Question about flush/refill on my loop...

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C0RR0SIVE

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Ok, so, my loop is getting rather old, I don't have money for new lines either...

Anyways, I used cheapo lines, and they are holding out OK, BUT, the coolant I used, well, it is showing its age, the UV reactive portions are forming a film on EVERYTHING in the loop, and I swear it looks like something is growing.....

So, my question is, what can I use, that is CHEAP, that I can grab from regular house hold items to flush my loop?

I know my mom uses vinegar for her coffee maker, I was thinking of doing the same thing, but instead of filling it with vinegar, I was gonna just unhook the line at one fitting, and hook it up to a 1 gallon bucket, and kinda treat that as a huge res, filled with vinegar, that way it's got, for the most part, fresh vinegar trying to clean the lines, then rinse with water... I also have an inline filter to help catch any particles that may break free and could damage my pump.

So, is this a good idea? Or really really bad?

ALSO, what should I use to refill my loop with? Should I use distilled water, and just that, or must I get additives?
 
some people sware by vinegar, i dont trust it... some people say if you leave it on to long it will start corroding, and if you dont leave it on long enough it wont do anything, so its a toss up and i just stay away from it. what I would do is take it completely apart, take the block, pump and res apart and scrub those with a tooth brush, and with the rad get near boiling water, fill the radiator up with that and start doing the rad dance, shake it like crazy, then pour out the water and repeat untill you feel satisfied, i would do it probably a minnimum of like 10 times.

and with your hoses, take them off, and run a pipe cleaner through them and they will be as good as new.

and finally, when it comes to coolant ONLY use distilled water and PTnuke or a kill coil. NOTHING ELSE... PERIOD.
at the moment ive been running my loop for about 2 months with just pure naked distilled water, but i do need to get some PT nuke or a kill coil. personally i would perfer a kill coil to keep the loop 100% chemical free, but i think PTnuke would do a better job.

good luck!
 
Well, my issue comes from the fact that, well, I can't get the rad off the case, I was young and stupid when I built this loop, and kinda used industrial epoxy to stick it to the case, I have tried to break it apart, and started to damage the rad in the process, just gave up at that point. Hence the reason for the idea of having a huge bucket and my lines going to it so it acts as a res....

I wonder, will diluted radiator flush for a car work? I have some low strength flush out in the garage, but, AFAIK, you have to have that stuff upto 200F before it really does the job, but since I am trying to clear out light buildup it should be... OK.... Just not sure how resistant these o-rings are... I aint really worried about corrosion for the most part as I am only planning on running it for a few minutes then rinsing with a ton of water.....

Can this "Kill coil" be obtained at walmart? Or would I have to find a hobby shop?

Oh and did I mention my pump is mounted with the same epoxy? lmfao.
 
i would try to stay away from chemicals as much as possible, chemicals leave residue, which you cant get off with out physically wiping it off.

i would pull up your trousers and really give it another go at getting the radiator and pump off, do this properly... get a razor blade or something and spend time being carfull and get those components off and clean it carefully and thourghly with nothing but some happy dances and water...
 
I tried everything to get it off, trust me, that epoxy is some serious stuff, when I say industrial, I mean, industrial, I grabbed it off my step dad and he uses it all the time when putting things on buildings that can't be bolted on, to this date, we haven't found a way of breaking down the epoxy other than some harsh chemicals that would screw me royally.
 
Hmmm...

I would say your best bet is to take about the loop as much as you can and clean the different pieces. Like Sean said, pull your tubing off and clean it with a pie cleaner to get rid of the buildup. After doing that, try and get your hands on either PTNuke which might be impossible to get now, or a generic biocide which you should be able to find somewhere... Run that with your loop for a couple weeks and then redo the process, hopefully that helps get rid of any crap in your system.
 
Epoxy eh? Might as well be called "non-metal welding paste". As others have said, a pet store or walmart would sell an environment friendly biocide and/or fish tank cleaner. Other than that a rifle cleaning kit would probably be too rigid for cleaning tubing, so no barrel-snakes unless they have plastic bristles. If your going to get something like a pipe cleaner, make sure it doesnt have metal bristles as those could damage the tubing your trying to re-use. Rigid plastic bristles would be great. I've used a baby bottle cleaning brush before to hit those narrow spaces. As for epoxy...well it bonds for life, short of taking a slot driver(flat-head) (or wire-file), prying/cutting it loose, and then sanding it down to the original material... it'll stay there for life.

Epoxy solvents(Bruce Hamilton, Larry Lippman)

Q: Is there anything that will dissolve that ugly gray epoxy that was common many years ago? It can't be something that will damage the wood.

A: Dimethylformamide is about the only solvent I know of that dissolves epoxy
at a speed likely to be effective in a normal lifetime.-Bruce Hamilton

However, if you have a wooden case... dimethylformamide is out of the question...
 
If you've got a metal case, then you could also try burning/melting the epoxy off. My bet is it's got a lower burn/melt point than a metal res/case lol. I wouldn't even think you'd need a blowtorch, maybe just a jet lighter would do.
 
I do have a propane torch in the garage with some propane... I am somewhat worried about toxic fumes and warping the case, but, at this point, I am gonna SLOWLY heat the metal of the case to see if the epoxy will give out any, if it does, the only other thing to be carefull of is the radiator where it's soldered at the ends.
 
Yep, I reckon you've got it covered. Just keep the heat as low as you can and as far away from solder joints as you can. Hopefully all that should happen is the paint on the case/res will get a little scorched/flakey.
For the toxic fumes (of which there will be many) just do it outside with a fan pointed at the thing blowing air away from you.
 
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