"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
Banister Stairwell writes:

There are chemicals specifically formulated for the purpose of cleaning
coils. You can find them at Home Depot or Lowe's.

The only thing "special" about these is a label and premium price.

Just use an ordinary butyl cleaner (409, Fantastik, Zep), which is all
these "special formulas" are.

I'm well aware that similar products get repackaged, labeled and a premium
price tacked on. Anhydrous lanolin is one product that comes to mind.
Musical instrument companies repackage and label it as a lubricant for brass
instrument tuning slides. The per-unit cost then becomes about 50 times the
cost of the basic stuff you can buy in a 1 lb. jar at any pharmacy. Same
stuff...different package..higher price.

However, I didn't believe you were correct regarding coil cleaning
chemicals, so being the curious type, I posed a question regarding the
composition of these chemicals on alt.hvac. According to one response I've
received so far, they are not the same as Fantastik, 409, etc.