Chipper radiator deep cleaning tips?

Anyone tried the foamy spray soap cleaner used for HVAC/ AC fin cleaning? This kind of stuff does a great job on our AC's fin muck every spring. Probably wouldn't remove that fine sap mist/ spray that gets over our chipper (isopropanol ??) but it does a good job on all manner of other guck. Probably can't use a high pressure washer either in case you do damage to the fins, same as AC service. Cheers
 
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Some good ideas for a deep clean on the fins. I might be do for that this summer as I think my chipper is 7 years old or so.

The thing that has greatly extended times between clean water rinse in-between the fins for me has been to blow the dust off everytime before engine shut down. Sideways to clear main screen then backwards and straight through as much fin area as I can see. (Added benefit of having an easy to use battery blower at hand.)
 
Wow your brave using an airspade. For anyone than hasn't tried it but wants to I would say as precisely as possible holding at a ninty degree angle to the fins, wouldn't you?

When cleaning dust and dirt out from in between the fins in the past I've noticed I could accomplish so much with an open water hose. Then more with a hose and nozzle, and then more with a compressor blow gun, and still more if I re-wet any still clogged areas and hit them with air again.
 
I used Purple Power on recommendation from some lobstermen to clean off hyd leak starting above mini skid radiator. But haven’t since after learning how bad it is for just about everything health wise and many materials.
 
Twice I have had to drain and take the radiator out of my chipper. Chips and cottonwood fruits had packed the gaps and bent fins on the fan side. I bought a radiator fin comb to straighten the bent fins and carefully used a metal pick to dislodge stuck chips. A lot of medium pressure water and gravity with the radiator suspended parallel to the ground. I added screening over the fan shroud which has reduced the debris making it to the radiator
 
I’ll use a pressure washer a few times a year, but I’ll leaf blow out the radiator on all the equipment daily. Especially during cotton weed season.
 
The radiator in one f my chippers was leaking so I pulled it and took to the 'old-time' radiator guy. He was familiar with chippers and recored mine.

He got a special core that had larger tubes and fins that were further apart. He went over all of the cooling capacity issues with me. The gaps between the fins and tubes were about the diameter of a pencil lead. Maybe a little smaller.

It was easy to fabricate a window screen for the outside of the radiator

SOP became:

Blow out radiator on every job
Garden hose blast twice a month during the growing season.
Pay particular attention to corners.

After doing this the radiator did its job just fine.
 
Merle Nelson said:
Wow your brave using an airspade. For anyone than hasn't tried it but wants to I would say as precisely as possible holding at a ninty degree angle to the fins, wouldn't you?

When cleaning dust and dirt out from in between the fins in the past I've noticed I could accomplish so much with an open water hose. Then more with a hose and nozzle, and then more with a compressor blow gun, and still more if I re-wet any still clogged areas and hit them with air again.
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I was worried about Bending fins, but I didn't have any issues with it. Clean as a whistle when done. And really fast too. Big cloud of dust and gunk and done.
 
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