What If? Dishwasher Turned Parts Washer

[formariz 11,849]

7 minutes ago, squonk said:

But there is always the chance someone turns the faucet to hot and  lets it run to get it hot and forgets to turn on the cold.

Most sensible people stick their finger under it for a second to test it. But then some people stick their tongues to a frozen metal pole.

[squonk 38,930]

Yup. You never know. A small child or an older  person are vulnerable. Keep it at 120. 

 

On a side note, I got a call from a Dr. one afternoon. He said steam was coming out of the faucet. I found one the 80 gal. water heaters at 250 degrees with a stuck thermostat.

[SylvanLakeWH 24,134]

13 minutes ago, formariz said:

Most sensible people stick their finger under it for a second to test it. 

 

Oh that's just crazy talk...!!!

 

What? be responsible for my own actions???

 

Not...

 

Appreciate the comment @formariz...

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by SylvanLakeWH

[formariz 11,849]

4 hours ago, squonk said:

I found one the 80 gal. water heaters at 250 degrees with a stuck thermostat.

That water was good for chicken plucking!

[oliver2-44 8,852]

15 minutes ago, formariz said:

That water was good for chicken plucking!

Well this thread has strayed slightly from parts cleaners.
 But then again someday I may need to write some stories about my college job working the night cleanup crew at a commercial turkey processing plant.  I can tell you first hand what “meat products” means on the label. 
 

Back to the dish washer. I’m going to see if I can do a simple temporary setup and run some old greasy parts. I watched a couple of YouTube videos on this but not a lot of good details given.
Keep the comments coming. 

[squonk 38,930]

For small parts Simple Green HD degreaser and a Harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner works pretty well. 

[ebinmaine 63,140]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

For small parts Simple Green HD degreaser and a Harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner works pretty well. 

Been mulling over an ultrasonic... 

[squonk 38,930]

This is what I use for degreaser:

 

Horror Fright ultrasonic cleaner. The only thing I don't like about it is the ultra sonic part is on a 4 min max timer. So you have to keep resetting it if you want a longer clean. The heat is turned on with just a button and it stays on until you turn it off. It can get quite hot. 2.5 litre capacity. The sell a different 6 litre one also. do not know how well that one works

 

 

[peter lena 8,067]

@ebinmaine https://www.bing.com/shop/product?oid=93815610811&offerid=IAsHWZzlvuCGTHfeWi4UCjRxuq&storeid=770&blid=7627884214240&q=stainless pot cleaner%2F    , like the stainless scrub pad  , combined with any  clean up detail , makes quick work  of baked on areas . depending on what  I  am cleaning , something like kroil  ,as the cutter /  really cuts thru baked on  areas ,  also a hot  soak , helps out , pete

[Jeff-C175 7,195]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

what I use for degreaser

 

Some of those cleaner / degreasers will turn aluminum a dark gray color and it can't easily be brought back to shiny again.  It won't happen immediately, so if you are cleaning and immediately rinsing, probably OK, it takes a bit of time.

 

Make sure to read the labels if it's something that you are concerned about the appearance!  I don't think it actually 'hurts' the part though, just alters the surface finish.

 

I think it was the purple stuff, can't remember the name, but it totally wrecked the appearance of an aluminum air plenum on a Chevy engine I was working on.  I soaked it in a tub for about an hour.  Then I read the label... 

 

That said, if it's aluminum that you want to PAINT, it probably makes an excellent etch for paint adhesion.

 

Simple Green does make a solution that they say is "Aluminum Safe" by the way.  It ain't cheap!!!

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Jeff-C175

[squonk 38,930]

1 hour ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

Some of those cleaner / degreasers will turn aluminum a dark gray color and it can't easily be brought back to shiny again.  It won't happen immediately, so if you are cleaning and immediately rinsing, probably OK, it takes a bit of time.

 

Make sure to read the labels if it's something that you are concerned about the appearance!  I don't think it actually 'hurts' the part though, just alters the surface finish.

 

I think it was the purple stuff, can't remember the name, but it totally wrecked the appearance of an aluminum air plenum on a Chevy engine I was working on.  I soaked it in a tub for about an hour.  Then I read the label... 

 

That said, if it's aluminum that you want to PAINT, it probably makes an excellent etch for paint adhesion.

 

Simple Green does make a solution that they say is "Aluminum Safe" by the way.  It ain't cheap!!!

 

This carb was first soaked in Berrymans carb cleaner for a couple of hours then about an hour in the Ultrasonic with the Simple green and heat for about a half hour. Immediately rinsed after removing from cleaner. No scrubbing or coating applied.

 

[953 nut 51,690]

On 1/19/2023 at 7:02 PM, squonk said:

steam was coming out of the faucet. I found one the 80 gal. water heaters at 250 degrees with a stuck thermostat

Must have had a gag on the safety valve too, should have lifted about 210 degrees.

