The ribbon is formable enough to permit storage in coils or on reels. If the reel is mounted on a tractor or truck, the ribbon anode can be fed from the reel to a wire laying plow for continuous mechanical installation. The ribbon can also be placed in special configurations such as helical, pancake, or hairpin coils, where interior surfaces of tanks, large pipes, or condensers are to be protected. Gas Service Entrance Piping A gas company's need to protect the pipe located between a gas main and a customer's gas meter can be easily and inexpensively met by a small diameter extruded magnesium anode. The amount of current required in this application is typically only a few milliamperes, easily supplied by a small extruded anode.
Installation is a simple matter of driving the anode into the ground with a hammer.
Extruded magnesium anodes supply a portable source of high current that can be used to prepolarize a corroding structure. The design shown in Figures 8 and 9 uses an extruded magnesium anode attached to the core of an aluminum sacrificial anode. The magnesium anode initially provides current at a rate of 1 to 2 amps per foot of anode in seawater. By the time the magnesium has been consumed, the calcareous coating has been formed on the steel. The aluminum anode then begins to operate but at a lower current output than would have been required if the calcareous coating had not been formed.