Seriously dirty Therminator

[hasbrew]

Got a Therminator that my dad used for years and have been trying to get this thing clean (not spitting out black crap) but I'm about ready to give up.

I have baked it twice in the I've (450 deg for 3 hours each time), soaked it in hot pbw four times, and recirculated hot pbw through it twice for about an hour each time. After all that I can still get black bits to come out of it by running tap water through and shaking it.

At this point I'm thinking all that water I would have saved by using this thing has been used up trying to get the damn thing clean!

What else can I try other than repeating this process another ten times?

 

[dmcman73]

To keep from wasting water why not circulate the hot PBW?

Also, have you back flushed it (pushing the hot PBW from the output)?

 

[iijakii]

I wonder if you could just nuke it from orbit with Lye. I'm fairly certain SS is fine with Lye, but you might want to double check that and whatever the therminator uses to braze the plates together.

 

[hasbrew]

Have recirculated pbw twice already for over an hour each time (last one was closer to 2.5 hours) and yes, have flushed it both ways.

 

[hasbrew]

I believe it is copper brazing holding it together. From initial searches looks like lye might weaken the brazing.

 

[Natdavis777]

I believe it is copper brazing holding it together. From initial searches looks like lye might weaken the brazing.

Correct. Blichmann specifically states not to use something like lye to clean the chiller, but it does get the job done

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=374903