[oliver2-44 8,852]

I have a Ultrasonic cleaner I bought through Walmart for small parts. It is slightly bigger and longer run time than the HF one. I use Simple Green in it 

[oliver2-44 8,852]

Well I tried the dish washer on some greasy parts with simple green. I used cold water and had hoped the DWHeater would get it hot enough to cut oil and grease. 
Water didn’t get very hot and it didn’t touch the grease or oil. 
Well it was worth a no cost try. 

[wallfish 15,919]

7 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

Well I tried the dish washer on some greasy parts with simple green. I used cold water and had hoped the DWHeater would get it hot enough to cut oil and grease. 
Water didn’t get very hot and it didn’t touch the grease or oil. 
Well it was worth a no cost try. 

Do you think hot water would make a big difference? What about a solvent soak and then the dishwasher rinse?

https://www.amazon.com/2-6Gallon-Electric-Water-Heater-Mini-Tank/dp/B091YH8H4H/ref=asc_df_B091YH8H4H/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=507755841810&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12133752562724480305&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001808&hvtargid=pla-1265050456286&psc=1

 

[ebinmaine 63,140]

7 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

simple green. I used cold water

 

For a fair amount of Trina's past working career she was a professional cleaner in houses and Hospital, ER and many other environments.  

 

In her professional experience, Simple Green is less than effective.  

 

There are "purple products" in various brands, along with Greased Lightning that would be FAR more productive.  

She advises great caution if the machine is in an area that would be affected by an overflow of suds which could be a possibility during experiments.  

 

As to the water temperature, I like @wallfish's idea of feeding the dishwasher water that's already hot.  

 

There's a HUGE DIFFERENCE in grease cutting in the temperature range between 110⁰ and 125⁰. 

Many dishwashers are designed to intake water that's already standard house hot temp (120⁰, 125⁰, even 140⁰)  THEN heat it even more.  

 

Ours here makes the water hot enough that I can just about handle the dishes after an input temp of 120⁰.  

 

Another thought by Trina, if the parts could be pre-sprayed or soaked and/or most of the muck removed then obviously the work would be lessened.  

 

 

8 hours ago, oliver2-44 said:

didn’t touch the grease or oil. 

 

I do believe further experimentation is warranted. 

 

 

 

[lynnmor 6,778]

Perhaps you could try a double dose of dishwasher detergent, it cuts cooking grease fine.

[ebinmaine 63,140]

11 minutes ago, lynnmor said:

Perhaps you could try a double dose of dishwasher detergent, it cuts cooking grease fine.

 

We've used two "pods" to clean out a radiator.  Works Excellent.   

[oliver2-44 8,852]

I also tried the dishwashing pods and Purple Power.  Not much improvement with cold water. I don’t have an easy way to tap into my houses hot water.  Even with my current work to recipe the house with PEX. I can’t get down any outside walls near the shop with a hot water line. I use Purple Power as a pre soak when I use my pressure washer, I guess I stick with the pressure washer. 

[The Freightliner Guy 1,326]

On 1/19/2023 at 4:52 PM, formariz said:

But then some people stick their tongues to a frozen metal pole.

i may have tried that before out of curiosity   i did not have a good sleep but hey i learned that the movies aren't always lying to us but i aint ever gonna try that again. 

Kollin

[squonk 38,930]

Your standard home dishwasher heater will probably only raise the water temp maybe 30° if you're lucky, so if you're pumping only 60° water into it you might squeak out 90°. Commercial dishwater booster heaters only raise the temp about 40 ° and cost about 3 grand so unless you start out at 120-130° water temp you're not gonna clean squat. Steam on steam cleaners don't really clean. But the high temp softens the grease so the water pressure and detergent can clean it.

Edited February 13, 2023 by squonk

[pfrederi 17,147]

I used this cleaner in an ultra sonic unit.  The Tecky carb came out a dull dark gray and would leave residue on you hand when you picked it up.  Tried a bit of buffing just made the wheel very dirty and not  much improvement....

 

 

[2drxploder 36]

I use oil-eater in parts washer its water based. I Bought one of those submersible heaters from tractor supply for horse tank I think. It heated the solution up to about 100 in 40 degree weather in a canvas garage-in-a-box. Worked great. A residential dishwasher does heat the water, but not designed to do it all the way, only raise the tempature. Foaming may be an issue if you re-circulate. But I'm liking the idea!

[ranger 1,637]

On 1/19/2023 at 6:32 PM, formariz said:

Correlation of water temperature in heater to the  development of the Legionary disease bacteria. Nothing to fool with. 

A few years ago, I read a report claiming that the greatest cause of legionnaires disease has been attributed to automobile windshield washers. Apparently if plain water is used in the bottle, the under hood temps create an ideal environment for the bacterial growth? Any contamination to this water, by adding screen washer fluid, prevents this growth from occurring! I suppose using the washers to clean squashed bugs, etc, of the screen could result in contaminated water being drawn into the vehicle via the heater/air-con inlets, then driver/passengers are sitting in a compartment of recycling contaminated air? Urgh!!!