How to wash out/remove dried out soluble coolant

Ignoramus8543 fired this volley in news:f7qdnWj8f4r7SUDPnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Hot TSP solution will not only soften and remove the old stuff, but also clean the metal of the tank.

Make up a strong solution -- say a cup TSP per gallon, and heat it up to near-boiling, either in a separate pot or in the tank with an immersion heater. Let it work for as long as you can stand. A couple of days of soaking will get it all pretty much limbered up and removable.

Lloyd

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" fired this volley in news:XnsA2BBD5F2990F3lloydspmindspringcom@216.168.3.70:

PS... it's not only dried, but oxidized to a varnish. Varnish is not water-soluble. But strong, hot TSP solution is ALSO a "varnish remover" .

Lloyd

Awesome, and easy, thanks

Spray on oven cleaner removes it in seconds.

Just be sure you get real TSP. With the rampant greenies out there, there are a lot of fake TSPs on shelves now. Like the "green" mineral spirits, which don't work worth a hoot.

- To change one's self is sufficient. It's the idiots who want to change the world who are causing all the trouble. --Anonymous

"PrecisionmachinisT" fired this volley in news:0PSdnV6d_cS6bEDPnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@scnresearch.com:

which is also a strongly-basic cleaner (mostly lye).

However, that won't get it out of nooks and crannies you can't reach with the spray. It's great for open surfaces, though, and won't hurt steel/iron. Eats hell out of Al, but then, so does TSP.

Lloyd

Yes. Sellers of real TSP spell the chemical name out on the box, so there can be no confusion.

The standard brand is Savogran and is available at real paint stores. Hardware stores often have only "TSP", which is usually sodium silicate, which will not work.

Joe Gwinn

If it really has oxidized/polymerized, TSP would be my distant 2nd choice. Lye would be much better; 1 lb/g or stronger.

Lye is much harder to find. It used to found in hardware stores, e.g., Red Devil brand, for cleaning drains. But it was being used in drug mfg, IIRC, and isn't carried anymore. I get mine online, from a soap-making supplies place.

Bob

volley

Yup.

Don't leave more than a couple minutes unless the paint is epoxy base.

Oh, and another thing that melts away grime amazingly well is to spray it with ether starting fluid.

I bought a can of Drano Crystals at Lowe's recently. It was the only place I could find it around here.

If you're going to use it for something other than drain cleaning, do a test first. I once tried to use Drano as a paint remover, cause I had used lye to do it and I thought Drano was just lye. It was a disaster - there was some other ingredient in the Drano that contaminated the work.

Here's where I get lye:

Bob

Yeah, right! I noticed that with Gingrich, Cain, Santorum, Jeb Bush, Chris Cristie, Mitt Romney and all of his sons.

This does work well, but do it outside, even if the weather is unpleasant.

Ether fumes are extremely flammable, and if used in a basement, may find their way to the pilot of the gas-fired hot water heater and explode. Or be set off by the spark in a light switch or a control relay.

Joe Gwinn

From a condom? Why don't you just buy another one, cheapskate?

...won't hurt

I've used TSP on aluminum, without problems. Lye, and washing soda (OxyClean and such) are the aluminum (and aluminum/zinc alloy) molesters.

whit3rd fired this volley in news:45a8eead-9f88-4d08- snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

Dilute lye can be used on it, too (for a time). Hot, concentrated TSP is quite corrosive to aluminum; enough so that it's sometimes used as a prep etch alone or in combination with other etchants, because it also acts as a surfactant to wash the item clean after etching.

All sorts of things, actually, can vigorously attack aluminum because of where it is on the electromotive series. Lest you think I'm crazy, let me warn you that this is not obvious -- but water with a pH just barely basic of neutral attacks aluminum VIGOROUSLY under certain circumstances; so vigorously that it can cause substances to heat to the point of ignition.

All of us pyrotechnics guys are aware of the dangers of water and aluminum. There have been numerous fires, many burns, and a few deaths because of it.

Lloyd

What's the best cleaner for baked-on crap on a toaster oven aluminum pan? The perimeter of...er, someone's, is just black with it.

Oven cleaner contains lye and is contraindicated.

Larry Jaques fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

The first thing I'd do with it is simply boil it for a time. It's amazing what hot water can jar loose, given time.

LLoyd