Vinegar - How does it clean "working" pumps

Haggisman14 · Jan 31, 2019

Hey everyone. I did a search, and even a general youtube/google search and I have a question.

I know a good vinegar soak will help any pumps that seem to be seized due to calcium build up, excessive coraline, etc, but I had a different situation.

Last night I come home and notice my skimmer isn't producing ANY bubbles, and is running extremely slow. I take the pump apart, notice there isn't any build up (so it seems), put it back together, have my venturi tube in the air, and still nothing.

I figure it won't hurt, so I left the pump in the 5 gallon bucket overnight with 50/50 water/vinegar mix, and what do you know, I wake up this morning, and my 5 gallon bucket is filled with bubbles.

In my case, i cleaned everything, and nothing had any build up on it...so what the heck does the vinegar do? I know it's not a lubricant, so in the span of 8 hours, how did it make a pump that was pushing minimal flow, turn back into a bubble beast?

And to play it safe, i'm keeping it running in the bucket until I get home tonight.

As always, thanks!

Softhammer · Jan 31, 2019

Vinegar is simply Acetic Acid which dissolves calcium build up. You must have had internal pump issues. There’s no magic involved, just acid.

Haggisman14 · Jan 31, 2019

Well, i guess sometimes the answer is that easy.

Thanks!

Thingsibuild · Jan 31, 2019

You probably had a little calcium in the intake tube that you missed. Its hard to see in the tube.

Haggisman14 · Jan 31, 2019

Must have been something like that...WHO KNOWS! All I know is I'm happy it's fixed b/c over the past week i've been noticing a bit of an algae outbreak, and obviously it's due to a lack of organics being taken out of the tank.

Thanks again!

LJLKRL05 · Jan 31, 2019

Yep a little calcium buildup in the intake tube makes a big difference.

saltyfilmfolks · Jan 31, 2019

It’s an acid. Acids dissolve things , including soft organics.

Put a pice of meat or vegetable in vinegar and see what happens.

redfishbluefish · Jan 31, 2019

You've already heard how acids dissolve precipitated calcium compounds. However, if you're going to let pumps sit for extended periods in acid, you'd be much better off soaking in citric acid (3/4 - 1 cup made up to one gallon) or diluted muriatic acid (diluted 1 to 10). The reason is that these acids are less likely to penetrate and damage the pump.

Tastee · Feb 1, 2019

redfishbluefish said:
You've already heard how acids dissolve precipitated calcium compounds. However, if you're going to let pumps sit for extended periods in acid, you'd be much better off soaking in citric acid (3/4 - 1 cup made up to one gallon) or diluted muriatic acid (diluted 1 to 10). The reason is that these acids are less likely to penetrate and damage the pump.

When using Vinegar what ratio would you recommend it be diluted to?
I guess it depends on the level of calcium etc buildup, but how long would you soak pump components in vinegar - is 1 hour enough?

JMetaxas · Feb 1, 2019

Everybody’s wrong. It’s simply magic. That’s the only way to ‘splain it!

jeepsehawk · Feb 1, 2019

I soak my pump in vinegar solution, be careful with magnet propeller, some have a coating on magnet. Now just soak Skimmer without propeller in pump attached. I had to replace because it wouldn't work perfect, it wobbled. Calcium does build up in air intake (in diagram, where yellow tube attaches to bottom), just poke it with needle to break up calcium, vinegar will not break it all up and clog again fast.

Softhammer · Feb 1, 2019

saltyfilmfolks said:
It’s an acid. Acids dissolve things , including soft organics.

Put a pice of meat or vegetable in vinegar and see what happens.

And then toss them on the grill!!

redfishbluefish · Feb 1, 2019

Tastee said:
When using Vinegar what ratio would you recommend it be diluted to?
I guess it depends on the level of calcium etc buildup, but how long would you soak pump components in vinegar - is 1 hour enough?

I only use vinegar on all plastic parts at full strength, and typically overnight....never on parts that have metal components (i.e. magnets). The reason is acetic acid (vinegar) actually penetrates the plastic, and with time, will reach the magnets, causing them to swell.

Let me explain by simply copying over what I've said before......vinegar is able to penetrate plastic, and attack the magnet, causing it to swell.

Acids undergo dissociation in aqueous solution, which is commonly shown as:

HA(aq)+H2O(l)⇌H3O+(aq)+A−(aq)

where HA is the acid. In the case of acetic acid, it very poorly dissociates into acetate and hydrogen, and predominately remains as the "uncharged" acetic acid (HA). (As a comparative, Hydrochloric acid readily dissociated). As a small uncharged compound, it can now penetrate the plastic, and eventual get to the magnet and cause it to rust and swell. It's happened to me, three times over, with the wetsides of MP40's. I can't take credit for "discovering" this....it was Randy Holmes Farley that originally enlightened me to the acetic acid thing. Here's what he said:

I think the effect on plastic may be worse with vinegar than muriatic acid but it may depend on the plastic.

Vinegar can be in the form of acetic acid and that neutral molecule can enter plastic. Diluted muriatic acid won't have any neutral acidic molecules in it to enter plastic, so just exposes the outermost leading edge of plastic. So while the muriatic acid after dilution is a much stronger acid, i would not assume it is worse on plastics.

FWIW, I've used diluted muriatic acid for decades as have others, and I've not heard of cords being damaged, but I've also not inspected them closely.

Ever since I saw this, and my experience with regularly cleaning with vinegar, and the loss of three wetsides, I've stopped using vinegar on any and all magnets.

Softhammer · Feb 1, 2019

That is very very good to know. I may have ruined quite a few magnets too. While vinegar is obviously safer, diluted muriatic just flat out works way way better. Thanks for that information!

Tastee · Feb 2, 2019

redfishbluefish said:
I only use vinegar on all plastic parts at full strength, and typically overnight....never on parts that have metal components (i.e. magnets). The reason is acetic acid (vinegar) actually penetrates the plastic, and with time, will reach the magnets, causing them to swell.

Let me explain by simply copying over what I've said before......vinegar is able to penetrate plastic, and attack the magnet, causing it to swell.

Acids undergo dissociation in aqueous solution, which is commonly shown as:

HA(aq)+H2O(l)⇌H3O+(aq)+A−(aq)

where HA is the acid. In the case of acetic acid, it very poorly dissociates into acetate and hydrogen, and predominately remains as the "uncharged" acetic acid (HA). (As a comparative, Hydrochloric acid readily dissociated). As a small uncharged compound, it can now penetrate the plastic, and eventual get to the magnet and cause it to rust and swell. It's happened to me, three times over, with the wetsides of MP40's. I can't take credit for "discovering" this....it was Randy Holmes Farley that originally enlightened me to the acetic acid thing. Here's what he said:

I think the effect on plastic may be worse with vinegar than muriatic acid but it may depend on the plastic.

Vinegar can be in the form of acetic acid and that neutral molecule can enter plastic. Diluted muriatic acid won't have any neutral acidic molecules in it to enter plastic, so just exposes the outermost leading edge of plastic. So while the muriatic acid after dilution is a much stronger acid, i would not assume it is worse on plastics.

FWIW, I've used diluted muriatic acid for decades as have others, and I've not heard of cords being damaged, but I've also not inspected them closely.

Ever since I saw this, and my experience with regularly cleaning with vinegar, and the loss of three wetsides, I've stopped using vinegar on any and all magnets.