Hercules boiler cleaner with 8 way

CGeorge

My local heating supply house suggested I clean our boiler with Hercules boiler cleaner , yellowish product , which I di twice and then flushed both zones and the boiler drain for over an hour before refilling with 1/2 a qt of 8 way boiler treatment , roughly a 12 gal system. 
The question is that now after running for a few days I drew off a sample to see how blue the 8 way was. Well the color of the boiler water is purpleish . I assume the yellow Hercules with the Blue 8 way. 
I find it hard to believe there was that much Hercules still in the system. Now I wish Id just stayed with the Hercules as Im concerned the mixture could be harmfull to the system.  
Any input greatly appreciated
Thanks , Rod

ethicalpaul

I have used 8-way a lot in my steam boiler and I have never seen it blue in the gauge glass. It's always a purple-pink.

WMno57

@cgeorge For a hot water heating system, usually you should not add anything, and flush as little as possible. Minimal flushing at the start of the season for the pressure relief valve, and boiler drain. There are exceptions to this for bad water, risk of freezing, and high drama mod con heat exchangers.
Its not an automotive cooling system where corrosion inhibitors in the antifreeze wear out in 2 - 5 years. Its a closed system and shouldn't get dirty, so no need for a cleaner. Hydronic heating systems benefit from as little oxygen as possible. Adding fresh water adds oxygen.
If your system has large amounts of dirt or corrosion, check out the Caleffi Dirtmag.
https://www.caleffi.com/en-us/air-&-dirt-separator-with-magnet-546-caleffi-546196a
Steam boilers are a different situation.

SuperTech

I've used 8 way in my boiler and in several Energy Kinetics boilers. It's always purple, nothing to worry about.  

hot_rod

One thing to remember with hydronic glycols or hydronic conditioners. They need to be blended with good quality water. I know Dow give you the water spec. I imagine the conditioner manufacturers do also

If you blend with hard, high TDS, high iron water you use up or compromise the inhibitor package right away. The conditioner does little to nothing, worse case ph drops and metals get attacked

I have never asked about blending with softened water. Generally they ask for DI, DM, ir RO water. Water that has  been stripped of both the positive and negative ions

Softening removes the scaling minerals but is an ion exchange adding more  of the opposite ions

The conditioner chemical would need to deal with that increase

Dubld

I have a hydronic system that has been in service for about 18 yrs. It is charged with propylene glycol diluted to a -30 freeze point using distilled water. I test the ph a couple times a year with test strips and it has always been steady in the good range. It works great but this year I had to replace spirol vent and expansion tank. Got me thinking I should probably flush and replace the fluid this summer and after reading some info on this site it's probably overdue.

Should I use a cleaning additive while flushing?

hot_rod

the ph is the best indication of when it needs to be replaced. That varies from brand to brand.

But 18 years is a good run for glycol.

Were the replaced components corroded? That would be an indication of aggressive glycol.

If you drain it and it is brown or black, stinky, I would refill with water and run a cleaner for a few days Then replace with new premix.

There are three temperatures with glycol

Freezing point where ice crystals start to form, still pump-able

Slush point , no longer able to be circulated. But will not burst piping

I guess the Brits call this “pasty range”😁

Burst point where it freezes solid and could cause damage

-30F is a pretty low temperature?

I used this in my HP system , added some DI water to get closer to 35%

Dubld

Thanks for the feedback.

The exp tank bladder was gone and the fingers on the spirovent were corroded. The fluid is rather dark.

We are in Alaska and sometimes out adventuring. Hence the -30.

I'll look for the fluid you recommended.

Thanks again