speedy25

I miss Stoddard solvent in the parts washer.

ANYTHING that works will not be available to the general public. If you have a connection with an industrial supply house you might find something good through them.

I had a horribly coated with grease intercooler that I was able to successfully clean with a water based product, so I know there is some good chemistry out there.

Kerosene doesnt do diddly squat on grease. Neither do any of the spray cans where the ingredient list begins with methanol.

My best grease/varnish dissolver is Berrymans in the spray can. It used to be sold in almost every store but now I can only find it at Napa. This product WILL dissolve plastics if you arent careful.

Next best is brake cleaner. At least it is supposed to dissolve oils. These are usually safe on plastics too, but NOT ALL so test it first.

I'll admit to using gasoline for some projects but under careful circumstances outdoors. I'll have to try diesel sometime to see if its any good.

Have fun cleaning.

-SP

curbtender

I had a Berryman dip bucket I used for years before I finally retired it. Simple Green and a nylon brush works pretty good. Found this 'build your own' ultrasonic cleaner...

San Rensho 

Soap and water and a scrub brush. No need to complicate things.

San Rensho 

And a dishwasher is a great parts washer. Just dont let the wife or gf (and if you have both, things could very complicated) find out or you will be buying a new dishwasher.

Will Wheeler

It seems to me that many doesn't know that the oil from diesel or kerosene can easily be removed with scolding hot water and the part(s) will come out squeaky clean.

sch

Diesel fuel and kerosene certainly have a large amount of residue. Used to have a diesel tractor and
recall a the interior of a friends mobile home back in the late '60s where a kerosene heater was used.
Thin film of oily stuff everywhere. They are good solvents, relatively safe and relatively cheap.
I prefer paper towels, wooden sticks and simple green.

Nice video of fuel air explosion seconds after dumping gasoline on a brush pile and igniting "from a
safe distance" :

TimothyH

All

Keep in mind that oily rags can ignite by themselves and should never be left in a pile in the garage.
Lay the rags flat to dry ordrape them over a fence or garbage can outside. Do not pile them up or just toss them in the garbage can.

After they are dry, put them in an old paint can full of water and dish soap and seal tightly.


-Tim-

AnkleWork

According to the report: "Oily Rags: Rags that have absorbed oils such as linseed oil or turpentine . . .", that is, hardening oils like tung etc, not petroleum oil.

canklecat

Classic "hold my beer and watch this" video. Field of Screams and Charredren of the Corn, all in one video.

No matter how much folks are warned they never believe how dangerous gasoline is until they find out for themselves.

That was one of my standard lectures about proper storage and handling of gasoline when I was a safety inspector. It never seemed to sink in with some employees and employers. They'd store gas in gas cans without caps, or in unapproved containers, where the containers could be knocked over near ignition sources. Always the same story: "We've done it this way for nigh unto twinnythuttyfawty year and ain't never had no accidents."

At least twice over the years our cousins next door in a rural area nearly burned down the place tossing gasoline around to burn cattails or ignite piles of brush. The vapor circle spreads wider and quicker than folks can imagine. Never occurred to them their pyrotechnics could literally burn down the entire town. We had only a volunteer fire department, who fortunately were johnny-on-the-spot quick.

My stepdad's business partner died after using gasoline to reignite some bbq grill coals that weren't burning hot enough to suit him.

I thought about using a demo to show people how dangerous this can be, but couldn't come up with a way to control it. As little as 1/8 or 1/4 cup of gasoline poured onto the ground can spread into a large circle very quickly, so it's never safe for igniting brush piles.

Rowan

Calling cyccommute! We need you to refute the claim about oily rags self-combusting... again.

3alarmer 

...the oils they are talking about that can generate heat and possibly smolder and self combust (rarely) are stuff like oil stains and wood finishes made from linseed oil...also linseed oil paints. Many of the seed oils (that are never seen in garages or mechanical work) like flax, sunflower, etc will also do this.

cyccommute 

That's because diesel and kerosene can't be easily removed with water of any temperature. There are components in diesel and kerosene that are slightly water soluble but the bulk of the material is water insoluble. Practically speaking, you can dissolve milligrams (maybe up to a couple of grams total) of some of the components in diesel in a liter of water but that's a very small amount of the liquid. Generally speaking, a substance that is considered water soluble has solubilities in g/milliliter or about a 1000 times that of diesel fuel.

"Oil" is a very broad term. Diesel and kerosene are essentially "oils". Bacon grease is an "oil" as is butter, cooking oils, and finishing "oils" as well as motor oil and crude oil which is fractionated into all kinds of "oils". Waxes and asphalt are "oils" but they are just thick. In fact, the term "oil" is far too broad to be of much use.

Finishing oils and vegetable oils are different from petroleum based oils. They are unsaturated and, in many cases, polyunsaturated. Unsaturated means that the oils have carbon to carbon double bonds which are reactive. The bond can be oxidized and the oxidation process releases heat. The more oxidization that can occur, the more heat is released.

Curing oils, like tung and linseed oils, have a lot more unsaturation than other plant based oils. Upon exposure to oxygen, the oil starts to open those carbon to carbon bonds and link to other carbons. They form dense cross linked structures that causes the oils to solidify and form the finish that we want on wood. In chemistry, we call that polymerization and it is the same process as making plastics. The finish is a plant based plastic.

The process is quite rapid...much more rapid than for other plant based oils...and there is a lot of heat released. On a broad surface like a piece of wood, the heat dissipates quickly. But if the oil is trapped in a rag where it is insulated, the heat can build to high enough temperatures to cause the (typically) cotton rags to ignite.

