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I've used household vinegar for this, or you can make up 5% acetic acid
from lab stock. If you can get any flow at all, just keep running solution
through it. If you're lucky, the vinegar will dissolve out any mineral
deposits and also help loosen up any biological gunk. Once you have things
flowing well, flush with regular water. Finally, put Optishield or similar
into your final coolant water to help keep this from happening in the
future. I'm sure others will chime in with their own magic recipes for
loosening up stuff like this, so give it all a try and you should hit on
something that works.

Best of luck!

Craig Brideau

On Mon, Nov 23, 2015 at 2:46 PM, Michael Giacomelli <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> *****
> To join, leave or search the confocal microscopy listserv, go to:
> http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=confocalmicroscopy
> Post images on http://www.imgur.com and include the link in your posting.
> *****
>
> I recently discovered an old laser in storage.  Unfortunately the
> previous users had not drained the coolant lines, resulting in several
> years corrosion blocking the lines.  I flushed them out as best I
> could and found a grey metal slurry that was fairly thick in place of
> what was once the coolant.  Unfortunately, even with flushing I can't
> flow anything through the system using a normal thermotek chiller.
>
> Are there any options in this situation to unclog a laser?  Looking at
> the material in the line, its fairly diffuse and does not appear all
> that solid.  Is it possible to use something like a weak acid to
> dissolve any solid material blocking the line?  Or some other
> solvent/cleaner?
>
> Mike
>