Rydlyme or other descalers

[Farandaway]

Anybody ever use Rydlyme or something similar to flush out there raw water system? Looks like a pretty smart thing to do but you never know.

 

[Pau Hana]

I've used Barnacle Buster with excellent results to flush out the raw water cooling systems.

 

[bayview]

They are good products but probably not recommended for anything aluminum.

 

[Comodave]

We used Barnacle Buster a couple of years ago to clean out the main engines and the A/Cs. Since I didn’t want to pull the impellers out I used the sit and soak method for about 6 hours. Started them up and one engine dropped 5 degrees and the other dropped 10 degrees. Very satisfied customer.

 

[Farandaway]

I'm always going to be in fresh water so I don't need to worry about barnacles and sea mussels, etc. I'm wondering if Barnacles Buster is good at descaling. My goal is to remove scale that I think has built up throughout where all the water runs to cool the engines. I don't have a heat exchanger but I do have oil and transmission coolers that are cooled by lake water running around them.

 

[Farandaway]

Wow! That's a good testimonial. Thanks!

 

[smitty477]

Anybody ever use Rydlyme or something similar to flush out there raw water system? Looks like a pretty smart thing to do but you never know.

We used Rydlyme a number if times over the years - it is designed to be less of a factor with all metals and welds/solders.
Used a bucket and looped the system with a bilge pump for application and then rinsed well before removing the looped bucket.
FWIW - 1 gallon of Rydlyme will do a bunch of coolers and last quite a while.

 

[ranger58sb]

I used Rydlyme in the mains -- one by recirculating, one fill/wait/drain -- and seemed to get lots of stuff out. Didn't see any difference in temps, though. OTOH, I wasn't having any troubles with temps in the first place.

I used Barnacle Buster a few ties in the AC system, fill/wait/drain, and that too seemed to get some stuff out.

-Chris

 

[firehoser75]

Freshwater flushing, for those operating in salt or brackish water is a good idea as well. However, even if you use products like Barnacle Buster or Rydlyme, don't forget that your raw water cooling components still need periodic "off engine" cleaning and MOST IMPORTANT pressure testing. Otherwise you risk water in your transmission, salt water in your antifreeze, etc. They are an "extender" or "stop gap" at best, and not a substitute for proper maintenance!

 

[rgano]

The MSDS for Barnacle Barrier lists phosphoric acid as its active ingredient while Rydlime's is hydrochloric acid. A cursory search shows phosphoric acid to be safe around aluminum. I have used BB in my Yanmar 6-cylinder 315 HP engine which has some aluminum parts. Even though I conduct a freshwater rinse of the engine's raw water cooling circuit after every run, and the boat lives in a lift, there was a fair amount of gunk in coming out of the system into the recirc bucket for the first few minutes after several years of operation.

 

[Lepke]

I've used Rydlyme for a long time. Besides cleaning the marine growth, it also removes rust. I use on the coolant side, too. I've fixed overheating in several engines other people threw parts at. When your antifreeze gets old, it allows rust to form on the water jackets and passages and acts like an insulator, so the coolant doesn't carry as much heat away.

 

[gotfw]

Pure vinegar worked well on a Cat engine. Circulated for 4 hrs.

 

[DavidM]

Sounds like you operate in a freshwater lake and since you said you have no main heat exchanger your cooling must be once through raw (lake) water that is circulated through the block, and the oil and transmission coolers. Those systems usually have a 150-160 degree thermostat to keep the system cooler than indirect cooled systems, since in sea water higher temps allow scale to drop out faster and quickly foul the system.

But you shouldn't get much scale in a fresh water lake supplied cooling system. Your fouling if any might be algae and other lake organisms. BB or RydLyme should take those out as well. Diluted muriatic acid, HCl or swimming pool acid won't work as well because it doesn't have detergents in it. See the article I wrote on raw water flushing in the Library section of this forum for details about how to do it.

David

 

[Woodland Hills]

You can buy phosphoric acid (Ospho) at Home Depot for a lot less than Barnacle Buster.

 

[catalinajack]

A LOT less!

You can buy phosphoric acid (Ospho) at Home Depot for a lot less than Barnacle Buster.

 

[DavidM]

As I said in the post above, I believe lake water fouling will mostly be algae and other water organisms. A simple acid like phosphoric or HCl will only remove scale which I suspect there is little in fouling from lake water. You need a detergent such as BB and Rydlyme have to remove the alage fouling.

You might try a squirt of Dawn along with pure HCl or phosphoric acid. But you need a detergent that won't be affected by the acid and I don't know how the acid will react with that detergent.

David