Citric acid

[Steamedbeech]

Can anyone give me a few pointers on using this stuff, I've bought some off ebay mainly to clean my IC, there's next to no info on the pot it came in just a hazard warning and the fact that its food grade.
I just wondered what ratio to make it up at , how long to soak stuff in it for, do you make it up hot or cold (does it matter) and will it do its thing if I recirculate it round my set up ?
Cheers Dan

 

[RobWalker]

what set up do you have?

my knowledge only goes as far as boiling 50g of it for 15 mins in a few litres of water over the element. the element will wipe clean then.

 

[Steamedbeech]

Its a three pot s/s job on propane, its the IC that's the problem its 50m of 10mm copper in a double coil with three aluminium struts, the coils are tight and not very accessible and the ali has surface corrosion.

 

[wezil]

Hi I think if the ali struts are the problem, oxalic acid (try your chemist) might be better ( it's what's in rhubarb leaves) citric acid is better for limescale. But if using oxalic, rinse everything with plenty of water (it's toxic in large doses). But your ali will sparkle!

 

[Steamedbeech]

Excellent, many thanks Wezil :

 

[wezil]

Hi as a slight aside, if you boil rhubarb leaves with soap it makes a great weedkiller! (told to me by a old boy who used to be a greenkeeper for the local council)!

 

[troutie]

Wont you have some galvanic action going on with the copper v the aluminium

 

[graysalchemy]

I always fill my kettle with hot water and some oxi, leave it to soak with the chiller in. Everything comes up a treat the copper is like brand new and the elements just need a bit of a rub to dislodge the beer stone.
:grin: :grin:

 

[Steamedbeech]

So is oxi ok with stainless, copper and ali, its one of the ingredients I found on a US forum for pbw ? :hmm:
I had a go with the oxalic acid which was ok . The IC has been a pain in the arse since I built it and wish I hadn't used ali for the struts.

 

[rpt]

Hi as a slight aside, if you boil rhubarb leaves with soap it makes a great weedkiller! (told to me by a old boy who used to be a greenkeeper for the local council)!

But illegal to use!

 

[wezil]

why's that? None of the items is a banned substance under the pesticide act, nor are they capable of being used as part of an explosive device (hello sodium chlorate)! And yes I do know how and no im not saying!

 

[rpt]

It's illegal to use anything as a pesticide that has not been approved for use as a pesticide. As well as things that have never been approved, there are a lot of pesticides that are no longer approved for use. The reason for this is that if it hasn't been tested then we don't know how poisonous it is and whether it lingers in the environment, for example.

 

[wezil]

Cheers for the answer :