Soaking Plate Chiller to clean?

Read alot of threads about using a pump to clean out a plate chiller, but what about just soaking one?

The fittings are taped on mine so I think I can only bake it at around 400*, so I was thinking of doing a long soak in some cleaner (havent decided which kind yet)?

Would this work ok to soak it, flush it/backflush it a few times, and soak/repeat a few more times?

If so, whats a good cleaner that I can use to warm up and let it soak in?

Thanks

I doubt simply soaking a plate chiller will provide satisfactory results. It's bad enough you can't see anything in there, and you know there's a crapton of convoluted plates a scant space apart, with trapped air all through it, along with whatever foreign matter is crudding it up.

Imo, you really want to push cleaner through a plate chiller in both directions, and with some force...

Cheers!

I'm not really opposed to pumping cleaner through it. I had just removed it from my stand and figured it would be best to bake it and let it soak. I guess it would also give me a good chance to really clean out my kettle.

So if I hook it back up, and decide to pump cleaner through it, whats a good cleaner and a proper way to do this?

PBW and Oxyclean are both good choices. Mix with warm water.

Dumb questions, but are those considered caustic? I've read that caustic is the best method to truly clean and flush out the plate chiller.