Boiler Pickle

[ianb]

Hi I have tried the search but could not make it work. I need some advise please on pickling and what to use use. I have a boiler that was started some time ago that I am going to try and complete.
The horn stay are not very well soldered so that is my first mission to try and reheat and flo some more solder but it is fairly dirty so I thought hopefully correctly that the boiler needs pickling to clean out any dirt? But what is the best/safe to use. I read on a previous thread citric acid? what would be the sort of soak time?
I hope this makes sense and many thanks in advance.

Regards Ian.

[cplmickey]

Ian, I think there are 2 answers here.

The first is about the dirty boiler. Don't put it in the pickle as it is - you will contaminate your pickle which isn't a good idea. I would clean it as much as you can with a stiff brush then soak it in Cillit Bang limescale remover (or something similar). Nice and cheap and you can just wash it away.

The second relates to pickle. There is a lot of support for citric acid although all of my boilers have been pickled with sulphuric acid. Gasps of horror but if you treat it correctly there is no problem. Just bought some citric acid crystals to try as I'd like to be as safe as possible but can't yet comment on how good it is. Regards soak time, try 5 minutes then check - you can always put it back in.

I suspect Keith from CupAlloys may join the discussion but if not then I think his advice will be to ensure you use the correct flux and don't worry too much about pickling before soldering.

[Boadicea]

We have discussed pickling many times before. Try here and here and here and here and here.

There will probably be duplication