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Parts cleaning the lazy way


lo-fi

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Ingredients:

1 x dishwasher. The mechanical kind... 

1 x large container. 

1 x pump. Almost anything designed for water will do. 

Assorted plumbing fittings. 

Method:

Plumb tank into pump, pump to tee going to dishwasher and back to tank via ball valve. Dishwasher outlet back to tank. Fill tank with cheap degreaser. Fill dishwasher with dirty parts. Press go. Most dishwashers will check for pressure on the inlet periodically, so the pressure may need to be varied with the ball valve. 

 

It works like a charm, even removing paint that gets softened in the heat. We've got one more thing to add, which is a small reservoir for filter wool in the return paths

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Timely - a mate has a dishwasher for me to do something similar

 

We thought that the Dishwasher would cope without a pump to feed it though? Does it not have an internal pump?

 

We also spoke about the potential of using Diesel as the fluid.......

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I have one that is destined for this as well. Interesting that it needed a pump - like Sam, I was hoping to get away without one.

What degreaser fluid are you using? Something like the traffic film degreaser stuff that farmers buy in bulk?

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58 minutes ago, FridgeFreezer said:

Dishwashers have a waste pump to empty themselves but rely on mains water pressure to fill them... quite rare to need to suck on the tap to get water out after all!

Question might be what pressure is needed? I.e. is it ok to put the feed as a header tank above the dishwasher? I suspect some house systems will run in this way anyway. Provided its not so high the waste cant recirculate into it. Or seperate feed and waste - that might even be better but might increase required capacity of the feed. 

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We tried just gravity feeding it, but it needs a bit more pressure than that. Not much, it only needs the valve closed a little for it to be happy.

I'd expect diesel to kill one in short order, it'll break down seals not designed for it quite quickly. Screwfix No Nonsense degreaser seems to be OK (and super cheap), and if you're doing only ferrous parts you could pop a dishwasher tab in which will really get things moving. 

Edited by lo-fi
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lol and there is another project for the shed.... the shed I haven't built yet 

Just a thought, I run a wash down table where I use desiel/petrol mix (got over a 100L from a mate who mistakenly filled his camper with petrol lol) its very stale now but still works a treat 

I've setup so it drains back into a 20L drum, my pickup pump syphons off at about the half full mark, this leaves the bottom half of the drum as a sediment trap to let the carp settle, before I start using it I pop the lid and use a sheet metal scrapper to the bottom of the tub and dig out the dirt 

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That's a nice idea! All I need now is another drum and a stainless steel sink... 

I'll post results once we've run a good few loads through it. The bits of loco ripe for treatment are covered in the stockiest goo imaginable... A nasty mix of old oil, ash and soot mixed with brake dust, which in this case is cast iron. Its the consistency of window putty. Truly horrible. 

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