The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest bio-fuel for parts washer

Anyone tried bio-diesel for parts washer solvent?

Don't see why it wouldn't work Carl. I personally have used
Kerosene for the last 40 or so years but it's often hard to
find now and is getting expensive. Might look into Diesel my
self, I'll bet Ken C. could set us straight.
I've got an all knowing neighbor (retired engineer type, you
know) who will only uses "pure" diesel from a certain station
because he says everyone else is pumping bio-diesel. Claims his
JD 955 has all sorts of problems with bio-diesel. Funny, my
JD 855 (same basic Yanmar engine) has been running just fine on
bio-diesel summer and winter.
I'll bet his other vehicles won't run on E-10 either.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Bio Diesel as well as cooking oil works much better as a solvent than Diesel or kero. I have been using cooking oil in my parts washer for about 20 years. A mixture of bio Diesel and cooking oil is even better and it works really well for honing oil. But I don't have access to small amounts of Bio Diesel.

Several years ago, when I still had 2 Mercedes turbo Diesel wagons, a vender gave me 2 55 gallon drums of Bio to play with. On straight Bio, they ran much quieter, did not smoke at all, and I noticed no difference in performance or fuel car. But pretty soon both cars smelled like a hamburger. And then the temperature dipped to around 20° and the stuff clouded in the filters. A heat gun on the filter got them started, but they ran like crap in 20° weather.

Since Bio is a strong solvent, it breaks loose crud in a tank and lines and of course that stops up filters

Most of what I sell now is 5% Bio. I run my trucks on fuel cards, and there is absolutely no difference in mileage. We change filters at our 15,000 service intervals and have no trouble. However, we have all aluminum tanks. It might be different if we had steel tanks. But steel tanks are a headache with clear Diesel.

I have used up my Bio and I wish I could get some more to mix with the cooking oil that I use for parts washing. I got rid of my Safety-Kleen about 20 years ago. And of course they report former customers. The environmental could find nothing wrong with cooking oil. And we go into plants were carriers get filed for spraying their trailers with Diesel prior to loading pre mix and no one says anything about our bottom dumps smelling like a hamburger.

I am going to try to find some. My wife complains about the smell of the paint thinner or the kerosene. I tell her she wouldn't have that problem if she stayed in the kitchen. Maybe with the bio, she will come into the garage to see what I am cooking.
Carl

oh Snap!

Carl,
The real question is.... do you really want her in your garage? I would reconsider the bio!

My wife told me she was going to clean my garage. She wants to park her car in the garage. I laughed and told her no since i have labeled parts everywhere.

We used a citris based cleaner once. It worked really well. In some cases too well. It also drys your hands out pretty bad. The guys elected to get rid of it because it made the whole shop smell like orange juice.

Bio-diesel is a great solvent. There's actually a company near me that makes a bunch of bio-diesel based cleaners. I'm told they work quite well but I haven't had a chance to try them out.

.....ok, spell it out for me. Just where might you find the bio-stuff. My cleaning tank needs a change.

Plenty in California.