System Cleaning

Brad White_9

plust temperature... Maybe your aluminum cup is titanium?? :)

Gosh, I wish *I* had a TSP Barrel... you were lucky!

The aluminum we used was in the 4000 or 5000 series, I forget the metallurgy. I was not in production so much as overseeing general operations. Small operation.

Ken, what is your opinion of TSP substitute? It has silicates in it I believe. Real TSP is hard to find these days. Environmental concerns apparently.

Keith_23

Buderus GB-142 initial system cleaning

I just had a Buderus GB-142 Mod/Con gas boiler installed. It interfaces with my old 1 1/4 inch black iron pipe. The pipe is in good shape. The contractor flushed eachof the 3 zones for 1/2 hour, water clear for last 25 minutes each zone). The system has city water in it. Do I need to do a special treatment to the water? This thing was a bit pricy and I want to make sure the aluminum block lasts.

Keith

Brad White_9

Rhomar

It may not need the cleaning that their HydroSolv product will do, but you may consider their Pro-Tek 922 to adjust pH and scavenge oxygen from the system. Contact George Hunt at Rhomar.

The pH is critical especially with aluminum. TSP eats it also, so if that was used, rinse again.

Ken_40

TSP eats Aluminum?

Based upon what data?

Anything in high doses will eat anything, and over very extended periods of time I suppose, but I never heard that one before; especially when rinsed well.

Just curious.

Brad White_9

Personal experience...

Years ago I was part owner of a company which made laboratory products. One of the devices we manufactured were aluminum scale balances and cups used to hold pharmaceutical samples so the material had to be light enough not to bottom out the micro-scales (weighing in milligrams and micrograms) and still allow sufficient scale to weigh the product.

When these "spoons" we called them were first stamped, they were a bit rough and varied in weight. Each had to be calibrated to a certain weight within tolerances. Rather than filing, we dipped them in warm TSP solution, rinsed, dried and re-weighed them. Some "dips" were for 10-15 seconds, sometimes less. Each dip made a measurable difference in unit weight and reduced the material evenly.

We could boil one away completely overnight. Temperature and concentration each had an effect. The hotter the faster, the higher the concentration the faster. In a boiler, I can see the former to an extent.

Now you know!

Good question, Ken.

Ken_40

WOW!

I trust your experience, but with great skeptisism. Not because your experience was so strange, but because I use an aluminum measuring cup to measure how much TSP to put in ANY system and the cup, even sometimes put back wet, was stored in the TSP barrel - for years!

Is it possible ypu were using an alloy, white metal, stamped magnesium (which should NOT be used with highly alkaline products) or something other than real aluminum?

Yes, I totally rinse all systems when using TSP, or any other cleaner we used from the system.

Also, when one considers the ratio of 1 or 2 cups of TSP to 20 gallons of filthy system water, oils, muck,rust, scale etc., we're probably talking about a ratio on the order of ~200:1 And whatever detergent action is sought, is quickly neutralized by the contaminates being released into the solution as well.