Vinegar for a Yanmar

[thaeni]

I have a 3gm30F. Has anyone flushed their heat exchanger with
vinegar?. I had an overheat issue and someone recommended I flush
the exchanger with a couple gallons of vinegar. Will it harm anything?
THANKS

 

[Roy10289]

Seems to me that if there are no holes in the heat exchanger,then if the vinegar disolves the crud a bit you will improve cooling and should not hurt anything after flushing it out and replacing with the proper antifreeze mixture.
I'm interested to hear other opinions.

 

[Rick D]

Twice a year. Don't let it sit too long. But wait, you are fresh water. I would not think you would have any build up. It is far more likely that your exhaust elbow is clogged. I'd start there. Not something that will work long time, but try this: take the HE outflow hose off the elbow. Then take the fitting off the elbow. Get a 6" spring maybe 3/16 to 1/4 diameter. Put it in a drill. Spray come carburetor cleaner in it the elbow. Run the spring in and out of the elbow while spraying some more carburetor cleaner in from time to time. Reinstall everything and see if you still have a heating issue. If you don't, you ID'ed the problem and you should add to your winter work a pull out & replace or clean. At least, that's my take.

 

[Steve Dion]

Did you go sailing today?

I would suggest that you remove the caps from the heat exchanger and check it out for any material that may have been sucked up. You will need to get replacement gaskets/o-rings, but you will have a better idea if this is the issue.

As Rick recommends you may also want to check out the mixing elbow. They are also less susceptible to fouling in fresh water but it is work checking out.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

For this application, I think muriatic (hydrochloric) acid would be a better choice than vinegar. It's what the industry would use.