Cleaning long tubes? (More a howto/research aid)
I'm looking for some help researching how to clean long tubes, such as maybe 1/4 inch pickup tubes for a water pump that may be 20 feet long. I've been able to find hydration bladder cleaning kits that allow for cleaning the first 2 or 3 feet of these tubes, but beyond some sort of high pressure/high flow system with high caustic cleaning solutions, I haven't found a good way to swab out a long tube.
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Depending on what you're cleaning and the nature of the pipe (is it smooth or does it contain sharp bends?) you could consider pigging.
That is what we use on big hydraulic systems where the lines can be hundreds of metres long.
All this while bypassing all aggregates like motors, pumps and pistons.
I used to work in a brewery and we used hot caustic followed by acid for cleaning most things but some pneumatic (spent) grain systems got pigged in freezing weather to avoid the wet grain freezing into a plug.