[alfa] Re: Harbor Freight Parts Washer

[Arnoil@xxxxxxx]

Dick:

I have the 20 gallon Harbor Freight Parts Washer.  I use Stoddard Solvent in it, which I have found has the best combination of performance/safety/non-volatility.  It still stinks, but with the lid of the washer closed my garage is fume free.  You have to search it out from commercial suppliers, which makes it a bit harder to find than some of the other solvents people use.  Our local Alfa mechanic sells me some when they buy the big drum for their own use.

My advice is not to use the Harbor Freight water based degreasing solvent that they "recommend" in the instructions.  It does not work well at all, and it simply serves to remove the (cheap) paint from the inside of the parts washer and then start rust on the components of the washer that are not continuously submerged.  Using other solvents supposedly wears the pump out faster, but replacements are cheap and you will wear the pump out anyway from all the time you have to have it on to degrease stuff with that ineffective water based stuff.

Note that for big parts or really nasty stuff I go over to a friend's house who has a large 30 gallon professional unit with a flow through brush and a second spigot.  The Harbor unit is OK for small stuff, but it really is inadequate for bigger, really nasty jobs (like removing 40 years of crud from my 1961 2000 Spider project...).

Good Luck,

Arno Leskinen
Gilbert, AZ USA
115
116
102 x 2
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