Anyone have experience using Barnacle Buster

I have a Sea Flush kit which I used to winterize my boat. I see it can be used to pump a solution of a product called 'barnacle buster' thru the raw water side & let it soak for 4 hours, there by cleaning any deposits. Has anyone used this method. My exchanger taken off & rebuilt 2 years ago at the marina, plus boat was stored in fresh water this past winter, so I don't think it needs much else. It is running proper temp, etc. I just though this might be enough, rather than taking it apart. Any input would be appreciated!

I just flushed both engines -- but with Rydlyme, not BB -- and found no change in engine temps. OTOH, I didn't really expect much change because the engines have been running at the expected temps anyway...


OTOH, I've used another similar product in the past -- from Triton Marine -- on our AC system, and that made a huge difference. I actually bought the Rydlyme this year for another AC flush, and did the engines simply because I could.


Guys on other fora have usually reported good success with all 3 products, depending on their going-in situation on whatever system...


-Chris

Used Barnacle Buster, works great! Di it with a 5 gal pail and a few 3/4 inch hoses to circulate with a small high volume pump. Really cleaned the cooling fins, etc. I took them apart to check and changed impellers afterwards. BB is a solution of muratic acid according to MSDS. Used that the next time and it worked just as good IMHO. Used that to clean AC hoses.
Noticed no problems. HTH

The Sea Flush system has you filling the system & letting it sit for 4 hours, then starting engine to flush out. Do you think this would work OK without the pump to recirculate the solution ? Also, do you have to remove zincs first. I read some products will be hard on the zincs.

Replace zincs after treatment. It will eat them. The pump and use of 5 gal bucket allows solution to circulate and thoroughly clean an old system. Using the engine pump seems like a waste of the acid. Did not try that way. We disconnected the water into exhaust fitting and the main engine inlet hose. This creates a closed loop and circulated 5 gals of mix for over an hour and then allowed to sit for a few hours. Changed out the mix with fresh and ran it for awhile until it came out clean. Very easy! Then installed new zincs and impellers. HTH

Circulating is the best approach but filling and soaking will also work. But...

Make sure that the tubes of the heat exchanger are clear and open. Remove the end caps and look inside and rod them out with a dowel, brazing rod, gun cleaning rod, etc. They need to at least have some opening or the cleaning solution won't do any good on that tube.

And BTW, if your engine has a sea water cooled aftercooler, disassemble, clean, grease, reassemble and pressure test before acid cleaning. Otherwise you might get an engine full of acid.

David

To do the job properly you really need to circulate the acid.