parts washer fluid: thinner question

[lilpeenoiracer]

i see alot of people use mineralspirits in their washers, took me a while to find out it was paint thinner, well i had a buddy of mine pick me up 10 galons of thinner from a local paint shop were he gets all his paints for cars, well ive notice that there are two types of thinners mineral spirits adn lacquer, well he got me the lacqer one and im not sure if thats a no go for my washing parts and if it has to be mineral spirits, i can have him exchanged it hoope fully.

thanks
titus

 

[trainer]

Don't use laquer thinner in a parts washer. It's a whole different animal.
It will melt many types of plastic and is quite a bit more flammable than regular mineral thinner ssuch as varsol.

Look for the cheap paint thinner in plastic jugs at your local hardware store. Laquer thinner is always in a metal can.

 

[thefairlaneman]

never use lacquier thinner for this, Its very dangerious. too flamable and combustable plus the fumes can make you faint...........lordy

 

[lilpeenoiracer]

so its been alsmot 2 mnths adn my parts washer is stilll empty been using it for a wrk bench, would like to fill her up within the next few days, but all the local paint stores say lacquier thinner is the same ****, and so looks like im going to have to pick some up from home depot kinda of going to be- wiered walkng out of home depot with 12 1 gallon cans of mineral spirits.... un less u guys know ne were else i can get them in larger cans? home depot is about 8 bucks a gallon, ace hard ware has it for about 15 bucks for 2.5 gallons, but my local ace hardware doesnt seem to like to help young bald guys, and if i ask them if they have it theyll say no but really they just dont wanan help. what ***** also is the managers are the same.

 

[RPH]

Kerosene will work well as a parts cleaner solution. 2 -3 dollars a gallon.

 

[lilpeenoiracer]

Kerosene will work well as a parts cleaner solution. 2 -3 dollars a gallon.

sounds like lacquire thinner danger with kerosene,

does mineral spirits just evaporate when left out? it would be nice to have some parts wash solution that you dont have to rinse out or wipe out after cleaning, just let dry and its ready to use.

 

[1320stang]

I bought mineral spirits by the 5 gallon cans. I've had 15 gallons in my parts washer for about 2 years, maybe a couple gallons have evaporated off, but I haven't used it in over a year, the top has been storage for a while. You might try TSC, HF or Lowes.

 

[lilpeenoiracer]

hmm why didn i htink of going to paint stores for house paint not car paints lol got them at a local dunn edwards, picked up 12 gallons of mineral spirits.

now should i just poor all 12 galllons in andcall it a day or i rememebr reading abou putitng about a gallon or two of watter and also hear baout pooring some atf in there as well... any testimonials from ne one on this

 

[lilpeenoiracer]

oh yea the lowes and home depots near me just questioned me about anyhitng larger than 1 gallon....

 

[1320stang]

WHOA!!! do you have a barrel type or a tank type parts washer? Mine is a tank type, sorta like the cheap HF kinds.

I have a simple plug in the bottom of mine, I wished I would have installed a pipe ****** and a ball valve, some guys put a tee with a drip leg to get trash so it doesn't sit on the ball valve. Then you can run a hose or another ****** out to where you can drain the old stuff out. Again, I wished I had done this.

 

[lilpeenoiracer]

WHOA!!! do you have a barrel type or a tank type parts washer? Mine is a tank type, sorta like the cheap HF kinds.

I have a simple plug in the bottom of mine, I wished I would have installed a pipe ****** and a ball valve, some guys put a tee with a drip leg to get trash so it doesn't sit on the ball valve. Then you can run a hose or another ****** out to where you can drain the old stuff out. Again, I wished I had done this.

i have a hf tank ill probably drain it tomarow afternoon and put a ball valve in and wat not, i put casters under it though to make it easier to move around if needed,

 

[RPH]

"sounds like lacquire thinner danger with kerosene"

Solvent Flash Point (C) Boiling Point (C) Class † Group
turpentine 35 149 I-C Flammable
kerosene 38 152-302 II Combustible

The flash point is the minimum temperature at which a liquid in a container gives off sufficient vapors to form an ignitable mixture with air at the surface of the liquid.
The lower the flash point, the easier it is to form an ignitable mixture.

