Inexpensive Parts Washer

[ericr]

For those of you starting a maintenance project, or a restoration, I found that a parts washer is indispensable.

After shopping and finding what's available, I found that a smaller one would fit my needs best. It holds up to 3 1/2 gallons of solvent and is small enough to fit on a counter next to a utility sink. I equipped it with with a flow-through cleaning brush and an immersible heater. All the items together was less than $100

Since I'm using a water-solvent, I immerse a heating coil into the solvent for a few minutes before adding my parts. This gets the temp up to as hot as I can stand while wearing gloves. The heat makes water-based solvent much more effective. I think it's as effective as stoddard solvent.

The solvent I use is Krud Kutter "Parts Washer" Cleaner/Degreaser available from Home Depot or Tractor Supply. It works great.



Here's a parts list of what I ordered from Amazon;

[KDXGarage]

Cool. Thanks for sharing. I like the look of the brush.

I bought one of the 20-gallon Harbor Freight ones a few years ago. I HAD TO HAVE IT! I ended up never using it, and it was in the way for years. I finally sold it last year, thankfully. LOL

[Tyl3r]

Nice, yea thanks for sharing. I have been thinking about one too. I used the one at my work a couple of times, its a nice heated industrial cleaner...its wicked convenient. Can't help but make me want a mini version for home The parts list didn't come through for me. Would you mind posting it in text form or something?

[ericr]

Sure. Here's a text version;

Parts Washer - https://tinyurl.com/ydatv2a2

Hose and Brush - https://tinyurl.com/yb7lag8o

Immersion heater (I see this one is unavailable, but there's another high-wattage one) - https://tinyurl.com/y7o5fzo4