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Hi All,
I just bought a Parts Cleaner tank from Harbour Freight, it states to use 12 gallons of a water-based solvent. I'm curious to know if any of you have any recommendations? I don't have much experience with water-based solvents, are they good at removing tough grease and also where could I buy 12 gallons of it!?
Years ago the water based cleaners didn't work very well, so I used general purpose Naphtha. It cleans well, used to be relatively cheap, lasts a long time, and doesn't evaporate fast.
I bought a small parts washer from Amazon, and I bought this stuff to use as the solvent. It worked very well. I used it to clean all the brackets for a power steering pump. I was replacing the pump, and I figured I might as well clean the brackets since I had them out of the car and they were quite gunked up.
The instructions on this say dilute 10:1 with water, so 1 gallon of this should give you 10 gallons of solvent. With 2 gallons of this, you'd have plenty.
I used the purple degreaser stuff from Home Depot, maybe 2:1 diluted, for a long time. But the water based stuff that works well will eventually eat the paint then rust through the tub.
You can use mineral spirits, which is the most effective and cheapest way, but the evaporation rate is pretty high.
I currently use parts washer solvent from Tractor Supply. It's basically mineral spirits modified for a higher flash point (a bit safer) and slightly slower evaporation. I still drain back into the cans after every use.
There's a bunch of info out there on upgrades for these things. I have a Fram filter, a little giant pump, drain valve, and gaskets on the lid.
