I’m betting that somebody here will know a slick chemical trick for this problem:
My BIL had his fan coil re-located recently, and now the side that was toward the house when the stucco went on is facing outward. Apparantly they didn’t bother to wrap it when they stuccoed, so now there’s stucco slobber ranging from just a trace up to about 1/2″ thick stuck to the thin, closely spaced vertical aluminum fins. This is mostly an appearance issue, it covers maybe 5% of one surface. It isn’t fresh stucco, it’s probably a few years old. I’m hoping there’s some neat way of getting it off without messing up the delicate aluminum.
The one thing that I can think of is trying a penetrating oil like WD-40, but I’m hoping there’s something that’ll eat the stucco but not the aluminum.
Thanks —
— J.S.
Replies
A mild acid would soften the stucco (assuming this is real stucco and not the latex stuff), but would also attack the AL to a degree. You might have a go at it with full strength vinegar (let it react for about five minutes), being careful to limit exposure, and rinsing it off thoroughly afterwards.
If it's latex then rubbing alcohol should soften it, or you can use something like "Goof Off". Alcohol won't hurt the unit but Goof Off might.
For a one time clean up a regular acid made for cleaning condeser coils would be his best bet. Apply with a pump up garden sprayer, let set for 10 minutes or so and thoroughly rinse with water. That means rinsing untill there is no more foam in the rrinse water and will take some time.
A one shot cleaning should in no way damange the coil. It take repeated acid washing over years, or mixing the solution way to strong, to damage a coil.