Ultrasonic cleaners

[Bruce Page]

I’m looking at getting a decent quality 6-10 liter ultrasonic cleaner. I’d like to keep it under $175. There are dozens, mostly China made in that price range but the reviews are all over the map. Does anyone have experience with them that could offer some advice?

[Brian Holcombe]

Crest makes excellent units, pretty sure everything except the custom stuff is made in Malaysia but the quality produced by their staff there is quite good.

I worked in their US unit for a few years, welding.

[Bruce Page]

Thanks Brian. The Crest Powersonic series looks very nice but a little more money than I want to spend.
I'll probably roll the dice and order one of the cheap ones and hope for the best. I don't plan on using it more than once/twice a month.

[Bill Dufour]

Fill it part way with water then put the expensive solvent into baggies with the parts. Put the baggies into the water and let it shake. Saves a lot in solvent costs.
Simple green in water is supposed to work well.
Bill D

[Scott T Smith]

I have four ultrasonic cleaners - Two commercial Branson models, a rifle sized Grizzly unit and an inexpensive Lyman. The used Branson units that were surplused from dental offices that I picked up cheap. One needed a switch replaced, and the other a transducer. I don't have $150 invested between the two of them.

The Grizzly works surprisingly well, but cost around $500 when I bought it. The $99 Lyman is about worthless.

[Lon Crosby]

Check the runtime before buying. Can be from minutes to continuous. Major impact on cost.

[Keith Outten]

Do most of these cleaners have heat assist?
I bought a small cheap Chinese cleaner but it is a waste of time so I am convinced that I want a better quality machine with warming capability.

[Brian Holcombe]

The crest cleaners usually have a heating element.

I take the buy-once, cry-once approach as often as reasonably possible. Cheaper in the long run then buying multiples.

[Bruce Page]

Keith, most of them, even the cheap Asian ones come with a heating element.
Scott, apparently Grizzly no longer sells ultrasonics, I couldn’t find any on their site.
Brian, I usually endorse the “cry once” creed. This cleaner will be used infrequently, if it only lasts only a year or two, I will not be too upset.

[Lisa Starr]

Ours doesn't have a heating element, but we're able to clean most things in it with hot water and Simple Green. We use one of the little electric "Cup Heater" elements to keep the water hot. Works fantastic on motorcycle carburetors and such. No solvents needed.

[kev grover]

They're great for getting tiny particulates from parts you can't actually get to but keep your fingers out of the solution!

[Bruce Page]

They're great for getting tiny particulates from parts you can't actually get to but keep your fingers out of the solution!

Kev, from what I have been reading, most of the commercial cleaning solutions like Simple Green, Evaporust, and homemade concoctions using Dawn dish soap are pretty safe. That is something that would need to be confirmed before using. Of course, you would want to be careful if the solution is heated to 180*. :eek:

[Scott T Smith]

Do most of these cleaners have heat assist?
I bought a small cheap Chinese cleaner but it is a waste of time so I am convinced that I want a better quality machine with warming capability.

My Branson and Grizzly cleaners have heat assist, and it really makes a difference.

[Michael Schuch]

The bottom line on Ultrasonic cleaners is how much power goes into producing the ultrasonic waves. Most of the cheap Chinese ultrasonic cleaners try to lie about the number of watts by listing the heating watts + ultrasonic watts as the number of watts of power. You really want to compare the number of ultrasonic watts between different cleaners. Generally the more power (ultrasonic watts) the faster it will clean.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083KG45Y6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
I own the 6L version of this ultrasonic cleaner. The 15L version wasn't available when I bought mine and I would buy the 15l version now if possible. It clearly lists the number of ultrasonic watts "ultrasonic power 360W and heating power 400W". I have had mine for about 4 years and it does a nice job on smaller stuff. This one sits on my bathroom sink and I use it for stuff in the house. I also own an industrial ultrasonic cleaner and an ultrasonic blind cleaner both of which are out in the shop.

You don't mention what you want to use an ultrasonic cleaner for? I use my small one for eye glasses, de-scaling shower heads and tap aerators etc. The industrial one does an excellent job on fuel injectors (I put the fuel injector in a plastic bag with Techron in it and then put the plastic bag in the ultrasonic cleaner), carburetors (especially small engine carburetors that are full of scale. some times I just put the whole small engine in the ultrasonic cleaner... for something like a weedeater), tools (put a bunch of greasy tools in and they come out clean with a much better grip), car parts (they work great on plastic parts like interior panels), paint brushes, paint sprayers, etc. I did 5 gallons of used Legos once that turned out perfectly clean and sanitized. Some times I will clean my used brass cases in the industrial ultrasonic cleaner but I usually just tumble them because tumbling is a lot less hassle... no having to spread them out to dry and getting all the water out of the case. I use the blind cleaner for long guns (rifles and shotguns). The blind cleaner is also supposed to be great for golf clubs and golf club grips... but I don't golf.

