I have in the past years seen all kinds of solvent used in the shop. Safety-clean is good stuff but kind of expensive, they do however clean you vat and install a new filter when they service your washer. Karosene is also good stuff but the smell stays on you for days. All the orange stuff,green stuff, and purple stuff I have used is good for initial cleaning, at the car wash before you begin a repair or just to keep it clean. Gasoline cleans but to volital, burns your hands and will explode. Diesal stinks to high heaven and leaves an oily film. Mineral spirits work ok and is ok on your hands. You can take all the enviornmental safe crap and poor it on the ground and use the wet sand to clean your parts, it works well that way.
That brings me to what I use now. Varsol, cleans well will burn but wont explode,won't blister your hands, smell is tollerable if you like the smell of origional Gojo hand cleaner,and leaves no residue. It is currantly about $2.50 a gallon and can be purchased at most fuel distrubutors. The cool thing about varsol is most fluids, oils, grease and dirt will settle on the bottom of you vat. This leaves clean solvent for your next project.
Here is a very good way to build a cleaning vat.
Stuff needed:
1. 55 gallon drum (removable lid is better)
2. a #2 wash tub
3. enought screen wire to cover the botton of the wash tub.
4. 5 gallons of varsol
5. 45 or so gallons of water
Here is the skinny, open the drum clean out any toxic waste or undesireable stuff. Now take the tub and drill or punch 10 to 15 1/4" holes in the bottom. Move the drum to its deesired location cause it is about to get realy heavy and fill it up with water up to where the bottom of the wash tub will be when you place it in the top of the drum. Now fabricate the screen wire to cover the bottom of the tub, remember to fold the wire under around the edges so you wont poke your fingers looking for bolts and washers on the bottom of the vat. Now poor the varsol in the tub till it is a satisfactory level, (varsol floats on water) and use the drum lid to cover the top.
Notes; Varsol will evaporate but not too quickly. I have seen variations to this design that include piano dolly under the drum and a water fossett to drain out the Yucky water for cleaning the vat. And when cleaning becomes ness. just siphon off the varsol and dump the yucky water then reuse the varsol adding what you need to refill. Oh! the tub handles are in the way so fold them down as you install the tub.
