Need one more vinegar pass?

[vyper]

I followed the instructions for cleaning the rad on Maxx's sticky, and after the second vinegar soaking, the vinegar comes out looking like murky lemonade. Is it supposed to be clear? Do I need to soak it one more time in vinegar?

[phelan1777]

I followed the instructions for cleaning the rad on Maxx's sticky, and after the second vinegar soaking, the vinegar comes out looking like murky lemonade. Is it supposed to be clear? Do I need to soak it one more time in vinegar?


Keep soaking till its clear.

[PenumbralFigure]

Keep soaking till its clear.

Agreed.

[vyper]

How many passes did you guys have to make? The gunk coming out of my rad isn't even approaching something I'd call "clear" :brick:

[phelan1777]

How many passes did you guys have to make? The gunk coming out of my rad isn't even approaching something I'd call "clear" :brick:


I have done three soaks on my PA, and on my 302, and they still need more work.


How long are you soaking? try leaving it go over night?

Do you shake the rad when the vinegar is in it, to try and get as much air out as possible?

I tape of the holes and flip it 360degress (while holding the tape on the holes.) , and shake it for a bout a 30 seconds or so.

[vyper]

Those are good ideas. I do shake it a little and have been leaving it overnight. I don't mind making more passes as long as there's the possibility of getting crystal clean vinegar coming out the other end!

[qwerty69]

Do you guys replace the "murky lemonade" vinegar with "new" vinegar after just one pass?

If yes, i guess i would be pouring away 1 year's worth of (consumed) vinegar for just 1 rad. :)

[vyper]

Yep, I've been using new vinegar for each pass and together with cleaning water blocks and flushing the rad, I've gone through two gallons of the stuff. Will probably need at least 1 more gallon by the time I'm through.

[Viktor]

I've soaked my BIX 2 about 7 times, it still isn't clear. :)

[aMp]

I cycled vinegar through my BIP3 four times over three days and there was still crap coming out. At that point I said screw it, ran some distilled through it and installed the damn thing.

I know that makes me some sort of pagan. (Maxx, please don't hit me.)

Anyway, for the first hour I had what looked like bits of snot running through my loop, but after that it cleared up. No problems at all after two months, still crystal clear with a bit of Zerex. Maybe if I had a Storm or other gear that was prone to clogging I'd be more concerned.

[Nanometer]

My BIP2 wasn't clear for about 3 days. But I only let it soak for 2 hours before I cycle it. Also be sure to flush distilled water into the rad to get anything you can out before you put the vinegar back in.

[Viktor]

I cycled vinegar through my BIP3 four times over three days and there was still crap coming out. At that point I said screw it, ran some distilled through it and installed the damn thing.

I know that makes me some sort of pagan. (Maxx, please don't hit me.)

Anyway, for the first hour I had what looked like bits of snot running through my loop, but after that it cleared up. No problems at all after two months, still crystal clear with a bit of Zerex. Maybe if I had a Storm or other gear that was prone to clogging I'd be more concerned.
I had my Storm block running in a dirty loop for two months, still wasn't clogged when I took my system apart. :)

I've found a great way to clean the rad, connect it to your garden hose, that's real pressure. Run it there for a few mins, then clean with distilled, then vinegar garden hose again and so forth. Seems to work much better than just vinegar and distilled water.

[septim]

cheaper too.

[xXxDieselxXx]

cheaper too.

Vinegar is for salads..! lol J/K :D

I think the vinegar will always make a chemical reaction with copper that's why you will continue to see dark water.. I'm guessing... I went the SB approach and rad looks darn nice... just inject some Bubbles with some water let it rest 5 minutes and flush it with pressure water... from the tap or garden hose then flush with distilled water.. so you don't waste distilled water with the initial flush.

At first saw lot of gray and white dust inside ... once I cleaned the rad I grabbed a flashlight and the interior was sparkling shiny.. I could see the nice copper color..

http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/4521/flushingrad3ql.jpg

[Viktor]

One weird thing I noticed after I let tap water run through it for about 30mins was that the tap water was very close to crystal clear. Then after soaking it with distilled and shaking it around a bit, there was alot of white particles in the water.

[septim]

most likely some dust particles stuck in some corner inside the rad got shaken loose...