But oils used for lubrication don't have those cross links. You don't want a reactive oil that can solidify as a lubricant, so lubricants are made from compounds that are saturated...they don't have any carbon to carbon double bonds. They won't self-combust because there is nothing there to react and form heat.

curbtender

A friend used a mop to spread sealer on his redwood deck. When he was done, he left it leaning against the rail, in the sun. He's lucky he only had to replace a few rails...

Jeff Wills

Hmmm... we went from cleaning parts to burning decks. Topic drift much?

Rowan

I am not sure, but I don't think he was thinking about using the water to dissolve the diesel or kerosene, but rather using the high temperature of the boiling water to "thin" the diesel and assist in it "floating" away as any oil will do when released on or into water, as well as evaporating.

I've used the technique with success as well; one minor advantage is that the chain, for example, will dry much quicker because of the elevated temperature of the metal -- rather like dinner plates rinsed under a hot tap will dry much quicker than one rinsed under cold water.

I also don't mind the oily residue that may remain on the chain, as it gives it a protective coating and a headstart on lubrication if I am using an oil-based lube as opposed to a wax-based one.

cyccommute 

I'm dubious whether or not the oil will just "float away"...at least not without using a very large quantity of very hot water.

As to adding heat, yes, it might dry a little quicker but water doesn't have a very high vapor pressure, even when hot. It evaporates slowly. Increasing the temperature also increases the rate of oxidation. A (very) rough rule of thumb from chemistry is that an increase of 10°C results in a doubling of the reaction rate. Basically, the hotter the water, the faster the chain rusts.

Water just isn't something that should be used as part of a chain cleaning regimen. I'd think that after riding a bike in the rain, people would recognize that water and chains aren't a good combination but they seem to think that water out of a faucet is different from water that falls from the sky.

Rowan

Geez, I haven not had a single chain that I have treated like that rust. Water evaporates off hot chain (see my reference about dinner plates, although I understand if someone has only ever used a dishwashing machine rather than done the washing up themselves), chain put back on bike, lube applied.

I don't know of any rain that falls at water's boiling point.

But then, if you are referencing people washing their chains in Simple Green, I do agree what does seem to be a pointless exercise.

AnkleWork

4,000 psi indeed; using a pressure washer on a bicycle is a great idea.

rumrunn6

recently read apple cider vinegar was good for cleaning parts

J.Higgins 

This is my go to. Cheap. Works. FWIW, my opinion of commercial parts cleaners is that they take OMS and put perfume in it to make you think you've got a better product. I have also been known to use a lot of WD40 and carb cleaner (in front of my shop exhaust fan). Soak it, let it sit, blast with air, and its clean as a whistle.

I'm really ticklish about having anything flammable in my shop now as well, so I definitely exercise a lot of safety precautions. I use a lot of paper towels to clean up petroleum-based solvents, then toss them in the wood stove if running, and outside the door on the ground during the warm months. Once the solvent has evapped, I just toss it. If its oily, it goes into the fire pit out back. Same procedure for cloth rags.

I do everything in my 15x30 shop (garage shop). Grinding. Brazing. Welding. Last thing I need is to get a spark on something flammable and there goes my house.

Andrew R Stewart 

Smart! Andy

cyccommute 

Quite frankly, I didn't get past the "great luck using a 4000 psi pressure washer" in your post. Most people don't have access to pressure washers like that nor should they.

As for adding a rust preventer, why? Water does a crappy job of removing oil...even when modified by a surfactant. Then you have to get rid of the surfactant and, if you add a rust inhibitor, you likely want to get rid of the rust inhibitor as well.

There is also the cost and volume of the rust inhibitor to consider. I doubt that most people have need or even use for a gallon of the rust inhibitor at $75 per gallon. The 5 gallon quantity I find on line is a better bargain at $175 per 5 gallons ($35 per gallon) but 5 gallons is probably a 5 lifetimes supply of the stuff for cleaning chains. That says nothing about the $1000 pressure washer.

Finally, yes, I "just want to yak about water = bad" because it's true that water on a chain equals poor results. I am endlessly amazed...and there are endless threads on chain cleaning to amaze me...at the hoops that people will go through to avoid using a product that is simple, effective, cheap and uses small volumes of solvent. If I use mineral spirits for grease removal, I can be done with cleaning the chain and riding by the time you have drug out your pressure washer, mixed the solution, powered up and sprayed water into all of your bearings, rinsed the chain, dried the chain and relubricated. Basically, you are using a very large rock to kill a gnat.

TimothyH

I was corrected on this, taken to task actually. It is a BF "feature" so that people can learn as much as possible. Every other forum on the internet needs to do away with the outdated notion of "off topic".

Accidentally swerving back into the OP however, I also use Odorless Mineral Spirits. Dirt cheap, effective, reasonably safe, the clean stuff can be decanted and the dirty stuff recycled.


-Tim-

cyccommute 

Yet another goofy cider vinegar claim that makes no chemical sense Glacial acetic acid...the active ingredient in "vinegar" of all kinds...might make a dent in grease. It's not a horrible solvent but it has a extremely pungent smell.

But mixed with water at a 95% water to 5% acetic acid, it's going to do squat on grease and oil. Too much water.

Dave Cutter

I think a lot of cyclist like and use WD40 for cleaning. Some even claim to use it as a lubricant.

I will sometimes spray my chain and shifter parts down with WD40 before a ride. Then when I return scrub the bike down with soap and warm water. The WD40 really breaks down the oil already on the parts/chain and makes clean-up quick and easy.