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Corrosion of 316 stainless steel door handles


Mr Punter

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The current development has a fair bit of stainless steel externally - most of it is 316 grade.  We have lots of horizontal balustrades, as well as lettterplates and escutcheons.  All have performed well except for the front door handles, which appear a bit corroded.  We have 8 of these doors on the development and they cost £3,600 each.  They were installed less than 18 months ago and when I contacted the manufacturer they did a sloping shoulder, saying they should be cleaned with specialist product.

 

I would not expect door handles to be subject to some regular maintenance routine.  What should I do?

 

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my thoughts would be thats chinese grade 316 -

-not real marine grade(304) ,which is the best type for corrosion ressitance

or it was covered in a sticky protective layer that left some glue behind 

try cleaning with a solvent --if it goes thats your answer --remains of a protective film  of some sort

worth a a try ?

 don,t think it will be as its looks worst where the tube has been radially cut to fit other bit

 what do you do --clean them then clear lacquer?

how long was the warranty on the doors?

Edited by scottishjohn
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I'd agree, it's not 316.  It's probably not 304/A2, either, as although 304 is less corrosion resistant than 316 I'd not expect it to show signs of ferric oxide like that in a non-marine environment.

 

Might be an idea to test it with a magnet, as 316 is non-magnetic, 304/A2 is slightly magnetic and "Chinesium stainless" is almost strongly magnetic.  The "Chinesium stainless" seems a curse that we have to live with, as I bought some supposedly "stainless" shed bolts that are now as rusty as an anchor.

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If you have seriously spent £28800 on 8 door handles then they shouldn't be rusty, you should write to the manufacturer explaining that you will be having the metal tested and be seeking a full refund + costs if it's not 316 stainless steel.

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3 minutes ago, bassanclan said:

If you have seriously spent £28800 on 8 door handles then they shouldn't be rusty

 

If he did he would be a fool, the total cost were for the 8 doors. Surely the handles aren't that much for the supplier to replace at their cost 

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25 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

I'd agree, it's not 316.  It's probably not 304/A2, either, as although 304 is less corrosion resistant than 316 I'd not expect it to show signs of ferric oxide like that in a non-marine environment.

 

Might be an idea to test it with a magnet, as 316 is non-magnetic, 304/A2 is slightly magnetic and "Chinesium stainless" is almost strongly magnetic.  The "Chinesium stainless" seems a curse that we have to live with, as I bought some supposedly "stainless" shed bolts that are now as rusty as an anchor.

 

Thanks Jeremy.  I did the magnet test and it is non-magnetic. The door people say it is 316 and I have no reason to disbelieve but I cannot work out why they look so bad.  The door people have just got back to me saying

 

"I appreciate that you spent this sum of money with us and in return we provided goods and works to the value of £29k. However, that does not remove the responsibility of the properties occupiers to maintain the goods in an appropriate manner and it would appear that no maintenance has been undertaken since the doors were fitted. This is not our responsibility to rectify and whilst I understand you feeling our position is not satisfactory, it is not unreasonable given the circumstances. I take no pleasure from these situations and it’s saddening to see our product neglected to such a condition."

 

I really did not expect to have a maintenance program on external stainless steel handles!

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ask them what you should be doing --if they want to play that card ,then where was the instructions on how to maintain these doors,considering they are more expensive than a lot of cars ,which have a documented service schedule

I used have same problem with chinese ex manifolds ,supposedly  316s/s - but they not  only blued but in 6 months turned brown 

 the manifolds and ex systems i had made by BTB still sell s/hand 10-15years at a premium later as they still have no major signs of corrosion on them  even now  when isee them advertisedo neabay etc 

 

the car has rotted away ,but exsystme is still there .LOL

to be fair my fancy s/c ex system solld for £780 +£360 for a maniflold  in 2001.

and i only stopped getting them made in batchs of ten when the price went over £1000 for a system .

BTB now only  do very exotic f1 and special systems and last price i got for manifolds in 2010 was £750 each to me--

kind of killed the market for saxo /106 customers

 the point is there are lots of dif spec s/s that are classed as 316  etc

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There's no real maintenance needed for 316 stainless in a non-marine environment, and even in a marine environment all that's normally ever needed is a wash and rub down. 

 

One thing that may be causing the staining is if the manufacturer either used a ferrous polishing system, something like steel wool, or a ferrous contaminated non-metallic polishing system.  What can happen then is that minute particles of steel/iron get embedded in the polished surface of the stainless and corrode.

 

The fix for that is to re-polish the stainless using clean green Scotchbrite pads to remove the contamination.  Looking at the fittings I think they'd need to be removed in order to do a decent job.  There are polishing firms around who could do this, but it might be an idea to test one handle first to see if this fixes the problem.

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maybe a good post on facebook with pictures might get some action from them 

you could reply saying how un happy you are are going to post pictures --before you actually do it

certainly people need to know these mega priced doors are shite

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6 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

There's no real maintenance needed for 316 stainless in a non-marine environment, and even in a marine environment all that's normally ever needed is a wash and rub down. 

 

One thing that may be causing the staining is if the manufacturer either used a ferrous polishing system, something like steel wool, or a ferrous contaminated non-metallic polishing system.  What can happen then is that minute particles of steel/iron get embedded in the polished surface of the stainless and corrode.

 

The fix for that is to re-polish the stainless using clean green Scotchbrite pads to remove the contamination.  Looking at the fittings I think they'd need to be removed in order to do a decent job.  There are polishing firms around who could do this, but it might be an idea to test one handle first to see if this fixes the problem.

suspect you are right ,due to the signs at the joint where they may used a grinder to finish them off 

at that price i would expect bits to be tig welded together anyway and nice fillet showing 

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Just now, scottishjohn said:

suspect you are right ,due to the signs at the joint where they may used a grinder to finish them off 

if you end up replacing them we've found that polished 316 SS  is better than brush-finish at staying corrosion free. It's something to do with the smoothness of the surface.

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4 minutes ago, Ian said:

if you end up replacing them we've found that polished 316 SS  is better than brush-finish at staying corrosion free. It's something to do with the smoothness of the surface.

 

I suspect it may also be related to fine particles of steel from the polishing brushes getting embedded in the surface.  Staining like this seems to occur when the fabricator hasn't been scrupulous at keeping all the stainless polishing  stuff separate from other polishing stuff, I think.

 

One option might be to see if the parts could be electropolished, as that should clean the surfaces and remove any minute particles of embedded ferrous stuff.

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