Dishwasher as Parts Cleaner

[Aragorn]

So we've all heard the various tales of Car Part X being put in the dishwasher, and Mr Bloke invariably getting caught by the missus.

We dont have a dishwasher, and theres no room in the kitchen for one, however, having had a quick look on ebay, i realise i could probably buy one for 20 or 30quid, and stick it in the garage, solely for washing parts. Considering a 5L tub of jizer is 20quid, i figure buying a machine to do it for me for the same money is money well spent...

Garage doesnt have a water supply, but i can always use the garden hose to feed it with water when in use, and wedge the drain pipe into the corner of the garden where she cant see it

Does anyone do anything similar? How clean would a domestic dishwasher actually get the parts? Can it withstand that kinda use over a period of time, or is it going to die in 20mins?

Cheers!

[Ozyboy]

I dont look at this site very often, but noticed your mail today. I have one set up, not running neat Jizer, but fully plumbed into the water supply, and i use it regularly with good results, check the stuff on a tray, squirt of de greaser, and bobs your uncle, in most cases, sometimes a second dose is required. I think the key is its washing in very VERY hot water. Did some alloy wheel nuts last night to remove years of copperslip, and other lubricants, and they cme out great...

I say go for it....

I have mine double stacked on a platform, with the Mrs 2nd / spare washing machine under to save space....

Oz

[Night Train]

Wasn't there a thread on this a while ago? Or maybe I imagined it.

Anyway, I seem to recall that idea being to buy an old commercial dishwasher, as it is all stainless steel, and then running it from a barrel of cleaner that is filtered and recirculated through the dishwasher.

Saves pouring nasty cleaning stuff down the drain or into the corner of the garden and also saves money by reusing the cleaning stuff until it is taken to the tip.

[integerspin]

Have you looked on freecycle?

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Yup

I have a "Table Top" Diswasher, bit like a large microwave, ebay £30 and superb as a good size so not as to hog room

I have a hose connected to the inlet, and by the door, just then connect to the outside hose, and the drain hose into a bucket

Superb

Bige

[sutty_32]

I put engine parts in the dishwasher over easter time. Made a hell of a mess of it (probably needed more degreaser/detergents) had to spend ages cleaning the dishwasher out. A few runs later it was kaput!

Had to ring the landlord (was in a student house) and tell him his dishwasher had broken down for some unknown reason. Was even funnier when the repair guy came and said that some "black sludge" had blocked the drain pipe and the thusly drowned the motor

So after quite a few weeks of washing up by hand we got a nice new dishwasher, decided not to try it again as I don't think I could explain how a second dishwasher failed

[hattymender]

I've done it. And got caught. Had to buy new one but used the old one to clean up V8 manifold and various odd's n sods.

I used the old one exactly as you suggested with a hosepipe and let it drain out of garage door and it worked fine, only issue was the size of parts so I took some bolt croppers to the partitions in the baskets (the ones used to stand plates etc, in). I used the old connector pipe, cut the feed end off and joined it to hosepipe with a bit of copper tube and a couple of jubilee clips.

I didn't use any degreasers, just normal dishwasher stuff (Finish I think). Somebody warned me that the salt can etch alloy but I gave the bits a rinse and they've been fine. Think you'd have to wash them many times to do any damage.

Suggets you try various 'brews' using some old bits before anything you want to keep.

[Aragorn]

I wasnt planning on running it on jizer, just normal dishwashing detergent. I just meant that for the price of a gallon of jizer, i can get a machine that does it all for me without have to sit there scrubbing away.

What you've done sounds spot on nige. I'll see what ebay turns up. I've probably got the room to squeeze a full size machine in so that opens up the scope a bit. I presume it doesnt use that much water then? If it can just drain out into a bucket?

Kev

[landmannnn]

Yup

I have a "Table Top" Diswasher, bit like a large microwave, ebay £30 and superb as a good size so not as to hog room

I have a hose connected to the inlet, and by the door, just then connect to the outside hose, and the drain hose into a bucket

Superb

Bige

Who is this person called Bige?

[need4speed]

Due to all the talk of draining water, i thought he meant bilge....

[western]

it's Nige H_T_H not watching what he's typed or where his sausage size fingers are doing on the keyboard.

[need4speed]

I know who it was ralph. my humour was lost on you....