Best Descaler

I have tried various brands, but what is the most effective one? I should have descaled last month, but time got away from me and I need to get it done soon. I am out of the last product and want to find the best option.

Is it the Prochem brand?

Wow, I found a gallon of descaler from my local that I never tried before...it has been on my shelf for about 6 months. I wish I knew what the acid was, but it isn't listed on the bottle (house brand). All I know is that it turned blue in use.

What-ever it was, it worked better than anything I've used before. I ran it through the machine and then let it set for about 15 minutes prior to flushing it out. It actually plugged up my inline filters 3x before everything flushed out.....I've never had that happen before.

The heater heats up faster now, so it looks like it was successful, but that local disti sold off the store a few months ago....doubt I will be able to get that product again.

While on the subject, I've heard differing opinions on whether it is safe to run descaler through a Cat pump or not?

Not having a trust-worthy chemical injection system any more, there really isn't an option but to run it through the pump. I've never had a problem before, but after seeing all the junk that came out of my machine, I'm a little worried that there might be some scale debris waiting to ruin my pump at the wort possible time.

I did flush it out for 15 minutes and then winterized with RV antifreeze...pressure was steady, but should I be worried?

Turning blue ? If it was in a plastic jar type container sounds like HM brand I used it at ILS and liked it.
If it clogged your filter I would descale it again and when flushing use a open ended hose with a cutoff so you can open to control pressure.
Damage to pump. Generally if you don't leave it (descaler) in over night but flush it really we'll it should be ok.
If you have debi breaking loose clean until it stops. If you wanted too try it you could use white vinager 50/50 mixture after draining the sys and refill let it set an hour or so then flush.

ACE Services wrote:Turning blue ? If it was in a plastic jar type container sounds like HM brand I used it at ILS and liked it.
If it clogged your filter I would descale it again and when flushing use a open ended hose with a cutoff so you can open to control pressure.
Damage to pump. Generally if you don't leave it (descaler) in over night but flush it really we'll it should be ok.
If you have debi breaking loose clean until it stops. If you wanted too try it you could use white vinager 50/50 mixture after draining the sys and refill let it set an hour or so then flush.

I feel a lot better now. I ended up removing the end on my pressure hose to clear the debris and just ran it open for about 5 minutes until the water was clear. I think the advice to descale it again makes sense, there was a lot in there this time around...must have been a little lazy on my softener recharges.

Curious, why the restriction on temperature with descaling? The only way that I have to control the temperature is to open up my fresh water inlet to mix with the hot water. When trying to descale the system, it can be a struggle to keep the temps down around 120 degrees. It certainly slows up the process a lot.

Try 150-170 degree then shut the unit down and let it set for 15-20 min then flush. If you have a water Bx then take a open end sol line and let it run in the water Bx so you can keep circulate the descale sol over and over then let it set the flush.

150-170 degrees would be easier to control....what would happen if it ran hotter, say 190?

ACE Services wrote:Try 150-170 degree then shut the unit down and let it set for 15-20 min then flush. If you have a water Bx then take a open end sol line and let it run in the water Bx so you can keep circulate the descale sol over and over then let it set the flush.

The only bad thing with this idea is if you have debris, they're going to be go back into the water box and go straight to your pump, I would release it first for a few seconds until it clears.
I'm a prochem guy so I'm bias, I use prochem descaler but I also heard great things about them from non prochem guys, my suggestion is to give them a shot next time.

Your prochem water Bx is like most it's supposed to have a screen filter in the bottom to filter the trash out plus the big debi settles to the bottom of the water Bx then just vac it out with the unit and refill.