www.iFourWinns.com

In the past few weeks several boat owners in my marina have been flushing their air conditioners and I had not heard of this practice being done before. My AC strainer will get full of lake gunk and needs cleaned about twice a year or when I happen to think of it while I'm in the bilge. All I do is remove the strainer and wash out the gunk that is in there. These guys are putting muriatic acid either in the strainer or to a hose on the input side of their AC and pulling the acid through the pump. Have you ever heard of this practice? When I think about it my system is probably well coated with lake sludge so it kind of makes sense however I don't want to do it if there is a chance I can damage or corrode the AC pump with the acid.

The guy that started this said he was in a marina in Florida and there was a crew doing it there. They claimed the service charge to do this was $400 and that it made the AC work more efficiently. Those that have done it in my marina claim it helped theirs but I wonder how they judge that. I know the muriatic acid can be used in pools and doesn't harm those pumps.

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2008 Vista 278 Volvo Penta 8.1 Gi 375 hp
1999 Horizon 220 5.7 GSi

More common in salty environments, barnacles and salt there. If you use Muriatic, dilute to 20% with water. Muriatic acid can be very harmful to copper and will also eat away at brazed joints. Although it can be used safely in the correct dilution and with limited soak time there is still a big risk of permanently damaging your expensive cooling loop prematurely. It is also illegal to let muriatic acid go into the water, you are required to capture it all and dispose properly as hazardous material. I would recommend highly using Rydlyme instead, it will clean just as well, is safe to handle even full strength and can be disposed diluted.

http://www.rydlymemarine.com/

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

In a pool it's diluted 50000:1
I use muriatic acid diluted 3:1 to clean rust stains off my fences and patios. It's very powerful at that ratio. It will eat the protective oxide layer off any metals, so there is at lease some slight damage.

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"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

Yeah that's why I asked the question. I think I'll let the other guys do this and I'll just sit back and ooh and aww over how swell their AC is running. I'll probably say I'll try that next weekend and never get around to it.

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2008 Vista 278 Volvo Penta 8.1 Gi 375 hp
1999 Horizon 220 5.7 GSi

We clean water cooled condensers at work with rydlyme when the condensers are fouled. Miractic acid will eat through the copper in no time and in turn you will end up with pin holes in the condenser causing you to loose the refrigerant in the system.
A clean condenser will help with heat transfer and intern become more efficient

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2001 328 Vista "Nauta Dream 2"
AB Inflatable 10AL "Little Dreamer"
2000 248 Vista
1997 225 Sundowner


Mike

Checked out the web site... that's impressive stuff.

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"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings