Marine Descaler to flush Heat Exchanger

[JoseSuarez]

Good evening.

Has anyone use this product by RUSSCO Marine ??

https://youtu.be/fKP0tsmINC4

Jose A. Suarez
1979 60 Hatteras
PILAR
San Diego, CA

 

[thoward]

There is an old discussion about how to descale and what to use. I think it is in the stickies. Either way, use diluted OSPHO and circulate closed loop for a couple hours. Works great. Russco product is likely just repackaged phosphoric acid.

 

[MadHatter53]

I used white vinegar on a set heatX on my 454 crusaders I had and it worked great. Pull the zincs prior to the soak.

 

[MikeP]

I Did the same - white vinegar - the last time I cleaned the HEs. Before that I always pulled them/boiled them in Muriatic/oxalic per DDD recommendations.

I pulled the HE covers before/after the vinegar to SEE if it actually did the job and it did! The only difference in cleaning with the the DD recommended acids/water and the vinegar is the acid will do the job in less than a couple of minutes. I circulated the vinegar for about 3 hours.

BUT... I would still recommend that the FIRST time you ever do you HEs (and intercoolers) that you pull them and do it per the DD recommendation. That way you can inspect the HE and ensure there is no junk in there that the acid cannot remove.

 

[SEVEN]

Should you pull the zincs if you just use white vinager?

 

[Dan Mapes]

Pull the zincs. What I do is keep a set of the old zinc fittings and replace the zincs with them. They old zinc heads are darn clean now.

This last time I used Klean Strip Prep and Etch. Circulated it about an hour. Much cheaper than the purpose designed products that cost 50 bucks a gallon.

 

[johnjen50]

I can attest that the white vinegar works great. Love that it's not caustic!

 

[jrbrein]

Are you using full strength vinegar?

How much? I have 6-71 N's.

Thank you!

 

[MadHatter53]

I pulled all the zincs unscrewed them from the holder and put holder/plug back in before the flush. Just an Clarification , the zincs I pulled are on my raw water side of engine, not shaft,rudder etc. My exchangers aren't all that big compared to DD so I used 10gal total for both Hx and also my AC as well. I use like a 70% vinegar to 30 water ratio

 

[jrbrein]

I pulled all the zincs unscrewed them from the holder and put holder/plug back in before the flush. Just an Clarification , the zincs I pulled are on my raw water side of engine, not shaft,rudder etc. My exchangers aren't all that big compared to DD so I used 10gal total for both Hx and also my AC as well. I use like a 70% vinegar to 30 water ratio

Thank you!

 

[johnjen50]

I used the vinegar straight, no dilution for 3 hours circulated through the whole system.