advice on vinegar to clean chiller

williah · 03/09/2010, 09:22 AM

I'm thinking about using a vinegar solution, circulating through my chiller in a closed loop, to clean it out. It's been a year at least since I got it and did anything other than a surface cleaning.

Just wanted to do a quick check of opinions on this. This sound safe? Anyone have ideas about corrosion or better ways to clean it out?

Thanks.

troyman · 03/09/2010, 09:26 AM

its what i do equal parts of vinegar and water i let it sit in the a couple hours or so then flush it out with garden house the high pressure water loosens anything thats in there

r-balljunkie · 03/09/2010, 09:39 AM

You should be fine, straight vinegar. Tubes are titanium.

99sf · 03/09/2010, 12:32 PM

I recently did this with a 1/10 HP chiller that I bought. Took a 5 gallon bucket with a mixture of tapwater & vinegar, placed the chiller pump inside, and ran the closed loop for about an hour. The water in the bucket was pretty nasty. After running the vinegar, I had to keep filling & manually dumping the water out of the reservoir inside the chiller to remove the remaining detritus.

williah · 03/12/2010, 03:05 PM

Thanks! I'm at it this weekend. Figure I'll get the powerheads at the same time.

MrSandman · 03/12/2010, 04:53 PM

I heated up some vinegar in the microwave to make it very very warm. Then i filled the chiller's heat exchanger with it at 100% concentration and let it sit for about an hour. After that i did a reverse flush of the system with very hot water and more fresh vinegar. I used just enough water so as not to dilute the vinegar too much but yet have the pump maintain flow without running dry. On the tube where the water is coming out from the chiller, put a mesh filter bag on the end to catch the solids. This way you can flush the crap out of it and not worry about recycling it back through.

After the vinegar flush, just run it with more fresh hot water until the water coming out is clear of debris.

03/09/2010, 09:22 AM	#1
williah Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Queens, NY Posts: 123	advice on vinegar to clean chiller I'm thinking about using a vinegar solution, circulating through my chiller in a closed loop, to clean it out. It's been a year at least since I got it and did anything other than a surface cleaning. Just wanted to do a quick check of opinions on this. This sound safe? Anyone have ideas about corrosion or better ways to clean it out? Thanks. __________________ Do you know smurfet? I smurfed her. Current Tank Info: 72 gal bowfront: coral & fish

03/12/2010, 03:05 PM	#5
williah Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Queens, NY Posts: 123	Thanks! I'm at it this weekend. Figure I'll get the powerheads at the same time. __________________ Do you know smurfet? I smurfed her. Current Tank Info: 72 gal bowfront: coral & fish

03/12/2010, 04:53 PM	#6
MrSandman Team RC Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: South Bay, So. Cal. Posts: 5,408 Blog Entries: 6	I heated up some vinegar in the microwave to make it very very warm. Then i filled the chiller's heat exchanger with it at 100% concentration and let it sit for about an hour. After that i did a reverse flush of the system with very hot water and more fresh vinegar. I used just enough water so as not to dilute the vinegar too much but yet have the pump maintain flow without running dry. On the tube where the water is coming out from the chiller, put a mesh filter bag on the end to catch the solids. This way you can flush the crap out of it and not worry about recycling it back through. After the vinegar flush, just run it with more fresh hot water until the water coming out is clear of debris. __________________ June 2001 Tank of the Month. Yes, i said 2001. Current Tank Info: 112G 36"x36"x20" Lee-mar rimless. Build Thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2293182.

03/09/2010, 09:26 AM	#2
troyman Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: troy ny Posts: 1,025	its what i do equal parts of vinegar and water i let it sit in the a couple hours or so then flush it out with garden house the high pressure water loosens anything thats in there

03/09/2010, 09:39 AM	#3
r-balljunkie Registered Reefer Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Doha, Qatar Posts: 2,059	You should be fine, straight vinegar. Tubes are titanium.

03/09/2010, 12:32 PM	#4
99sf Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: S.F. bay area Posts: 158	I recently did this with a 1/10 HP chiller that I bought. Took a 5 gallon bucket with a mixture of tapwater & vinegar, placed the chiller pump inside, and ran the closed loop for about an hour. The water in the bucket was pretty nasty. After running the vinegar, I had to keep filling & manually dumping the water out of the reservoir inside the chiller to remove the remaining detritus.