cyccommute 

Not for soaking the chain!

Abe_Froman

I don't think that's entirely accurate.

I just looked up the ingredients of simple green. The active ingredient seems to be Tetrapotassium Pyrophosphate, which is also used as a food additive. Simple green seems to be mildly alkaline.

Abe_Froman

I bet it would actually degrease a chain

Korina

Good to know, thanks.

cyccommute 

Because it works, doesn't have to be rinsed off and you don't need much of it. A cup will clean a dozen chains or more. Once you have more lubricant than mineral spirits, dispose of it as a hazardous waste.

Simple Green, Dawn or citrus degreaser needs to be used in a much large volume...3 to 5 times as much for Simple Green and gallons for Dawn...then it needs to be rinsed to remove the water soluble detergent, then it should be rinsed with something to remove the water (acetone or alcohol) and then allowed to dry. That's how you end up with these elaborate...and unnecessary...cleaning schemes.

Yes, it works faster. And cleaner. And more efficiently.

But, no, it doesn't stink more (Simple Green smells pretty foul) especially if you use odorless mineral spirits. And, no, it doesn't "kill stuff". Mineral spirits has a fairly low toxicity. It really is just a more fluid form of the wax.

And, while it will burn, the flash point for mineral spirits is around 122°F which puts it in the flammable but not highly flammable category.

Detergents aren't acidic. They tend to be basic. The water is what facilitates the formation of rust.

And, no, mineral spirits is not a nice way of saying "gasoline". Gasoline is toxic and has a flash point of -40°C or 160°F lower than mineral spirits. Gasoline is ignitable at just about any temperature you want to use it at and ignites with much more energy than mineral spirits will.

At room temperature, mineral spirits will ignite and burn gently with a yellow sooty flame. Gasoline will ignite with a mighty WHOOMP! and may not stay in the container you've placed it in.

cyccommute 

Actually not. Alcohol is a very poor degreaser. It's too polar. Same with acetone or methyl ethyl ketone.

davei1980

Agreed on not mixing kerosene and other oily crap, won't do that in the future.

I am concerned that my wax may have come out a bit tacky/stiff because of the toilet wax ring.... Although I got the idea from Sheldon Brown.com

Do you think I should re-wax with straight paraffin or not worry about it for now?

davei1980

I live, I experience, I learn, I repeat.

See my signature.

I will do some things different next time.

HardyWeinberg

No, I don't think you've done any damage. The worst is that if the ratio of paraffin to toilet ring is low enough then you might see too much crud sticking to your chain sooner than you would expect, and *then* it would be time to take the wax off and try again.

Darth Lefty 

I had a memory the active ingredient in Simple Green was hydrochloric acid, but that was wrong. I definitely know it will rust a chain. The difference between mineral spirits and gasoline is more of degree than of kind but the safety note is more important. Forgive me, I've had a pretty crap day with my cut thumb and my heart condition acting up. At least I got to ride my bike.

DrIsotope

I follow a slightly modified version of this process: on my rest day, remove the chain and put it in the Lil' Dipper crockpot. Then forget about it for 4-8 hours. Remove it right before bedtime, after thinking, "Omigod, the chain!" put it back on bike.

I need to go get the chain out right now-- it's been in for about 7 hours. This thread reminded me.

davei1980

Cool - No problem now that I have a dedicated crockpot. That said, if I wished to rewax in a toilet-free mix, could I just melt new paraffin and plunk it in or would I have to go though a cleansing regimen again?

Technically, the new wax would dissolve the old, but I don't now how thoroughly....

davei1980

Haha yep! Mine spent the better part of the Sunday in the crockpot soaking up the wax as I cleaned house and got all my other stuff done!

Guarantee there's NO air left in that chain!

davei1980

Your chains come "packed in oil"? The last 3 chains I have bought have had a waxy "factory lube" stuff on them that isn't oily at all.

I asked the owner of the LBS "what should I do to the chain when I get it home?" he says "nothing"

gregf83 

Very thoroughly. I just dip it in for a minute, remove and wipe with a paper towel to remove the excess wax. It doesn’t take long to heat up the chain and I just swish it around in the the wax a little. Chain is not dirty to begin with but comes out very clean.

