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Dave Lehnert
03-25-2011, 9:19 PM
Is there anything cheap that is good to use in a parts washer. My problem is I only use a parts washer once or twice a year. Parts cleaner or mineral spirits is expensive now for just a part or two.

All parts washers now say to only use a water based product. Wonder if that has something to do with the pump or is it just the manufacture covering their hind end????

Scott T Smith
03-25-2011, 11:01 PM
Is there anything cheap that is good to use in a parts washer. My problem is I only use a parts washer once or twice a year. Parts cleaner or mineral spirits is expensive now for just a part or two.

All parts washers now say to only use a water based product. Wonder if that has something to do with the pump or is it just the manufacture covering their hind end????

Dave, many of the water based cleaners work quite well. For fire and EPA reasons, the washer mfg's recommend the water based product. I still use the old fashioned solvent / varsol in mine, but the water based products work well in warm climates and heated garages.

Charles McKinley
03-28-2011, 10:46 PM
Kerosene slightly less smelly or Diesel fuel.

I really hate hitting the reply to thread button and watching my message disappear.:(

Callan Campbell
03-29-2011, 11:42 AM
Water based cleaners leave less of a used product headache behind for everyone, like, where do I send my old solvent off too when I want to drain my tank, clean it properly, and refill it with fresh solvent. Safety Klean and other parts washer people had the lock on this since they would service your parts washer and refill it under a contract.
Water based washers work best when heated with a electric heating element built into the tank, room temp doesn't cut it for my needs, no matter how warm it is inside the shop. But, your needs my not require something like that. I still have a true solvent based parts washer at home, and am forced to use a heated water based unit at work for the very reasons Scott Smith posted about. For keeping it cheap and simple, water based is probably the way to go. I started out with Kerosene like Charles posted about years ago, then quickly switched to water based at home, and found out why heated tanks were so much better when it got cold in the shop. Bought a cheap Harbor Freight parts washer, put mineral spirit type solvent in, and never looked back. Runs even when the garage is 0 or better before I get the heat going. :p:p:p