Cleaning a new radiator

Legend

Legend

Legend

Soldato
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I'm using a 50/50 mix of de-ionised water and white vinegar (malt, from Tescos)... I hope this is OK? I have noticed when I tip it out after swilling around for a while that the clear mixture has turned blue. Is that normal?
 
I've also noticed that despite rinsing it out about 6 times now, I'm still getting a similar amount of 'sediment' and bits. Nothing too major, but noticeable nonetheless.
 
hi what brand rads are they . yes that's normal just keep doing what your doing till its clear then rinse with de ionised water. the last set of I cleaned out were hardware labs sr2s a 480mm and a couple of 360s the 480 wasn't bad but both the 360s took ages just like you have described I didn't use malt vinegar though it was distilled I think from Tesco though
 
Hardware Labs 360 also. Do you need to keep using the vinegar until it's no longer blue then? I think that's the same vinegar, clear distilled... it's just hidden away on the ingredients label that it's malt.
 
I let them sit in the vinegar mix for half a day or a good few hours then flush out and keep putting warm to hot tap water through it until theres no more bits in it which there seemed to be an awfull lot considering a few years back people used to say hardware labs were the cleanest out there
 
queeg said:
I let them sit in the vinegar mix for half a day or a good few hours then flush out and keep putting warm to hot tap water through it until theres no more bits in it which there seemed to be an awfull lot considering a few years back people used to say hardware labs were the cleanest out there
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I've got 4 HWLabs rads (SR1 240 & GTS-Lite 240 bought 3 years back and 280GTS & 280GTX bought this year) and despite thorough cleaning including Mayhems Blitz Part 1 there was very little that flushed out so in my experience their reputation holds.
 
I've had very little in the way of any large bits, it's mostly all very fine sediment type material, but not what you'd want in your loop of course. I wasn't sure if the vinegar turning blue was an interaction with a foreign substance or just the metal itself... so if the latter then it will never run clear.
 
If you live in an area with decent water just connect the rad straight to the tap and let it run with hot water. When you're happy the water is running clean give it a quick rinse with distilled/de-ionised then you're good to go :)
 
Ah, in that case maybe just stick to what you have been doing. If you boil the water first (make sure you use oven gloves to handle the radiator) fill the rad about half way with your water/vinegar mix, put a couple of blanking caps on the ports and shake it like mad for 10 minutes, give it a rinse after and you should be good to go :)
 
OK, this is getting rather annoying now... I've rinsed each of my two rads at least 10 times, used about 5 litres of de-ionised and about 1 litre of vinegar, and I'm STILL getting white particulates in the water. WTF?! I even have a blister forming on my finger with all the shaking lol! Do I have the dirtiest rads ever made or what?
 
And still it goes on... about 10 litres through this one rad now and I'm still getting crap come out. I genuinely want to just smash the thing against the wall now, I've had enough. :mad:

Do I need to get Mayhems Blitz (Part 1)? I'm not clear how to use that on a new rad though, as the instructions seem to be based around it being installed in a system with a pump etc. Or do I need to actually do that and get it all set-up?
 
Never heard of having to rinse a new rad more than once.

You can always make a makeshift loop by your kitchen sink using the water container as a reservoir. Stick the tube coming out the rad at the bottom of the water, the inlet higher up to avoid sucking any debris through the pump and back into the radiator.

Maybe do that and let it run overnight. I'd have thought Mayhems Blitz is only needed for a loop that has previously had a high dye concentration running through it, or if you've had some dodgy tubing leaching plasticiser.

IMO all rads should come factory flushed. It really is nonsense that some manufacturers don't include this as a manufacturing process.
 
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I don't believe that will work as what's so frustrating is that simply flushing water through doesn't actually seem to release very much. It's only when I half fill and shake it about a bit do I end up with quite a bit of black sediment... doesn't seem to matter how many times I do this, I always end up with a similar amount. Really frustrating to say the least.

I have seen a few people talk about using the Part 1 Blitz on a new rad (not the Part 2), so I'm thinking to give that a go. If that doesn't work, nothing will, and clearly these rads are borked.

Last time I ever buy Hardware Labs though, that's for sure. This experience has as good as put me off WC'ing forever actually.
 
Any chance of a photo to show what you're left with after shaking?

Edit: By any chance could it be the surrounding paint from the in or outlet? Maybe when you screw the caps on to shake, you're flaking paint off the screw threads or the top of the ports?
 
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Bluntwrapped said:
Any chance of a photo to show what you're left with after shaking?

Edit: By any chance could it be the surrounding paint from the in or outlet? Maybe when you screw the caps on to shake, you're flaking paint off the screw threads or the top of the ports?
Click to expand...

Hard to photo really... it's basically black fine sand. Not a lot mind, and there was definitely more gunk of varying size when I first rinsed the through, but there seems an endless supply of the black stuff. I don't see how it could be the paint (I can't see any sign of it coming off around the ports), unless some of that has somehow got into the rad during production.
 
Personaly experience is get an inline filter like Koolance one and have all components run through Blitz with the filter for 24hrs, in which case everything will be clean and all debris filtered out before assembly.

Never used vinegar method before so couldnt comment, but i would advice againdt using it if you were to use dyed fluid since residual acidity could change the color of the dye. Or at least use Blitz 2 since Blitz 1 is phosphoric acid anyways
 
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