I bought a large bottle of distilled white vinegar from Costco and went through half of it before switching to distilled water to flush it out. While running on vinegar, the color of the fluid in the sight glass turned a clear green. Within an hour, all seemed normal in the sight glass.
I'll be putting the engine through its paces again today to flush out whatever precipitate remains from the vinegar wash.
Regards, Joe
On Jan 1, 2005, at 11:00 PM, Tony wrote:
Boiler washing Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
...in 15 years with one engine using the same boiler, wearing out two sets of "O" rings in the cylinders I have yet to see one smidge of scale build up?
...were the boilers in question all furred up and white inside? Change your
water source! The only hint of a blockage in all my years of steaming...countless thousands
of scale miles the only bockage I have had is a small seed getting
in the admission steam line...that took a little figuering out but no calcite buildup!
If steam is not getting through make sure your super heater is not got a burnt
bit of oil in the passage...that can happen if you are not using proper steam oil.
Personally I keep a small cup and tea bag in the tender for blowing down
the boiler...can't waste all that good hot water...pass the cucumber sangys!
Great steaming to all in 2005...Happy New Year!
TonyO on Vancouver Island