468914

For eye glasses I use alcohol and distilled water with a half of drop of Dawn dishwashing liquid.
In the industrial ultrasonic cleaner I use anything that is soapy. Dawn works great. TSP works great. TSP + Dawn works terrific.

I always heat the water in the ultrasonic tank quite hot then blow out the part with an air gun to get the water off after cleaning. The part gets hot from the water then the bit of water that remains after the air gun evaporates off very quickly. Some parts I rinse and some I don't. If I rinse a part I will do it in hot water to promote evaporation. Metal can flash rust pretty quick after cleaning so be prepared with some oil or wax.

Once I cold blued a beat up Ruger Mark II .22lr hand gun by putting it in a zip lock bag with the blueing agent then put that into the hot ultrasonic cleaner. It turned out really well! Much better than other cold blueing jobs I have done. I thoroughly stripped and cleaned the gun before blueing it, of course.

[Bruce Page]

Michael, thank you for your informative post. I rolled the dice and ordered the Mophorn 10L. The specs are good, comparatively speaking with 240W cleaning, 200W heating, but it’s still a crapshoot on quality. Maybe I’ll get lucky and get one built on a Tuesday. I would’ve preferred to find a budget American/western made cleaner but they all started around $500 which was more than I wanted to spend.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RNBDQLY/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVy PUEySEJROVlFQkk3MkhJJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjQwODQ1Nl FXUDAxTzJXSUVPJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0Njc1MzAySjMx MUZJQTMxR1VLJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfZGV0YWlsMiZhY3Rpb2 49Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

[Mike Null]

Bruce
I have a Chinese made cleaner and find that quality is quite good. The heating element is slow!!

I don't remember the last time I used it.

[Michael Schuch]

I am glad I could help. :)

I have to believe that most of these Chinese ultrasonic cleaners are made in the same factories. Mine has held up for 4 years and is still going strong. I would guess the chances of yours doing the same is pretty strong. 240w of ultrasonic power should be quite effective.

To optimize longevity never run the ultrasonic cleaner without the proper amount of water in it.

Running the ultrasonic cleaner for a few minutes will de-gas the water (drive the dissolved gas out of the water) which will increase the cleaning efficiency of the ultrasonic cleaner. Until the water solution is de-gassed the dissolved gas in the water muffles the ultrasonic waves weakening the ultrasonic waves that hit the surface you are trying to clean.

For complex shapes, like a carburetor, you will need to rotate the item in the solution periodically so the ultrasonic waves will hit all sides of the object being cleaned.

[Bruce Page]

I am glad I could help. :)

Mine has held up for 4 years and is still going strong.

I would be very happy to get 4 years out of it.
How often do you use yours? I envision using it in three 20-30 minuet sessions, twice a month.

[Michael Schuch]

I would be very happy to get 4 years out of it.
How often do you use yours? I envision using it in three 20-30 minuet sessions, twice a month.


It stays heated on my bathroom counter with alcohol and distilled water in it. I dunk my glasses in it a few times a day then wipe them off. Every other day or so I will fire it up for a couple of minutes to clean my glasses ultrasonically. More than a couple of minutes will start causing issues with the expensive coatings on the glasses. My daughter likes to use it a few times a week to clean her glasses too.

Every 5 or 6 months I will drain the tank and fill it with vinegar and water to remove the calcium scale from several plumping fixtures. Basically when ever the shower head starts to spray in funny directions. I will clean the water tank on my cpap at the same time. I also clean my cpap mask a couple times a week in the alcohol and distilled water mix.

So I would say my little Chinese ultrasonic cleaner gets a fair amount of use.

[Jim Chesters]

Kev, from what I have been reading, most of the commercial cleaning solutions like Simple Green, Evaporust, and homemade concoctions using Dawn dish soap are pretty safe. That is something that would need to be confirmed before using. Of course, you would want to be careful if the solution is heated to 180*. :eek:


If I'm on the same wave length (no pun intended) as Kev, then I think he means the vibrations will do your fingers no good