Rad cleaning acording to Marci aka Thermochill

[Pete]

The newer rads aparantly are made with a water based flux says Marci. So i boiled the kettle and ran my hot tap. Lucky i had an old pump about, Eheim 1048 and some bits of hose. Left it running whilest i had a :banana::banana::banana: and wow it did work. Boiling hot water steamed my kitchen up and rad is clean inside now as loads of white crap came out! Suck as when i get the 5 or 6 other rads i'm going to have to do this.









Video for the hell of it

[MrToad]

Neat.

The only think I need to change is the use distilled water instead of tap water.

Here in the SE the water is hard, very hard.

You should see my kettle XD.

[WildEye]

I dont think there will be much of an issue using normal tap water for the initial flushing, if you follow up with a round of destilled water afterwards.

[MrToad]

I dont think there will be much of an issue using normal tap water for the initial flushing, if you follow up with a round of destilled water afterwards.

Well, limescale is nasty, very nasty, and here drinking water has it in abundancy. I'd rather not risk it.

[IanY]

There you go. I think that's most of the white crap that clouds tubes.

[pumbertot]

There you go. I think that's most of the white crap that clouds tubes.

nah. i cleaned my 120.3 PA manay times. first vinegar to soak for 24 hours. then distilled water for 24 hours. I repeated this for a week until nothing but clear water.

one month later, white cloudy tubes, its definitely something reacting in the tubing itself.

but yeah I see you are saying "most of the white crap" so yeah thats true but cant stop it happening.

[Pete]

well it had been left soaking for a month with white vinegar as i got taken i'll and it doesn't leak at all! The wat in my gaff goes through a filter. Misis s funny about it. One on the main feed then one for all the taps. Cost a fortre but she pays not me. Water here in Bristol is okay ish not amazing i like it mine, better than Plymouth and my rad is shiny inside

[IanY]

I didn't know that an Enheim 1048 can survive hot water. I would have done it long ago if I had known. I was always worried that the pump would die and so only used warm water and not hot.

The way I do it now is to hook up a T-line and a pump to radiator, with a filter in the middle. Run it for 1/2 a day. Some crap floating in the tubes after a while.

[Pete]

I though i got 2 of them spear, i can't sell them as no one wants to buy them so why not. They can survive outside in the cold so warmth muist be okay and my house is still up! Water temp was 88c (boiler has a temp gague on there) let alone stuff that came out the kettle

[IanY]

That old stuff is more useful than many people think . Plus I have ample supply of cheap crappy plastic throw away tubing lol

[Pete]

Got two of them going spear

[Spawne32]

im not familiar with everyone around here yet, is marci a rep or the owner of thermochill?

[Pyr0]

Marci
Technical Manager at Over-Clock UK Ltd / ThermoChill

[vyper]

6 is the magic number for vinegar cleaning the pa 120.3

Check it out

[weihk]

honestly, i really don't get what the fuss is about cleaning rads with vinegar.

bought my PA120.1 PA120.3 a few months ago, and its been running for 24/7 for a few months, no clouding at all.

all i did was using boiling water straight into rad, soak until the whole thing has cooled down to warm, repeat for 5 times, then hot water from tap filled to half full, and shake the rad like you'll win the lottery from it, pour water out, repeat filling to half and shake for 5 times, then fill rad with DI water into rad and shake again, repeat again.....and thats it

that clouding thing, ever thought its caused by additive?

[ramenchef]

Hmm, I like weihk's idea. Clouding I think is due to the tubing material since some times of tubings cloud much faster than others.

[serialk11r]

nah. i cleaned my 120.3 PA manay times. first vinegar to soak for 24 hours. then distilled water for 24 hours. I repeated this for a week until nothing but clear water.

one month later, white cloudy tubes, its definitely something reacting in the tubing itself.

but yeah I see you are saying "most of the white crap" so yeah thats true but cant stop it happening.

Um, FLAWED CLEANING PROCESS?
Seriously think about it. You need repeated rinses not just soaks to clean the rad. Do you think soaking your hands in water would clean them???

[pie_uk]

yeah leaving it to soak wont do anything. you need to shake the hell out of it, thats what i did and all is well

[serialk11r]

And perhaps BETTER SOLVENT? sorry, I had to say that.

[Mekrel]

Theres no need for a solvent as the flux is water soluble, but I suppose a bit of solvent wouldn't do harm as much as vinegar is reported to.

[serialk11r]

Well what I meant was that guy who used vinegar should've used some solvent because vinegar is a bad solvent.

[pie_uk]

what solvent? if vinegar is so bad, then i had better stop using it tp clean my rad. i dont see how it is when you rinse it out straight away

[vyper]

Vinegar worked for cleaning my pa 120.3 - the proof is in the pictures. Like other posters have said, you do need to shake it around, as well as leaving it to soak, and rinsing with distilled water. Took me 6 times in all - so perseverance is key. The loop's been running for about 6 months with clear water.

[weihk]

guys/gals

there is a few ways to clean your rads, as far as i can see, people are soaking rads with liquid that i use for fish and chips

now, as someone has mentioned, soaking does not clean, unless its your hand is soaking in bleach.

to my previous post about only using boiling hot water to soak rad for 5 times then hottest water from tap filled to half full and shake it like mad for 5 times, there is reason why i took that route for cleaning.

look at it this way, goto your kitchen, find a pan thats greasy, really really greasy, now put vinegar in it and soak for 8hrs, yes, some of that greasy will come off, but not all, not matter how many times you soak it.

now, with greasy pan, fill with water and boil, soak till water cools down, boil water again and stir water as much as you can without covering your kitchen walls in water, now, doesn't pan look more clean??

the reason for my cleaning that does not have the word vinegar in it, is because A, hot water is good for cleaning, B, i shake it, C, ever seen how bad hot vinegar is for any metal??

instead of cleaning rads for a day, now you can have a clean rad in 2hrs, great isn't it?

[Kurz]

I am starting the think after cleaning out the radiator with vinegar the flux is out, however the vinegar starts to have a chemical reaction with the Radiator creating more whitish stuff. Then people keep putting more vinegar in with little to no improvement from a previous soaking since it just keeps eating away at the radiator creating more white stuff.

In other words just use the universal solvent which is WATER! Its not corrosive like vinegar.
All you are doing is making the walls of your radiator dangerously thin.