Why is parts washing solvent so expensive

Three letters - E - P - A

The big shops are using heated parts washers with water based solvents now.

CONTENTS: Ed's Red Bore Cleaner

1 part Dexron ATF, GM Spec. D-20265 or later.

1 part Kerosene - deodorized, K1

1 part Aliphatic Mineral Spirits

CAS #64741-49-9, or substitute "Stoddard Solvent", CAS #8052-41-3, or equivalent.

1 part Acetone, CAS #67-64-1.

(Optional 1 lb. of Lanolin, Anhydrous, USP per gallon, or OK to substitute Lanolin, Modified, Topical Lubricant, from the drug store)

I skip the acetone and use WD40 for the stoddard solvent

Karl

What about kerosene? Any thoughts?

i

This doesn't answer the question asked, but many businesses are using outfits like this to supply the stuff and haul it away:

if you are talking 40-50 gallons, you are getting into the territory where the EPA/DEP might get interested. It might be good to have paperwork.

Kevin Gallimore

Illinois also has thier own state run EPA to contend with. You gonna need a big paper trail if they come a knocken.

Best Regards Tom.

What kind of paper trail?

i

Disposal of spent solvents. Hydrocarbon spills can be very expensive to clean up. A passer by made a call on thier cell phone and it cost my neighbor 50k after the guys in the space suits got done with him. He was cleaning electric motors behind his shop on his driveway. He did not have any paperwork for proper disposal. Apparently the passer by called the 800 number to report illegal dumping.

Best Regards Tom.

Frightening!

i

What about kerosene? Any thoughts?

i

In the motorcycle shop we used and old pop machine, filled with kerosene. The pop machine was the top opening type, slightly modified.

Steve R.

Like you, I normally think of Kero as being relatively safe, but within the past two weeks in Central PA near here a farmer and his son were burned over most of their bodies when a diesel tank exploded when they were grinding something under the truck either on the tank or near it. Not enough detail in the newspaper to know exactly what they were doing and why it happened, but the paper suggested that they were just grinding near the tank. They're now both in the burn unit at Allentown Hospital.

In another episode, a number of years ago, a construction truck ran out of diesel and it was night. The boss's son brought some fuel and they were filling the tank. Since they didn't have a flashlight, the son lit a match and held it over the tank to see how much he had in it and had an explosion. He wasn't too severely injured. The latter anecdote from my brother in law who witnessed the incident and had told the kid he didn't think it was a very good idea to be lighting matches around the tank. Since they were fueling, there was probably a lot of fumes coming off the fill neck. It might be a similar situation with a parts washer spraying kero on a part.

RWL

It took 3 years to resolve. He had to hire an eviromental lawyer to defend him in court. He was threatended with criminal charges, jail time. This was back in the 90's its probobaly worse now.

Best Regards Tom.

I shopped for it, and said fergeddabout it. That stuff is more than a good single malt scotch in some cases. I ended up with a mixture of stuff, mostly water and oxy clean, plus a little paint thinner, and other stuff that has washed down there. But I don't use mine a lot. I really need to take it apart, and inspect, as I noticed a good bit of corrosion when I first got it.

I'd be interested in a good cheap all around safe cleaner, too. I ain't spending that much for enough for my $15 yard sale 30 gal. Snap-On unit. Sorry, I'm just cheap.

Steve

What about straight kerosene? It should have a decently low flammability and is good for dissolving grime.

i

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Hmm ... reminds me of what I saw on a side street some 20 years ago or more. A car had run out of gas at night. It was one of those with the fill pipe behind the rear license plate. They were pouring into that with a flex-neck can. I could see fumes pouring out of the neck in the light from my headlights.

About two feet behind the fill neck and can was a burning road flare to keep people from running into them. Since I had my wife along at the time, I just zipped past as quickly as I could. When we got out of the restaurant later, there was no sign of any problems there, so they must have been *very* lucky.

Enjoy, DoN.

I just use the purple degreaser from home depot.

believe it or not, simple green works really well for much of this cleaning

Too cheap to live? Google "parts cleaning with gasoline", since gas is under $4/gal.

Now get over the horror from those stories and go buy a refill of SafetyKleen. You'll live longer, and solvent is cheap compared to the use of your hands for the rest of a longer life, eh?

Dog bless the EPA and Greenies for cheap solvent cleaners!

-- The problem with borrowing money from China is that thirty minutes later, you feel broke again. --Steve Bridges as Obama

And that reminds me of a comment made by an international sales manager of a major EDM company some decades ago. In third-world countries, they use kerosene for EDM dielectric fluid. It works very well and it's cheap.

"I never have trouble figuring out where the toolmaking neighborhoods are when I fly into one of those airports," he said. "I just look for the plumes of black smoke."

Lastly I saw it at HD, it was about $10 per gallon. My tank is a 30 gallon on end, so would take about 20 gallons. I guess I could shop it at a supplier, and get it for less.

Steve