallon of water to just use and drain on the pro table
Pro. I am still setting things up. I’m just trying to make sure I do everything right the first time thank you for your help