what is the health risk of copper corrosion

[tinsnano]

Dear all,

I am building an ice machine with copper tubes which are chrome plated but i am afraid of the duration of the chrome plate (i have faced similar plating failure). So i want to know health risk associated with copper being used in wet situation without chrome plate.

also i have noticed copper(may be brass) rust on water tap and tea boiler. so is that mean the rust is contaminating the water or tea?

so why is chrome plating is needed on ice maker while water tap and tea boiler are bare?

 

[EdStainless]

The issue with ice makers has more to do with the ice sticking (or not).
We supply stainless steel tubes for ice makers and they have a very specific surface finish, not too smooth and not too rough.

The first risk is flakes of hard Cr in the ice, this would not be pleasant, but it is physical and not a health risk.
If the metal is Cu (no lead) then there is no health risk either. Cu in water depends on pH, hardness, flow, and temp.
Most adults get 1-2mg/day. The limits that I have seen are 2mg/l (but discoloration starts at about 1mg/l) and 10mg/day total.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[tinsnano]

Good.

if the issue is only for ice sticking then i don't worry because there are many type of ice maker one of the type involve spraying of water on the stainless tube (I think this is the one that need more concern on ice sticking) the other type is immersing the stainless tubes in a bath of water (this is my case) so do u think sticking will be an issue in my case?

 

[EdStainless]

It depends on your extrusion mechanism, and how much water you are trying to squeeze out of the slush before it fully freezes. you may need some traction, but not too much to overload the drive.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube

 

[tinsnano]

my mechanism is as follow. A bath pivoted will align and pump start to fill the bath with water while the evaporator end (now the bare copper tubes) immersed in the bath. Then freezing cycle start and ends after about 30% of the bath water converted into ice on the surface of the copper tube. after this the bath tilt and the rest of the water fall and hot gas passing through the evaporator will let the ice formed on the tube fall.