Cleaning heat exchanger

[Mybigblue]

I have been using 3% white vinegar every couple of years to clear some of the salt in the heat exchanger in situ in my yanmar 3ym30.
Do others do this ?
My local supermarket now sells 6%.
Wondering if that's too severe ?
Cheers.

 

[Blitz]

how do you do this insitu? I was assuming you'd have to remove it for a good soak.

 

[MikeHoncho]

curious also as insitu means in place. I guess you could add the vinegar to the outlet of the raw water to the elbow? Having a understanding of the ph scale and concentration, I wouldn't expect the ph to have much of a effect associated to the concentration change.

 

[Blitz]

looks like you changed your original post from mixing elbow to heat exchanger.

a year ago I set up a recirculating pump with RydLyme Descaler for my entire engine since it is a raw water cooled engine without a heat exchanger and felt it did a pretty good job on the passages. I pumped the solution in both directions with the thermostat removed. I can't remember how long I did it but it was like two hours or so.

I would think you could do the same for your heat exchanger, making certain that air is out of the system and the exchanger is full of the treatment while circulating.

 

[capta]

I will often take my heat exchangers to a radiator shop and they'll clean them like new for only a few bucks. They are also the best place to get them repaired. After all a radiator is a heat exchanger, too.

 

[jssailem]

For the radiator shop. $69 taken apart, cleaned, reassembled, pressure tested, painted, and returned ready to install.

I installed a new zinc, fitted it back on my engine. Figured it’s good for another few years.

 

[Brahmany]

curious also as insitu means in place. I guess you could add the vinegar to the outlet of the raw water to the elbow? Having a understanding of the ph scale and concentration, I wouldn't expect the ph to have much of a effect associated to the concentration change.

Yeah, bilge pump in a tub of vinegar, reverse flush from the raw water discharge back to the swp outlet.
I have used the 6% a few days ago great result.

 

[senang]

Add same amount of clean water to the 6% vinegar. Wait ........you get 3%

 

[Brahmany]

Add same amount of clean water to the 6% vinegar. Wait ........you get 3%

Point ?

 

[senang]

I have been using 3% white vinegar every couple of years to clear some of the salt in the heat exchanger in situ in my yanmar 3ym30.
Do others do this ?
My local supermarket now sells 6%.
Wondering if that's too severe ?
Cheers.