Parts Washer Fluid

[MetalMonkey]

I've replaced my old creosote can of heating oil and wire brush with something more upmarket; a parts washer with an air syphon spray rather than the fishpond pump type.

The question is what fluid to use in it?

I've heard Gunk is now rubbish and Jizer is supposed to be still good, but at £4 per litre, is it any better than heating oil?

A lot of parts washer fluids look to be nothing more that Traffic Film Remover in a different can.
I’d prefer it not to take the paint off, just grease.

Any recommendations?

 

[Munkul]

We bought a load of Jizer for ours... good stuff but once it's full of dirt, you have to replace it or clean it, or get one of those companies in to regularly swap the fluid. The cost/benefit is terrible, if you can't clean the fluid.

Nice thing about Jizer is that its water rinseable, unlike heating oil or diesel. Clean part - hose it down - let it dry - done.

We went half and half jizer/diesel, but it was never as good after that for water rinsing, for obvious reasons.

If there was a cost effective alternative...

 

[Agroshield]

You really have two choices in these machines: solvent-based or detergent-based. Detergent-based are your TFR's. Generally low odour, water miscible and in too high concentration will affect the paint. Screwfix No nonsense degreaser is good in 5l size, but TFR in 25l is more economical. Solvent-based are generally stinky, mostly flammable but more effective. You can get solvent-based emulsifiable ones, which means you can wash the grease off and then rinse the part in hot soapy water to remove the solvent. I bought from Rye Oils in 25l. There is a company called JennyChem who do an odourless solvent degreaser.

 

[knighty]

I'd stick with the heating oil/paraffin/something like that

heat it up a bit if you can? that helps a lot

never used an air syphon sprayer before.... do they make a lot of mist etc. ? - you don't want to breath in a cloud of cleaning stuff :-o

guess it depends what you're cleaning.... I want stuff to be left with a bit of oil/diesel on it to protect it from rust etc.

 

[MetalMonkey]

It is enclosed but does make quite a bit of mist, I might hook the fan up to some sort of extraction eventually.

We have oil central heating so the heating oil option is the easiest and cheapest, but not the most pleasant.
The only good thing is it does leave an oily film which stops flash rusting as you say.

I'd like to give the jizer a shot (sounds so wrong), but you need to buy it in 20/25L to get it at a decent price.

I've seen a lot of different orange/citric degreasers similar to the jennychem - I presume the ones that say they can be diluted are not solvent based.

@Argoshield - that Rye Oil stuff looks pretty well priced for 25L, how well does it work?

 

[Matchless]

I use 50% diluted TFR, more kind to paint diluted and water washable, did consider diesel / petrol mix as I have 60 litres but was worried about the fire risk in my wooden home workshop, only recently recommissioned the parts washer so no long term feedback,

 

[MetalMonkey]

I should also say that the reservoir on this is made of plastic, as is the nozzle of the spray unit, so I would need to be careful that what I use doesn't destroy this.
I was also thinking of getting one of those aquarium submersible heaters to help speed things along, not sure how they hold up to some of these fluids.

 

[Agroshield]

I've seen a lot of different orange/citric degreasers similar to the jennychem - I presume the ones that say they can be diluted are not solvent based.

@Argoshield - that Rye Oil stuff looks pretty well priced for 25L, how well does it work?

It works very well. It would be my go to degreaser apart from the smell. I cannot use it in the attached garage else the whole house stinks. The fine mist from scrubbing with a toothbrush also gets into your clothes and makes them smell. My regime is to scrape off the worst, degrease with the Rye Oil degreaser, rinse in hot water with the Screwfix degreaser and then put in oven at 60 degrees or use a hot air gun on bigger parts. If I had a compressor set up, I would blow off the loose water first.

You can add the dirty Screwfix water to the dirty Rye degreaser and it turns like salad dressing that has been shaken and then dispose of down the drain. That is what the 'emulsifiable' in the description means.

Lots of other options, Hallett Oils, etc. Look on eBay for a start and then go direct to manufacturer's website. There are many, many small independent producers selling identical to brand name stuff just at lower prices.

The JennyChem one is not citrus, it is full-on solvent. It is this one:

https://www.jennychem.com/collectio.../products/solvent-degreaser-de-solve-it-super

From the description, it sounds like the Rye Oil one, just without the smell.

You would have to be careful on the plastic parts of the washer. I have found that degreasers do not so much as dissolve them but make them go very brittle.

 

[Seadog]

The Screwfix No Nonsense water soluble degreaser works very well.