citric acid is the beast. no citrus smell, just good cleaning action.
I used it a lot for cleaning stainless bioreactors, and stainless
winefermentors.

if you have access to it, trisodium citrate is the common salt from
of the acid.

citric acid is used as an acidulant in many foodstuffs and drinks.

I'll go out on a limb here and say you can't really overdo it in a
cleaning solution. Well i wouldn't boil a saturated solution in a
nice new stainless vessel, just out of caution.

alistair

On 15-May-10, at 2:34 PM, Phil Zimmerman wrote:

 From a faint memory.... check the Archives if interested... late 1990's
I think....
A listmember guru of the day used an Organic Acid, like either
Citric/Citrus Acid (Alistair will perhaps correct my bad chemistry ....
:-)
The solution smelled like Oranges..... Fast-Orange Hand Cleaner? (NO,
I'm not endorsing the use of Fast-Orange!)
Filled the Rad with the solution (donno the strength) and let soak
24-to-48 hrs to dissolve the slime and baked-on deposits.
Was safe for use on Aluminium... along with most other metals. Happy
soaking to yah...

Phil Z.
Lives on the same Rock as  Alistair
We don't do Draino.... do we?