| Archive for The Unofficial Mamod and Other Steam Forum The Original Unofficial Toy Steam Forum Established 2006 The biggest, most popular global steam forum around! Accept NO imitations! We have a growing community of regular posting members who chat about all aspects of toy and model steam. |
| Swift Fox |
Descaling Model Steam EnginesI'd firstly like to say hi to everyone,
Secondly i'm after some  , i'm sorry if you have had this topic repeated but i looked through about fifteen pages and gave up and joined!. I have several model steam engines (mamod & wilesco) unfortunately where i live the water is very hard and some of my engines have limescale in the boilers and on the sightglasses. the scale isn't really bad as i can see the water level fine but when it boils i can see bits of scale floating around and have noticed when draining the dregs have been milky.
Before you all say distilled to me  , i have realised i have a condenser dryer and have started using the water from that. but i would like to get rid of the scale that has already appeared. I am usure what i could use as i don't want anything attacking the silver solder and giving me a leaky boiler.
Any advice or help would be really appricated |
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| Wandering-Willie |
just steam it up on vinegar, works a treat aslong as you do it outdoors, it reeks!!! | ||
| Bugsy |
Hi and welcome to the forum from Sweden!
I've had good success descaling some of my engines with diluted vinegar. It even loosens up scale deposits in pipes, whistles and regulators. Soak it for a few hours and rinse it out. I also use water from my dehumidifier. Phil |
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| Swift Fox |
Thanks for the suggestion, I might try that, does it matter what sort of vinger and how much would i need to add to the water? | ||
| Roly Williams |
I use neat white vinegar. The stronger the vinegar the quicker it works, but don't leave the whistle or safety valve in while it's soaking. The vinegar will attack anything steel like springs. If you're using neat vinegar, leave it in the boiler for an hour or so. If the whistle or SV are also scaled up, soak them in the same vinegar but only for a few minutes and make sure they are well rinsed out afterwards. You should rinse out the boiler as well but that's not quite so urgent. As you've already worked out, to prevent scaling up in the future, use only distilled water. Rain water or water from a dehumidifier (filtered in both cases) is fine. |
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| Swift Fox |
Cheers Roly, i'll try that at the weekend, i thought about vinger before but was worried about the acid. What you said above reassures me, i also heard lemon juice or some citrus juice could be used but i think vinegar sounds better to me. Thanks to all of you that have posted so far 
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| gd9704 |
Finally, a good use for all that dehumidifier water! (Never thought of that!) 
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| dampfmaschinenjoe 1967 |
I would say to get rid of the limescale by using citric acid. Itīs used for cleaning professional espresso boilers at restaurants from limescale B U T you have to rinse well after the treatment !
cheers Joe |
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| Graham-Jilly |
A big from the great land down under.
I use white vinegar for descaling as well and an old timer told me to put a cup of vinegar in the tender of my 7 1/4 gauge loco as well while running it keeps all the pipes clean and injectors as well 
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| Sandman |
A big Scottish welcome to the forum.
You've had some sound advice so I won't add any.
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| Atticman |
I just used cheap malt vinegar, 12p or so for 500mls 
Will search for the link on it, worked a real treat. http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org...t21100.html&highlight=vinegar I really wouldnt heat it up though, wasnt worth the small and froth. Dont dilute it though, dont see the need 
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| Wallace |
I have had no problems with using vinegar, but never heated it up or left it in the boiler for longer than an hour.
One important thing though is don't tip the boilers to get the vinegar out. Small bits of scale can work their way into the steam pipes. Use the largest syringe you can get hold of with some suitable tubing to reach the bottom of the boiler. It helps suck any sediment out. After that, I then fill the boiler and empty with the syringe method, 3 times. Also If you want to flush your steam pipe line for descaling, take the cylinder off (on mamod oscilators, not sure how wilescos pull apart), fill a syringe with vinegar and backflush slowly so the vinegar sits in the line. The backflush with fresh water in the syringe, using the force of the syringe. |
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| igy569 |
Just be sure not to leave nickel plated surfaces in contact with the vinegar for too long.. Thins the finish. 
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| Swift Fox |
Thanks for all the welcomes so far and also thanks for all the handy tips, i will be using a syringe, as i normally use one for emptying the water from the boiler but that's a good bit of advice Wallace. I think my steam pipes are ok it is just the boiler. Also thanks for the tip about nickel plated boilers igy569, i will be careful when i do my Wilescos's!
Thanks again to all who have posted so far
*UPDATE* I have successfully descaled all my engines!, thanks to everyone for their help and tips
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