cleaning tankless coil

Steve-Maine · May 3, 2023

My boiler has a tankless coil that you can take out. How would you clean it once removed from the boiler. It is a Thermo-Flo PF-5 Thanks

Phil Tibbetts · May 3, 2023

They acid flush them. Probably best to get a furnace man to do it.

Steve-Maine · May 3, 2023

What kind of acid would you use, Thanks

Rustytech · May 3, 2023

I have a boiler with a plate style heat exchanger for separate domestic hot water heating and my father has a boiler with a coil inserted in the vessel that can be removed. Ive cleaned them both with a acid called Calci-solve. I buy it at a local plumbing supply store. I was told about it by a HVAC manager friend of mine. Make sure you remove it and take it outside to the fresh air,its strong smelling stuff. I usually use it straight dump it slowly in one end it will fizzle a little and come out the other end then flush with fresh water with a short piece of junk garden hose till its flushed. I also had a friend who was the maintenance manager at our local school district and they used it to dissolve calcium in the district urinals.
Just be careful because it is an acid.

cwtech · May 3, 2023

We had a tankless coil cleaned in place at our carwash. ....The tech used sulfamic acid.

Our coil was easily isolated from the rest of the system. ....The acid solution was pumped from a bucket, pushed through the coil, and dumped back into the bucket. ...The solution was re-circulated for approx 60 minutes because it was a large tankless coil.

Once or twice during the cleaning, the discharged dirty fluid was discarded as it became less effective and new solution was added to the bucket.

Once the coil was deemed clean, the coil was flushed with clean water before being put back in service.

showcrop · May 4, 2023

I cleaned mine years ago before I got a water softener. There is no need whatsoever to remove the coil!! You are cleaning the INSIDE of the tubing coil. They make them removable only so that they can be replaced. I used phosphoric acid because that is what is sold to dairies and restaurants for limescale removal and because I got it free. Al I did was pick up the fittings that I needed to adapt a garden hose. IIRC I set up a funnel to pour it in, and ran a short length of hose into a 5 gal bucket. I then just kept bailing the acid from the bucket into the funnel. You can get the acid at either a dairy or restaurant supply. There are many different brands but it will be called lime-away or something like that. Two gallons will do it. It is tame stuff and if you keep your hands in it for a few hours you should apply some hand lotion afterwards.

cleaning tankless coil

Steve-Maine

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Phil Tibbetts

Well-known Member

Steve-Maine

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Rustytech

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cwtech

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showcrop

Well-known Member

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