REALLY CLEAN Aluminum

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benhere

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I've almost used up a quart of "Aluminex" Hull and Bottom Cleaner. It worked well, but I'm going to need more, and I just realized I have a gallon of air conditioning coil cleaner called "Kleen Brite" in the shop.

Well....hey. The Aluminex cost almost $!4/quart, and Kleen Brite goes for $17/gallon. I googled it and found this:

https://www.hcronline.com/industrial_sheets/Kleen%20Brite%20TECH.pdf

Before I load the sprayer, anybody else tried this? Or...am I the last one to figure this out?
Ben
 
I've got some cans of brite kleen, never thaught about it for the boat.

If you decide to be the official "tester" let us know how it goes:mrgreen:
 
Well Mike, if the weather holds out tomorrow, I'll hit it and post some before/after pics. Inquiring minds gotta know!
 
Here goes.
First pic shows streaking from the Aluminex.
Started with coil cleaner at the keel, worked down, with timer set for 15 minutes.
Spread it around with a scrub brush, watched it foam.
At 15 minutes, fired up the pressure washer and blasted it off.
ALL the old crud came off, left the metal almost white.
15 minutes seems about right. The top was much cleaner than the lower part that was done last.
The last pic shows where I stopped, with the same streaking I got from the Aluminex.
Leaving town for a few days, we'll see what it looks like next Saturday.

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IMPORTANT NOTE!
My AC supply people tell me they sell a lot of this stuff for boats, only be sure to rinse it thoroughly and completely, because it will, "keep on eating!"
 
Looks very similar to the results I got using Alumabrite. Took about 45 minutes of time to mop it on, wait, then rinse, but only doing small sections at a time. It didn't require any scrubbing so I'm thankful for that at least. Here's the before and after.

DSC00227.jpg


DSC00228.jpg
 
Helpful hint when cleaning things like this.

Start spraying at the bottom and work your way up the vertical surface. This will keep any streaks from forming.

We used to do this when pressure washing. Sometimes those really clean streaks won't blend out if you start at the top and work your way down. I forgot about doing that on one of my tins during an acid bath once. I liked to have never got those streaks blended and you could still see them a year later when I sold the boat if the sun hit it just right.
 
Thanks, guys-
UBKicker-
After reading posts here, I had to feel like I'd IMPROVED it!
House-
Sorry 'bout that! Hoping to dazzle a few fish!
JMichael-
That's inspirational! Good work!
Spotco2-
That's the kind of tips I need! I'm still undecided about paint or epoxy, but cleaner is better than dirty, so if weather holds for this next weekend, I'll post some finished pics.
(I should mention, the plastic spray bottle used as an applicator no longer works -yikes.)
 
Anyone aware of Gab-Coil and Nar-Coil produced by Gur Thermal Systems Cleaning Technologies for commercial and industrial sectors?
 
Now that you've got it prepped, it's time to go all in?
 

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