Cleaning a contaminated chiller

[Pipecarver]

Hi, I bought a chiller for my Auto Pot reservoir this year and hooked it up in July, I just shut it down to clean and it has a soft coating of gunk in the lines and I assume in the chiller its self. I was getting what was deemed to be chelates, a byproduct of my nutrients.....

I didn't clean my res for the 2 months and there was a caked layer of beige crap on my pump and stuck to sides and the bottom of my tank. When I removed the water lines I can see it inside like cholesterol coating the inside of the tubes. It is soft and easily wipes off but it doesn't want to rinse off. I've been running water / vinegar through it for 24hrs at my pumps fastest speed now and still its coating the lines

Does anyone have a solution? CLR? but its not from hard water.

 

[steamroller]

I would try bleach.
The CLR will work if you think it is mineral build up.
If it is just bio slime the bleach will do it.

 

[Pipecarver]

I would try bleach.
The CLR will work if you think it is mineral build up.
If it is just bio slime the bleach will do it.

okay thanks I'll try it, any % you'd recommend or straight bleach? I was just afraid it may damage the lining in the chiller, if there is any?, I know not about these things.

 

[steamroller]

Inside of chiller should be all metal tubing.
I would use laundry bleach at 2 parts to 10 of water.

 

[Pipecarver]

Inside of chiller should be all metal tubing.
I would use laundry bleach at 2 parts to 10 of water.

I don't think bleach and vinegar go well together so I just dumped the vinegar water and I'm running straight water though it now . I'll dump that water in a few min and add bleach

 

[Pipecarver]

I don't think bleach and vinegar go well together so I just dumped the vinegar water and I'm running straight water though it now . I'll dump that water in a few min and add bleach

Done, I''ll run this through for a while then run water through it again. ..........Thanks

 

[GrumpAzz]

Done, I''ll run this through for a while then run water through it again. ..........Thanks

I'd run a mixture of Hydrogen Peroxide through after you run out the bleach with water. The peroxide will neutralize the bleach that's remaining.

 

[Rootsruler]

Reverse the hose configuration and run your vinegar/water solution for 24 hrs using a submersible pump in a bucket to recirculate the vinegar. You may want to run pure vinegar.

Don't forget to blow out the condenser cooling fins and exchanger. Most people don't realize how much dirty, dusty fins reduce performance.

 

[Pipecarver]

Reverse the hose configuration and run your vinegar/water solution for 24 hrs using a submersible pump in a bucket to recirculate the vinegar. You may want to run pure vinegar.

Don't forget to blow out the condenser cooling fins and exchanger. Most people don't realize how much dirty, dusty fins reduce performance.

Yes I've done that, I have the manual and I was going through the cleaning procedure but the interior gunk threw me off . Its running now with bleach water and I'll dump that tomorrow and run water and I guess h202 as suggested by GrumpAzz tomorrow. The chiller is off I'm just running water through it....That's right yes?

 

[GrumpAzz]

Yes I've done that, I have the manual and I was going through the cleaning procedure but the interior gunk threw me off . Its running now with bleach water and I'll dump that tomorrow and run water and I guess h202 as suggested by GrumpAzz tomorrow. The chiller is off I'm just running water through it....That's right yes?

I don't thinknit really matters if the chiller runs while you're flushing it. Makes sense though considering most gunk washes off better with warm water vs cool.

I learned the little H2O2 trick from reading a thread about cleaning a hydroponics system. I can't verify the accuracy but it made sense to me. It might have been in a thread posted by @ninjadip.

 

[steamroller]

H202 will remove chlorine.
With or without a ' dechlorinator' if you don't smell it it is mostly gone.
If you still smell chlorine it is still there.

 

[Rootsruler]

Would drip clean be a good alternative to vinegar?

 

[Pipecarver]

I don't thinknit really matters if the chiller runs while you're flushing it. Makes sense though considering most gunk washes off better with warm water vs cool.

I learned the little H2O2 trick from reading a thread about cleaning a hydroponics system. I can't verify the accuracy but it made sense to me. It might have been in a thread posted by @ninjadip.

With the chiller off the water heats up from the submersible pump so I guess that's good.

 

[smoke]

Hi, I bought a chiller for my Auto Pot reservoir this year and hooked it up in July, I just shut it down to clean and it has a soft coating of gunk in the lines and I assume in the chiller its self. I was getting what was deemed to be chelates, a byproduct of my nutrients.....

I didn't clean my res for the 2 months and there was a caked layer of beige crap on my pump and stuck to sides and the bottom of my tank. When I removed the water lines I can see it inside like cholesterol coating the inside of the tubes. It is soft and easily wipes off but it doesn't want to rinse off. I've been running water / vinegar through it for 24hrs at my pumps fastest speed now and still its coating the lines

Does anyone have a solution? CLR? but its not from hard water.

I have 2 chillers one is 12 yrs old the other is 5yrs old.
Bleach at a rate of probability 2 oz per 30 gallons is all ive ever done and we have very hard water

 

[Pipecarver]

I have 2 chillers one is 12 yrs old the other is 5yrs old.
Bleach at a rate of probability 2 oz per 30 gallons is all ive ever done and we have very hard water

Thanks, I ran vinegar through it for a couple of days and it was still contaminated so I ran fresh water through it after the vinegar then I dumped that and ran with bleach water for a week+ then I dumped that and ran clean water through it. It looks clean now. I still have to disconnect the lines and inspect them but I think its good. I didn't want the gunk solidifying making it harder to dissolve the interior plaque.