HardyWeinberg

The remaining wax whenever you do get around to that should be vastly diluted if you sink the chain into a couple pounds of melted paraffin. Paraffin is dirt cheap and you should be able to fit 4-5# into a crockpot I would think. I would not be pennywise at the risk of pound foolishness there.

That cosmoline grease chains come packed in is by far the best lube I've ever dealt with. I am always sad putting a chain on in the rainy season if I won't get the longest life out of that. But if I put a chain on in June the grease has a good chance of lasting until October.

cyccommute 

Nope. That's a buffer and a thickening agent. It is used in foods but there is none listed on the SDS for Simple Green. There is Tetrasodium N,N-bis(carboxymethyl)-L-glutamate which is a detergent and ethoxylated alcohols (probably similar to Triton X-100) which is also a surfactant. The ethoxylalated alcohols are there in higher concentration than anything but water so they are likely the "active" ingredient.

There's a slight amount of citric acid in Simple Green as well as some sodium citrate. This mixture, along with sodium carbonate, serves as a buffer to keep the pH basic.

The main reason that Simple Green will promote corrosion is that it is 87% water.

Finally, I'm on record all over the BikeForums as being against the use of gasoline for cleaning. Don't use it!Mineral spirits does the same job with a lot less hazard. Yes, it's ignitable but it's not as flammable as gasoline. But it is good to note that it has some hazard and should be used with care.

noglider 

Yeah, I've tried the complicated procedures, and I don't follow them any more. Consumer products are designed for how people typically use them, which is lazily. Take a chain out of the package and install it. It already has lubricant on it.

I sometimes clean and lube a chain, but I try to avoid doing so. If a chain is horribly grimy, I replace it.

davei1980

I agree wholeheartedly; however, I looked up this chain that came on my Langster and it's a $40 made in Japan chain. I was bored on a Sunday so I thought I would have fun rehabbing it with chemicals in my garage!

dufeau

It seems to me that there are three separate optimality criteria at play here:
1) My chain should looky pretty (attractive)
2) My chain should not soil my pants leg (pragmatic)
3) My chain should not squeak (performance)

The various cleaning techniques being discussed here all address one or more of these criteria with differing degrees of success. You should ask yourself which of these optimality criteria are most important, and adjust your chain cleaning regimen accordingly.

I lean toward the performance criterion--use a wax-based lube and keep riding!

veets

I've got my ultrasonic cleaner and crockpot ready to go. I used to wax chains about 25 years ago but when that bike got stolen I never got around to doing it on the next bikes. I cleaned up the drivetrain of my Brompton this winter, and was inspired to get back into it, mostly for the cleanliness. This thread has been helpful!
So, I have two questions.
1. The ultrasonic cleaner has a heater built in. I'm not sure if it will get hot enough to melt the wax (I think it will), but do any of you think there would be an advantage to soaking the chain in molten wax with the ultrasonic vibrator on? Maybe gets the wax deeper into the nooks and crannies? I tend to think it would work the same, but I'm curious about opinions. Any negatives? I might just try it, and if it works reasonably then return the crockpot (and get my $8 back, haha). If it's the same then I'll keep the crockpot and just leave the wax in it, as suggested above.
2. I was moving things around in the garage and came across an old citronella candle. Do you think if I melted down and used that wax, it would keep away the mosquitoes during summer rides? :-)

dbikingman

I started using wax last summer and found it worked well. It may have been that I cleaned everything thoroughly before applying it and had I done the same and oiled it. I did find it seemed to attract lest dust which was a goal.
This winter I went back to oil, just because of frequency of application needed.
My waxing method is simply.
Clean chain with mineral spirits, wipe down and let dry. Place in crock pot with melted wax that has a small amount of kerosene added.
Let chain sit in wax until I stop seeing bubbles come out from the links. Turn off the crock pot (if not already off) and let cool until a skim coat starts to appear on the surface and then remove chain. I feel letting the wax cool slightly before removing the chain lets more wax stay on the chain. This is based on how much wax dripped off the chain when I hung it to dry the first time I didn't let the wax cool. It may not matter for your results.

DrIsotope

At the craft shops they have little bottles of scents for candlemaking. I always want to buy one, so my chains can smell like peppermint, or maple syrup. Mmmm... syrup.

veets

Now we're talkin'. I'll do mine in bacon and a friend's in vanilla latte and we can all ride to work together in the morning.

phughes

As is unicorn urine.