Naptha?

You're welcome. Pencil this in: To the 20% plus d. earth formula, add enough fumed silica to make soup, and use it to strip paint. Whole houses. I did my whole porch with it.

It's slow with latex paints -- like, two days -- but fairly quick with alkyd/oil/varnish. And it's cheap, with no methylene chloride fumes. Neutralize with a dilute oxalic acid mix before painting. This stripper treatment is used in historic-house restorations.

--Winston

Yeah. They are cute, specially curled up with a Lone Star Long Neck, but they aren't exactly cuddly...

We hit 99 for the first time this year early last week. Last year we had three 99 degree days in June, all in the last ten days. Looks like Global Warming (tm) is back! Maybe it's just Texas Warming?

When I went to work in Delaware (early '80s) it was Christmas time. Six feet of snow on the ground, and me just up from Dallas. Burrrr. I spent the first couple of weeks after work in a hot bath!

Then spring came - for a week.

Then it went to 100 degrees and 100 percent humidity. Might as well have been in Houston!

Strangest things, NOBODY had air conditioning!

Gotcha.

This is mostly porcelain - on - steel, but there *are* some cast aluminum parts very proximal.

Thanks!

--Winston

It's great stuff.

I advise ya'all to stock up before you get hit with the same wave of regulation.

--Winston

I'll give that a try, Ed. It's got to be better, cheaper, and safer than that junk I used last time!

(...)

Cool! Thanks again, again.

--Winston

I would try some of that citrus based solvent. Lockheed down in Sunnyvale went to using that from trich. It is not very fast but does not evaporate rapidly. Lockheed had some trouble with the citrus solvent softening cured epoxy about 12 hours after using the citrus based solvent.

Dan

(...)

Cool!

I will give that a try. Thanks!

--Winston

Dunno what your term *grease* means.. but if you're referring to a cooking area or pans with vegetable oil and/or meat fat spatter that's formed a plastic-like build-up, then a couple of things will work fairly effortlessly.

Automotive solvents or household ammonia will break the film loose. Naptha may also be available in a solvent used as an autobody refinishing prep cleaner known as "wax and grease remover" from an automotive refinishing supplier.

Carb cleaners may still contain the xylene or toluene solvents that will effectively dissolve cooking residues.

Either of the automotive solvents will work more easily if used in the way described for ammonia. Extreme caution should be exercised for the solvents' use, to prevent ignition.

Household ammonia will lift off the residue if the ammonia is kept wet on the cooking residue, which can be accomplished by wetting paper towels and applying them to the surface (or pan edges to the paper towels) then covering the area with plastic to keep the area wet. Then just let the ammonia work for an extended time.

I think I may have heard of brake fluid being used the same way, but that might have been for some other compound.. silicone caulking, maybe.

Isn't a $3 can of spray-on oven cleaner the least expensive solution?

-- Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a Congressman can. -- Mark Twain

I hear ya. New, Improved, Substitute, Odorless, Green mineral spirits absolutely suck the big one.

Oops, I forgot to address this. Gasoline is the only cleaner I've ever heard of igniting and immolating the user. I would never recommend using gas to clean anything. Too volatile, stinky, toxic, etc.

-- Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a Congressman can. -- Mark Twain

Oh, I forgot. You live in -no VOC- city, don't you?

When I had my smog license in CA, the NOX standards were a lower number than was obtainable from ambient air on the coast with an offshore breeze on a GOOD day. Inland, the shrubs doubled that, even without any vehicular traffic.

Don't you love the CARB and CAL-EPA?

-- Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a Congressman can. -- Mark Twain

You don't need an exotic one, a basic $400 one from Northern Tool with a Honda GC engine will do nicely, which is what I have. It's also great for cleaning driveways, patios, vehicles, the brick house and most anything else.

Yup. That's the stuff.

Not here, any more. Sigh.

Cool!

Thanks!

--Winston

(...)

That is on the list to try.

--Winston

(...)

I'd risk say 6.00 on a quart to test it. I'm not buying a gallon though.

Heh! My dad thought gasoline was the cat's pajamas for cleaning stuff (while smoking).

Amazing.

--Winston

I get the Zep brand purple degreaser in 5 gal pails at 'Depot. Actually, the last time I needed some specialty Zep product it seems 'Depot couldn't get it and I ended up buying it direct from Zep and picking it up at a Zep facility not too far away to save shipping costs.