Info from U of Alberta .
kerosene is safer than paint thinner. Classed as combustible but not flammable as is turpentine.

 

[KeukaDan]

"sounds like lacquire thinner danger with kerosene"

Solvent Flash Point (C) Boiling Point (C) Class † Group
turpentine 35 149 I-C Flammable
kerosene 38 152-302 II Combustible

The flash point is the minimum temperature at which a liquid in a container gives off sufficient vapors to form an ignitable mixture with air at the surface of the liquid.
The lower the flash point, the easier it is to form an ignitable mixture.

Info from U of Alberta .
kerosene is safer than paint thinner. Classed as combustible but not flammable as is turpentine.

This information is correct but what isn't mentioned is that the difference between the two flash points is 3 degrees C which is not enough to really make a difference. The definition of a flammable liquid is a liquid with a flash point below 100F or in this case 37.78C. A combustible liquid is anything above the 100F or 37.78C. Therefore we are really splitting hairs when you say that there is a safety difference based on flash point.

Ah the things they teach you in Hazardous Materials technician and Fire Investigation classes.

 

[lilpeenoiracer]

oh hwen i hear kerosene i thnk of a type of fuel used back in htey days for lanterns and wat not, my ignorance has been proven me wrong agian:-D lol thanks

how much stronger is kerosene compared to miniral spirits, and how does it rinse off or evaporate compared to miniral spirits? i left some partsi n my wash last night that were kaked with grease like front timing covers and wat not and have yet to take them out will do so in a few minutes. id like to see how well miniral spirits work, and im lazy so i have a feeling i will want something stronger sop i wont have to do much scrubbing. and also something that wil evaporate so it will aid in drying.

thanks guys

 

[the dude]

The standard around here is Var-Sol or diesel fuel. It cleans well and has a low flash point.

 

[Jbullfrog]

Easy no mess way to drain Parts Washer

Grab a speaker magnet and a 4" square piece of inner tube. I just put the piece of inner tube over the drain with the magnet centered on the drain. Then I can screw out the plug and move the magnet and tube to let it drain.

 

[-lecroix-]

Re: Easy no mess way to drain Parts Washer

Grab a speaker magnet and a 4" square piece of inner tube. I just put the piece of inner tube over the drain with the magnet centered on the drain. Then I can screw out the plug and move the magnet and tube to let it drain.

That has to be one of the handiest tips I have ever read here. I have the el cheapo Harbor Freight parts washer. Replaced the pump to a higher volume and added the brush with the rubber hose so the solvent flows thru the brush now and it works like a champ. Always made a mess when I changed out the solvent.

Not anymore! Thanks for sharing that!

 

[lilpeenoiracer]

just lcean my first batch of parts in my parts washer i had let it sit over night, all these parts had gunk caked on over the years and was prety thick when scraped iwht a screw driver, well alot of it fell out over the night and just did some brushing to agggitate the left overs, and a few hard scrubbing on the intake manifolds, and it came out pretty good, still going to go over a few of the parts iwth a wire wheel and die grinder since i will be powder coating them. i used some disposable gloves ive learned now its a no no it just rips at the tips and gloves fill with solvent. now my hands are on fire, lol i now have a set of dish washing gloves i used for paint stripping hanging on the parts washer.

forget about getting ne thing stronger. its already burnign my hands and it softens all the gaskets and makes it very easy to peal the gaskets off,

is it normal for the solvent to turn very dark? as in i can find the little part basket in the solvent. i have ot feel for it.

one thing i dont like is that the solvent splashes everywhere when aimed directly at a part.

thanks
titus