magnets and gas tanks, and other applications

The discussion under 'gas cap parts in fuel tank' got me wondering if it would be worthwhile putting a decent sized rare earth magnet on the underside of a fuel tank, below the fuel sender location. My recollection is that the tanks were not internally coated and presumably there is always some rust - which got me wondering if an external magnet would collect some worthwhile level of ferrous contaminants. Putting it under the fuel sender would allow the curious to look inside (and report back to the rest of us) as to whether or not it worked. Probably better would be to put inside the tank, but I'll leave it to better minds than mine to optimize how to get it out.
I have rear earth magnets on our vehicles: engine drain plug; transmission drain plug; spin-on oil filters. Dunno if they make a true difference, but figure you can usually count on magnetism and gravity, and they're not expensive so long as you don't throw them out with the filter.
Doug

Doug

I have some rare earth magnets recovered from old micro wave ovens, big beasts at around 2" plus in diameter - got them down at our local tip (not available any more for some reason) and have one on the end of my screw on oil filter. Not sure if they work but give some piece of mind, along with a magnetis sump plug.



Bob

The magnet certainly won't hurt. The question is how much will it help.

I Googled a bit and found the magnet manufacturer's webpage linked below. I did NOT read it all but their answer kept coming back to "it depends".

Link to K&J Magnetics Webpage

dklawson said:

The magnet certainly won't hurt. The question is how much will it help.

I Googled a bit and found the magnet manufacturer's webpage linked below. I did NOT read it all but their answer kept coming back to "it depends".

Link to K&J Magnetics Webpage

Click to expand...

I've bought rare-earth magnets from them several times. Good selection.