Dishwasher in the garage

[Adam McLaughlin]

Hey Guys,

Talk to me about a dishwasher in the garage. I want to explore this as a time saving and economical answer to the solution of hand cleaning transmission pieces while working nights and weekends for myself. I have paid my rent doing transmissions for other people for the last nine years, and I want to get this a little more automated in the home shop / garage.

What did you guys use or install? I have been offered a second hand commercial dishwashing machine, and I have been given permission to install and run it at the house.

Has anyone else ran down this route? Talk to me about installation and operation tips and ideas... Right now I am planning on installing it in the pump shed adjacent to my garage about 30 feet to the south. There is plenty of room in there, and the noise will be muted by the distance and the relocation.

Adam

 

[Brad54]

What about the waste water? If you've got a septic system, you can't be flushing ATF into it.
I imagine the city would take a very dim view of you running it through their sewer system too.
And you can't just let it drain directly into the yard, because you'll kill all the grass and end up with an oily pit.

-Brad

 

[10.5 outlaw]

So you let your wife in the shop,Whats this world coming to..... lol.

 

[RbrtAWhyt]

Hey Guys,

Talk to me about a dishwasher in the garage. I want to explore this as a time saving and economical answer to the solution of hand cleaning transmission pieces while working nights and weekends for myself. I have paid my rent doing transmissions for other people for the last nine years, and I want to get this a little more automated in the home shop / garage.

What did you guys use or install? I have been offered a second hand commercial dishwashing machine, and I have been given permission to install and run it at the house.

Has anyone else ran down this route? Talk to me about installation and operation tips and ideas... Right now I am planning on installing it in the pump shed adjacent to my garage about 30 feet to the south. There is plenty of room in there, and the noise will be muted by the distance and the relocation.

Adam

I've stuck all kinds of things in the wife's dishwasher from car parts to gun parts. When I build my shop I will definately put a dishwasher in it.

 

[convx4]

I have an old top load portable dishwasher. I use it to wash all kinds of parts. Last Oct. I rebuilt the transmission in my truck. While waiting for some parts to clean up I decided that the washer itself needed to be cleaned. I wiped it down good, all sides and top. It most of the time it is in the way. Then in Nov. someone broke into my garage. They tried to steal my truck, you could see there hand prints in the dirt that was covering the truck. For my convince, the truck had the keys left in it on the hump on the floor. But I have one of those battery disconnect switches. The thieves could not get the hood up. But they stole my Mig welder, cart, bottle, and hood. Ok back to the dishwasher. It was in the way of the Mig, they had to move it. So I called the cops got the third degree. He was thinking insurance scam I could tell. So them comes the CSI guy. He said that there was too much dirt on the truck to get any prints, even though you could see them. A dirty print won’t hold up in court. But he was able to get some great prints off the dishwasher. You could not even see them. He said that over time (2weeks) that fingerprints fade away. Still no word on my welder.

Sorry for such a long story.

Bill

 

[1redTA]

instead of using water

If you've got a septic system, you can't be flushing ATF into it.I imagine the city would take a very dim view of you running it through their sewer system too.And you can't just let it drain directly into the yard

you could run a holding tank with some non-flammable type cleaner, Mr. Green, Purple Power, and rig a pump, filter, and circulate it into your dishwasher.
At my old shop, we rigged up a parts washer with an air actuated pump that would run some sprayers and rotate a table in an old sand blaster cabinet. The mineral spritits would fall to the bottom where the pick up for the pump was. This thing was large probally 3'x4' with an overhead crane to put things into the "washer". I was the parts washer before for the back of the shop when I had nothing better to do

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

OK. I am not necessarily going to be putting anything with ATF *IN* it in this dishwasher, just *ON* it. I am interested in cleaning off the clutch plaque that comes with a burned up transmission more than I am interested in pushing ATF through a dishwashing machine. My intent was to build a circulating holding tank for the cleaner fluid - I was debating using that orange cleaner stuff in lieu of water and cascade.

I can tell you that for the home cleaning mechanic a dishwasher is a godsend.

Speaking of city sewage and wastewater, when I was a kid my old man would change his motor oil, and then literally flush the used oil down the toilet. Straight out of the drain pan, into the toilet it would go while one of us kids would flush it for him. This continued through the end of the 1990s until we got the curb side pick up for oil collection.

