Once I've made my tramp oil skimmer and removed the tramp oil, I'm going to fill the sump with semi-synthetic coolant. The sump is a nightmare at the moment with a thick layer of sludge in the bottom; I was going to use a commercial sump cleaner, which you add to the coolant and circulate for 24 hours, but I can only buy 20l at a time at a cost of £80 so that's not very economical. Anyone have any suggestions for a home brew mix to do the job or will be a case of digging it out by hand and scrubbing it (again)? Martin
Cleaning the coolant sump
Aug 02, 2007
4 Replies
Dig it out by hand and do the rest with washing soda. At least that worked for me.
Nick
If the sump is not galvanised or painted, try caustic soda (or drain cleaner).
There was a tip here a while back, adding something like cinnamon oil to suds in order to make it smell nice and prevent bacteria forming sludge, but I can't remember the exact type of oil - anyone?
--Peter Fairbrother
probably citronella oil, the stuff in anti insect lamps
Dave
I should have read this before I left work, I've got a 10l container of developer, which is basically KOH (caustic potash), solution under my bench , that's going to hang around until it gets thrown out. Hopefully the new coolant won't get smelly as it's semi-synthetic and, supposedly, anti-microbial. Martin
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