Flushing Radiators

im4gine3

im4gine3

im4gine3

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I know this has been covered a ton by now but I just wondered what people thought of powder flushing?

When typically cleaning a radiator of all residue, I would normally use x part white vinegar with x part warm water followed by water hose the final rinse with distilled water.

The in-laws brought back limescale remover powder from China which works wonders in a kettle in minutes, so was planning on using that on my HWLabs radiators. I’ve heard it’s best not using on nickel but the radiators should be ok, but even then, is powder too harsh?

Unfortunately the packet is blank and doesn’t contain an ingredient list so I’m unsure. Using this method, I will no longer need to play maracas with them
 
Honestly just get a Mayhems Blitz kit, it's the way to go. Although home remedies will do what you want too, a more focused kit will do it better i think for peace of mind.
 
Jay85 said:
Honestly just get a Mayhems Blitz kit, it's the way to go. Although home remedies will do what you want too, a more focused kit will do it better i think for peace of mind.
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I agree. I would either use the blitz kit mentioned or vinegar and warm water. It could be costly mistake adding an unknown powder to your loop
 
I gave up on the overpriced Blitz kits as they were no better than just warm deionised water and distilled vinegar. All you are doing is loosening the dirt from one place and sending it elsewhere unless you have a inline filter after the radiator and before the pump. A £1.50 2.5L bottle of Car Plan deionised water and some distilled vinegar will do the same job for a much cheaper price.
 
yeah thats my usual routine.. i was just thinking of other home remedies to try other than spending more money. Nothing wrong with vinegar and water, just thinking of more efficient methods
 
Warm water and distilled vinegar is what I've always use. If it's particularly bad I've hooked it up to the outside tap and flush it through with that after it'd soaked in the vinegar solution. Then a final rinse through with distilled or deionised water.

Not used a blitz kit or similar but from what I've seen they don't seem to do anything the vinegar solution can't do other than lighten your wallet more :p
 
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managed to find labelling on the packet i had.. some packets were blank but the first out of box packet was labelled.. seems to just be citric acid.. unless they don't label specifics.. but my god is it super fast at descaling! It makes vinegar and water look like childs play

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note: not used on radiator yet but have used vinegar/water to clean other stuff
 
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Citric Acid is all I ever use, 1 TBsp per litre of warm/hot tap water let it run for a few hours.
It also seems to disolve the white powdery coating on the inside of soft tubing (plasticzier I think) leaving it clear again.

You can get citric acid from just about any DIY store, about 2 quids for 250g
 
Jay85 said:
Honestly just get a Mayhems Blitz kit, it's the way to go. Although home remedies will do what you want too, a more focused kit will do it better i think for peace of mind.
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I'll remember this for next time... I spent too many days flushing 2 rads using 10 litres of distilled water. It was not fun, but a good workout for my arms :cry:
 
novalis said:
I'll remember this for next time... I spent too many days flushing 2 rads using 10 litres of distilled water. It was not fun, but a good workout for my arms :cry:
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i did the same but with 3 huge radiators.. rather than purchase the kit.

The loop i'm building will only be temporary till i upgrade the system, so i'm not too fussed if i see debris floating through it.. at least that way while it's running, i would be able to clear it out easier when i bleed it
 
Is it really worth doing? Not watercooled for a while but isn't a quick flush enough or are there substantial benefits to flushing.
 
im4gine3 said:
i did the same but with 3 huge radiators.. rather than purchase the kit.

The loop i'm building will only be temporary till i upgrade the system, so i'm not too fussed if i see debris floating through it.. at least that way while it's running, i would be able to clear it out easier when i bleed it
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Ouch... Yeah it felt like I'd been to the gym for a session beforehand haha
 
Gangster said:
Is it really worth doing? Not watercooled for a while but isn't a quick flush enough or are there substantial benefits to flushing.
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I found I needed multiple flushes to get rid of all the small debris. Though to be honest I was quite pedantic so even a small spec meant I did it again and only when I didn't see anything after 2 consecutive flushes did I consider the flush successful... maybe it's a bit over the top but gave me peace of mind
 
novalis said:
I found I needed multiple flushes to get rid of all the small debris. Though to be honest I was quite pedantic so even a small spec meant I did it again and only when I didn't see anything after 2 consecutive flushes did I consider the flush successful... maybe it's a bit over the top but gave me peace of mind
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likewise.

I ended up using about 5L of distilled/deionized water to flush and rinse the radiators.. about 2L was purely used in the kettle to boile along with citric acid
 
Before I transferred my system into the current case and cooling setup, I had used a premix liquid that I don't recall the name of. Within about 9 months, there were clumps and particles of all sorts blocking the CPU block fins, it took me hours to clean everything through and flush properly, the amount of distilled water cost me a small fortune.

After all my hard work, I bought a new case and built up the loop, I used distilled water, Mayhems Watercooling Dye and XSPC E6 Biocide, that was nearly 2 years ago and the loop has remained clean since. I would say there is something to mixing a clear coolant and keeping it simple as possible, must remember to add a few more drops of biocide.
 
13oots2 said:
Before I transferred my system into the current case and cooling setup, I had used a premix liquid that I don't recall the name of. Within about 9 months, there were clumps and particles of all sorts blocking the CPU block fins, it took me hours to clean everything through and flush properly, the amount of distilled water cost me a small fortune.

After all my hard work, I bought a new case and built up the loop, I used distilled water, Mayhems Watercooling Dye and XSPC E6 Biocide, that was nearly 2 years ago and the loop has remained clean since. I would say there is something to mixing a clear coolant and keeping it simple as possible, must remember to add a few more drops of biocide.
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I had similar experience with EK Pastel colours.. where if you are not running your system constantly,the colours would slowly separate and clock up the blocks etc. Pastel Azure Blue and Cloud White were the main ones i saw thios issue with.

Now i just use de-ionized/distilled water, and maybe a couple drops of dye Not needed to use biocide of any kind.
 
I wedged a plastic funnel in one of the ports and left it under the tap for ten minutes then did a couple of fills, shakes and empties with distilled.
Didn't bother with the mo-ra.
 
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