Does Salt Away product work?
- Thread starter gradywhite248
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I used to flush once a year with it but have not used it in three or four seasons or so. I do flush my motor with fresh water after each use and it has very little visible buildup when looking into the t-stat openings.gradywhite248 said:
My question for the folks who responded with an unequivocal YES is: Does the product in your opinion prevent salt and corrosion buildup or did you have buildup and the product removed it?
One far less expensive treatment that I have been told works is flushing with a white vinegar mix. You can use the same gizmo that you use for the Saltaway.
From my experience it does both, although salt build up removal does require a little more aggressive approach with repeated applications over a shorter period of time. I use it in a pump up spray container on my brakes after launch, motor flush ( about 2 minutes) leaving the product in the engine. Spray boat and trailer down, leaving the product on without rinsing. Does not remove wax or any polishing product. Leaving quite a nice finish. I believe it is worth the money if only for the time saving in clean up, but on removal of thermostat have observed quite clean water jackets (block). Don't know much about white vinegar but find the Salt Away with its dispenser attachment uses approx .5 %. product to water. Anyway, no I am not a distributor Just knowing after over forty years around boats on salt water and a past commercial fisherman, the damage salt water can do. The old saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" works for me. Cheers, trapper
My mechanic swears by it which is good enough for me - I also run it thru my washdown pump a few times a year.
When replacing my Poppet Valves I used Salt Away to clean tubes & galleries with so-so results.
A forum member suggested white vinegar which worked far better & much cheaper than Salt Away.
I now flush my motors with white vinegar as well.
A forum member suggested white vinegar which worked far better & much cheaper than Salt Away.
I now flush my motors with white vinegar as well.
I read on another forum (THT), that someone mixed blue food coloring in the vinegar to be able to see when it ran out in the dispenser. Kinda clever.
Yes, I have heard of white vinegar used as a salt buster, but believe it can remove the finish (wax, polish etc.) on fibreglass where the Salt away does not . Jeez, maybe I should get into sales! Cheers, could I be wrong? trapper
Salt Away has acid in it and vinegar is also an acid and over time could do some damage to metal parts, one would think.
I tried a test on the bow section after a long day on choppy seas where I sprayed SA on half and water on the other half. Let it dry, no scrubbing. No residue on the SA side, lots of dried salt on the other side. Pretty dramatic.
BTW SA is a surfactant, not an acid, based on its MSDS.
Vinegar works but is a weak acid and needs to be at a high concentration and only dissolves the calcium/mg scale- it does nothing for salt. People flush and see good results with vinegar because it is removing scale which does deposit from seawater on hot surfaces.
BTW SA is a surfactant, not an acid, based on its MSDS.
Vinegar works but is a weak acid and needs to be at a high concentration and only dissolves the calcium/mg scale- it does nothing for salt. People flush and see good results with vinegar because it is removing scale which does deposit from seawater on hot surfaces.
Doc Stressor
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Salt Away changed their formula recently. It used to contain a weak acid. It no longer does. It now uses "coupling agents" to remove Ca/Mg deposits. These are chemical compounds that tightly bind certain metal ions and keep them in solution.
Salt is completely soluble in plain water. But it gets trapped in Ca/Mg carbonate deposits when saltwater dries down. Mild acids or "coupling agents" bring the Ca/Mg deposits into solution and the NaCl just washes away.
You can leave aluminum soaking in vinegar for weeks without any visible corrosion. There is no need to worry about vinegar damaging an engine's cooling system. Acetic acid, the acid component of vinegar, is also volatile. It goes off into air when the surfaces dry.
Salt Away works. So does vinegar. Especially if you add a little detergent to the vinegar (like a drop of dish detergent) to help it wet the metal surfaces.
Salt is completely soluble in plain water. But it gets trapped in Ca/Mg carbonate deposits when saltwater dries down. Mild acids or "coupling agents" bring the Ca/Mg deposits into solution and the NaCl just washes away.
You can leave aluminum soaking in vinegar for weeks without any visible corrosion. There is no need to worry about vinegar damaging an engine's cooling system. Acetic acid, the acid component of vinegar, is also volatile. It goes off into air when the surfaces dry.
Salt Away works. So does vinegar. Especially if you add a little detergent to the vinegar (like a drop of dish detergent) to help it wet the metal surfaces.