Adam

 

[79firebird]

My buddy had a dish washer in his shop. What he did for the water was he hooked it up to oil water seperator in the ground works the same way as a grease trap. Cement box with some bafles in it and seamed to work fine,

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

OOH. That is another good idea. Hum...

Adam

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

I have an old top load portable dishwasher. I use it to wash all kinds of parts. Last Oct. I rebuilt the transmission in my truck. While waiting for some parts to clean up I decided that the washer itself needed to be cleaned. I wiped it down good, all sides and top. It most of the time it is in the way. Then in Nov. someone broke into my garage. They tried to steal my truck, you could see there hand prints in the dirt that was covering the truck. For my convince, the truck had the keys left in it on the hump on the floor. But I have one of those battery disconnect switches. The thieves could not get the hood up. But they stole my Mig welder, cart, bottle, and hood. Ok back to the dishwasher. It was in the way of the Mig, they had to move it. So I called the cops got the third degree. He was thinking insurance scam I could tell. So them comes the CSI guy. He said that there was too much dirt on the truck to get any prints, even though you could see them. A dirty print won’t hold up in court. But he was able to get some great prints off the dishwasher. You could not even see them. He said that over time (2weeks) that fingerprints fade away. Still no word on my welder.

Sorry for such a long story.

Bill

What happened with your break in case? Did anything come of that?

I got my first dishwasher here at the garage this afternoon, I need a heating element for it. Everything else works, but the water in the machine is as cold as the concrete it is sitting on. Gonna swing by the appliance parts store and see what they can do for me in the morning.

I am really hoping that this helps speed things up. I am planning on making a rack out in the back for the machines out of pressure treated wood - I'll post some pics once I get both dishwashers running out there.

Adam

 

[e-tek]

As much as I care for the environment and wouldn't be stupid about it, I don't think there's a problem with a little ATF in the sewer - as in the post of the oil going down the toilet, that stuff happens all the time. Imagine what all the car-washes and industry washes send down the sewer!

 

[nissan_crawler]

Car washes and such have scrubbers/separators. Hell, in auto tech a guy dropped a car on a hoist with the tall oil bucket still under it. Bucket split wide open, 5 gallons straight into the drain, separator wasn't working right. They had sensors in the sewer, got back to the high school. Big boo-boo.

 

[JB740i]

Yeah, apprently the chem labs at FSU have those sensors on them. Or so they told us. Their charges went up based on what got put down the drain. Is that really possible?

 

[malibu101]

Speaking of city sewage and wastewater, when I was a kid my old man would change his motor oil, and then literally flush the used oil down the toilet. Straight out of the drain pan, into the toilet it would go while one of us kids would flush it for him. This continued through the end of the 1990s until we got the curb side pick up for oil collection.

Adam

In my youth, my dad got drain oil from his brother who ran his own repair garage. My dad would put the oil in a sprinkling can and "water" the dirt alley around the house to keep the dust down.
My how times have changed.

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

I heard about that too when I was younger - now a days I am surprised that some of these cities don't flat out prohibit working on anything in our garages. When I take paint or motor oil into the local recycling station, they don't let you out of your car at the "Household Toxics Facility". They make you stay in your truck while two guys in white bunny suits come out to pick up that dangerous can on Dutch Boy in the back of your truck for you.

Tell me that's not ridiculous.

Adam

 

[beelsr]

in the 80s in college, some students were cleaning the chem lab and just started putting stuff down the drain. one of the bottles was the stuff that scents natural gas. that one was easy to trace back...

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

Hey guys,

I got the outdoor dishwasher cabinet completed. My dual dishwashers are now happily installed outside adjacent to the old pump shed. I thought that you guys might like a look-see.

Adam

 

[mrb]

I heard about that too when I was younger - now a days I am surprised that some of these cities don't flat out prohibit working on anything in our garages. When I take paint or motor oil into the local recycling station, they don't let you out of your car at the "Household Toxics Facility". They make you stay in your truck while two guys in white bunny suits come out to pick up that dangerous can on Dutch Boy in the back of your truck for you.

Tell me that's not ridiculous.

Adam

I talked to a couple of my local FD guys who handle the city's hazmat collection. The reason for the bunnysuits, driving onto the plastic, etc is they encounter all sorts of crazy stuff and cant trust what people are handing them.

