Coolant sanitising....

[oldbikedavey]

Fired up the surface grinder recently, and the coolant had reduced to a truly abominable state.
Gave the tank a bit of a fish-round to get the really lumpy bits out, and replenished with fresh soluble oil , diluted to some degree.
Had a look yesterday afternoon, and it was fermenting away nicely, so a good squirt of alleged biocide was applied, and the pump fired up to give it all a good stirring.
Any thoughts on the best way forwards to avoid the ' Quatermass and the Pit' experience ?

 

[Anguz]

Not sure about stopping it fermenting, but when I was an apprentice a splash of fresh orange juice on a Friday afternoon set it off nicely for Monday morning

 

[northwest]

Yes, change your coolant. Mystic or Soluble Oil is all old hat now and there are a good few newer, better and less hazardous cutting and grinding fluids out there. Blaser Swiss Lube is one but the price is dangerous to your health (wallet and heart). I am using an alternative right now but it is still £200 for 5 gal. However it will outlast the equivalent Soluble Oil by some margin and will not go Anaerobic on you, doesn't stink and is water clear. I will go get the name off the drum later and get back to you with the name. Supplied by a company Preston way.

 

[RichardM]

Yes, change your coolant. Mystic or Soluble Oil is all old hat now and there are a good few newer, better and less hazardous cutting and grinding fluids out there. Blaser Swiss Lube is one but the price is dangerous to your health (wallet and heart). I am using an alternative right now but it is still £200 for 5 gal. However it will outlast the equivalent Soluble Oil by some margin and will not go Anaerobic on you, doesn't stink and is water clear. I will go get the name off the drum later and get back to you with the name. Supplied by a company Preston way.

I'd be interested in that too.

 

[oldbikedavey]

Kind - of thinking about benzalkonium chloride....

 

[northwest]

Well, there is this one from Cutwel and I have never known them sell bum gear:

20L Cutsol Crystal Cool Fully Synthetic Cutting Fluid / Coolant, Transparent for Maximum Visibility, For High Speed & Heavy Duty Applications, Low Foaming, Boron, Biocide & Chlorine Free (Cutwel Pro)

Cutsol Crystal Cool is a transparent water white solution offering excellent workpiece visibility and very low drag out rates. This fully synthetic, mineral oil free coolant offers outstanding performance and surface finish. Ideal for high speed, moderate to heavy duty machining, crystal cool...

www.cutwel.co.uk

I have also used ULTRACUT by Rocol but there are a dozen different variants, just call them up and ask them which one is transparent, they will happily tell you.

What I am currently using is still a mystery until I brave the torrential rain and go out to the workshop.

 

[roofman]

Watching this as my lathe coolant always develops a dirty scum on the top in the holding tank, its kind of a growing bacteria looking thing.

 

[Erie Fred]

Did this many times as an apprentice.
You need to clean the sump and the whole machine well.
Flush out with clean something, we had a alkaline cleaner
made by the coolant manuf.

 

[oldbikedavey]

Watching this as my lathe coolant always develops a dirty scum on the top in the holding tank, its kind of a growing bacteria looking thing.

For the lathe, I just use Ambersil TufCut , ditto on the Bridgeport.
The surface grinder, however, requires flood cooling on the thinner sort of things that I tend to get involved with....

 

[Erie Fred]

Watching this as my lathe coolant always develops a dirty scum on the top in the holding tank, its kind of a growing bacteria looking thing.

Your lathe sump is not a spittoon.....

 

[brightspark]

Watching this as my lathe coolant always develops a dirty scum on the top in the holding tank, its kind of a growing bacteria looking thing.

if your feeling well flush rocol is the daddy

 

[addjunkie]

Watching this as my lathe coolant always develops a dirty scum on the top in the holding tank, its kind of a growing bacteria looking thing.

Is it oil floating on top? You do oil your machine.

 

[roofman]

Is it oil floating on top? You do oil your machine.

Could be thinking about it...