Cleaning Lime Deposits on Air Cooled Condensers

Can you take the units to be cleaned out of service, one or two at a time?

Never used it, but I've read some about blasting things with dry ice to clean them up. That process leaves no residue.

Or :I have hired people with baking soda blasters to remove graffiti from delicate surfaces. But then, you have soda residue to deal with.

I'm going to shoot from the hip on this one, so let's see. The problem came from water loaded with calcium and stuff, and it had a certain ph. The deposits stuck when the water evaporated.

Water can be softened, made agressive, or downright etching. As far as I know, it's the ph that matters. We have water down here eating copper pipes right up. I would look into what changes the ph so the water you are spraying actually eats lime. It might be as simple as ozonation, chlorinating, or adding some chemical to the water.

To say the least, the city water is going to have to be pre-treated to get rid of the lime.

I use a Descaler bought at the local supermarket for dolomite scale buildup. It is a mild acid and mixed at 10% to 30% depending in the appearance.

I dont't know what acid it is but it is sold under the registered trade name of calciclean.

There are two products that I have used , and they both worked well.

1. Lime Away

2. CLR

Haven't used them on outdoor condensers, but they are available at Walmart and other supermarket stores.

By the way I believe CLR stands for calcium, lime & rust.

Water high in calcium content leaves deposits on tubs, showers etc., and that was one of the main reasons I have used those products.

After 20 years,the deposits are probably the only thing holding the coils together.

Have you treated/removed the washdown water to prevent furthur buildup?

What I'm hinting at is this is likely a lost cause.

Does the equipment operate? Perform it's designed purpose? Undersized? Working against designed or introduced (read that remodel) flaws in the HVAC system?

If your not chasing your tail,develop & perform a regular delime procedure.EG: once a month treat the coils to a CLR bath (or mild acid),protect your roof as required-pre/post washdown-damming the runoff etc.

HTH

AB1 out.

The following options can be tested on a small scale level and proceeded for bulk based, on effectiveness and availability.

1] Acetic/ formic acid + sodium hypochlorite mixture.

2] Possible diluted solution of acidic toilet cleaners

3]salicylic acid, monochloro acetic or acetic acid / phosphoric acid mixtures

Soak the plates in a dilute solution of EDTA + detergent solution for improved surface reactivity.

Hi,

I see on the Calciclean website there is a mining divission that might offer a solution!