 

[fomocoforrester]

In my youth, my dad got drain oil from his brother who ran his own repair garage. My dad would put the oil in a sprinkling can and "water" the dirt alley around the house to keep the dust down.
My how times have changed.

In the Middle East they used to build some roads like that, by spraying crude oil onto the sand to consolidate it. I don't know whether they still do it or not.

 

[RobSmith]

My mate is a mechanic and does a lot of "backyard work" to supplement his poor wage and one day got a visit from the environment/sewer mob accusing him of pouring engine oil down the stormwater drain. Turned out the truckie across the road was emptying his **** into the drain outside my mates place. After a lot of arguments and investigation. The BIG fine went to the deserving offender.

 

[JohnK007]

Nice looking set up Alan! That cabinet looks good setting there. What did you end up doing for drainage?

 

[mmg440]

I like the idea of having a dishwasher to wash parts and such. I am not sure I understand any benefits of having such a unit outside the building? (Or was this just the simplest to hook up to water for you) I take it you are in a area that does not freeze And, why two dishwashers?? I may have missed something here but for now I am a bit confused.

Nice looking cabinet. I like that you made the paint colors match the building.

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

I made the cabinet to match the HOUSE, as well as the pump shed adjacent to the cabinet. If you're going to do something like this, you should make it look pretty.

I put these two units outside of the garage to maximize the garage space. My garage is only 22' x 30', so it isn't as large as I would like it to be. The 120 V, 220 V and water hook ups are also out there.

I have two dishwashers because they each do different jobs. One of them runs on water and Purple Clean, which filters through a grease trap on the way out. The other one runs on a closed loop solvent system through a dirty water pump and two filters.

This way I can keep things automatically cleaning while I am ordering parts, tearing things down, talking to customers, etc.

I typically do two transmissions per month for some side money, BUT sometimes I get as many as three per week. This is why I have three transmission benches in the garage, and two washers in the back...

Adam

 

[jay50]

I would be hesitant about putting a dishwasher in the garage.
Next thing you know, wife would start thinking she was welcomed out in my man-cave...LOL

 

[mmg440]

I made the cabinet to match the HOUSE, as well as the pump shed adjacent to the cabinet. If you're going to do something like this, you should make it look pretty.

I put these two units outside of the garage to maximize the garage space. My garage is only 22' x 30', so it isn't as large as I would like it to be. The 120 V, 220 V and water hook ups are also out there.

I have two dishwashers because they each do different jobs. One of them runs on water and Purple Clean, which filters through a grease trap on the way out. The other one runs on a closed loop solvent system through a dirty water pump and two filters.

This way I can keep things automatically cleaning while I am ordering parts, tearing things down, talking to customers, etc.

I typically do two transmissions per month for some side money, BUT sometimes I get as many as three per week. This is why I have three transmission benches in the garage, and two washers in the back...

Adam

I understand now. Two dishwashers makes sence if cleaning with different cleaning solutions. The solvent one, I assume no longer uses any of the original dishwasher controls. Just use the cabinet and spray bars to your dirty water pump and filters.

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

I would be hesitant about putting a dishwasher in the garage.
Next thing you know, wife would start thinking she was welcomed out in my man-cave...LOL

It was mostly about moisture in the garage, taking up floor and wall space, and... most important, taking away space from the rest of the tools. )

Adam

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

I understand now. Two dishwashers makes sence if cleaning with different cleaning solutions. The solvent one, I assume no longer uses any of the original dishwasher controls. Just use the cabinet and spray bars to your dirty water pump and filters.

That's right. The solvent one is basically a timer, an enclosure, and a solution propellant system.

Adam

 

[ironroad 9c1]

reminds me of a joke...why does the bride wear white.....


cause the dishwasher has to match the fridge....LMFAO

 

[ironroad 9c1]

come on you guys know that was funny

 

[mmg440]

That's right. The solvent one is basically a timer, an enclosure, and a solution propellant system.

Adam

I was thinking of putting mine over a barrel with a 3/4 horse sump pump and a water heater element and commercial temp controller. So it would be basically a hot jet recalculating parts washer. I am not sure the pump would do it yet. Also may have a issue with the heated water. Do you know the specs that your dirty water pump had??

 

[Diesel_Crawler]

we used to have a dishwasher at work to wash parts in, now we have a large pressure cooker. Gets the dirt out of castings much better before they have to be fixed and sometimes makes lunch