Found a trick to stop scale buildup in my boiler tubes

I was cleaning out the fire tubes on my 200 horsepower Cleaver-Brooks last Tuesday and getting tired of fighting hard scale every 3 months. A older guy at the local supply house in Tulsa told me to try a weekly squirt of food-grade citric acid into the feedwater tank. I gave it a shot for 6 weeks and the tubes came out almost spotless when I pulled the front head. Anyone else tried adding something to their water to cut down on cleaning time?

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bettym894mo ago

Citric acid is a solid move, I've heard good things about it.

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morgan.joseph4mo ago

Yeah, I gotta push back on that. Citric acid is fine if you want to strip everything down to bare metal, but I've found it can be too aggressive for regular maintenance. I tried it on a cast iron skillet once and it left this weird patina that took weeks to fix. Vinegar and water is still my go to for most things.

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