Looking for a very good degreaser that is eco friendly

Progressing with a construction equipment project, we need to wash a machine that is pretty grungy. Mostly oils that are not stuck like glue but plenty of it. Problem is the machine is sitting in a place where grass needs to grow. I typically use a degrease product by a local lube company that is mixed with diesel fuel but I am getting frowns on that one.

I will need 2-3gal to get the job done. Can anyone recommend a product that will work? we will follow up with industrial soap, solvent wipe, and paint but I need to knock the grunge off. I don't want to use just water pressure for fear of pushing water where it is not supposed to be...

Lets just say, low odor, will not kill grass, will bio degrade (next to fishing pond).

The big problem is, that once anything has all the oils and grease dissolved in it, the resulting mess isn't going to be "eco-friendly" anymore.

Probably your best bet would some type of strong alkaline cleaner like purple power or similar. Works by turning the oils into water soluble soap.

N2IXK said:

The big problem is, that once anything has all the oils and grease dissolved in it, the resulting mess isn't going to be "eco-friendly" anymore.

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+1

Stuart

Nothing beats trichlorethylene. It is volatile and spontaneously decomposes, so as long as it is allowed to evaporate it is harmless.

Runner up is kerosene.

Awesome, Oil Eater, and/or Simple Green Crystal. We mix all 3 together sometimes.

Mud said:

Awesome, Oil Eater, and/or Simple Green Crystal. We mix all 3 together sometimes.

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+1 for Oil-Eater, disolves the crud. Get it at Cosco.

trichlorethylene - you might want to chck the MSDS on this. Try searching for trichloroethylene

SIRI MSDS Index

It works but it scares me.

+3 for caustic. Look for Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH on the label.

Get a case of Dawn dish soap.

Use Citrol from Schaeffer Oil, I am told this stuff if left on long enough will peel paint also. We use it to degrease and clean almost anything in the shop that simple green leaves behind or takes a while with and am extremely happy. It says it is environmentally safe as well.

In my experience there is no degreaser that works worth a hoot that is eco friendly. Simple Green for example, is a joke compared to good old toxic Greased Lightning.

There is a product called 4-U, which claims to be biodegradable. It is a very strong degreaser and works great. I dilute it down about 3:1, spritz it on, let it sit for a minute or two and hose off. Don't leave it on too long, it will discolor or remove some paints....

First I would scrape off as much of the heavy stuff as possible. Then I would place the machine on a large plastic tarp and spray it down with the diluted cleaner. Get a load of sawdust and spread it all around to soak up the mess from the wash down. This would do little damage to the grass if done correctly.

cheers,
mike

PS here's a link to the product
http://www.4uproducts.com/

As far as I know, straight lye will not convert mineral oils, although it takes apart animal and vegetable oils , even when somewhat polymerized (which is why it strips paint). It may wash off mineral oils though.

But Purple cleaners have both lye and other stuff in them, so they do a good job on both mineral and other oils..

That is probably the most eco-friendly stuff, in the end....... at least among those that actually WORK...

I never used triclhloroethylene, used GALLONS of Trichloroethane. MUCH less toxic. I washed my tools and hands in a bucket of it on my buggy. I don't THINK it has done me any harm. I used it for 40 years or so, and I am still here.

Trichloroethane was a VERY good degreaser.

I have tried "Purple Power" and the like, and they can't hold a candle to the Chlorinated products.

Cheers,

George

JST,

When you mix Lye and animal fats, or, indeed, other fats, what you get is "soap", glycerines

Sodium Hydroxide, or Potassium Hydroxide, is what is used to take the glycerin from animal and vegetable fats to make them into "biodiesel".

What Lye WILL do is eat any part of the machine that is aluminum. Lye doesn't even do a good job keeping soap scum from building a plug in a baffle into your septic or Municipal Sewage System. Lye, by itself, will not even clean out your trap in a plugged sink trap. That is why Drano has aluminum paritcles in it. The chemical reaction with the Aluminun, when wetted, create heat, which clears drain clogs, NOT the Lye, itself..

Go figure.

Sinple Green's aircraft cleaner is pretty darn good.

This is not a job for sloshed on water based chemicals even benign stuff like sodium soap and sodium carbonate. This combination wont hurt the soil but the saponified oils and greases in the grey water are very bad. There is no pressure washing or steam cleaning process for heavy equipmment leading to environmentally safe run-off. Either move the machine to a work friendly site where you can assure 100% effluent capture or roll up your sleeves.

Hard to beat a putty knife, dust pan,. stiff brush, a tarp and a trash can for eco-friendly. Spread the tarp, roll the machine on it. Scrape the whole machine clean to bare paint and you can move on to a laundry squirt bottle of kitchen cleaner and paper towels.

And it doesn't take that long even on a large machine if you remember simple proportion.

Problem is most folks think that powered gadgets are labor saving. Often they are but if a special case emerges, the rule seems to be run in circles scream and shout; the sky is falling because there's no way to stand back and squirt it with a gadget yet fulfil EPA requirements whatever.

Here's a hint: hard work and planning isn't that hard. Be systematic, work small areas from the top down, that sort ot thing

Spread a tarp and break out the putty knife. I''d estimate time and materials for clean a loader/back-hoe on a farm tractor chassis to take two days and maybe $80. In the end there are no splashed chemicals, no waste water, no contaminated surface soil. Just a soiled tarp and a trash can with about 50 lb of concentrated oily waste ready for EPA disposal.

The finished product is a spanking clean piece of heavy equipment and the virtuous feeling only hard work leading to success can bring the doer.

Yeah, I know Isn't there and easier way. No and whining makes it that much harder. Back in the day I dug septic tank holes where the boss couldn't get his Lindsey back how. I worked for this guy thhe summer I was 18 and strong as a bear. Once I roughened up (a miserable two week process my dad laughed about) I could dig a 7 x 9 ft hole 8 ft deep hole in about three days that is if there were no clay veins. We get a species of clay I'd have to mattock out in 4" cubes. Dig for four hours take a break and eat four sandwiches, a hunk of cold steak, and drink a quart of milk then dig for 4 more. Get a rhythm going and daydream. Let your muscle and subsconcious do the work. Same with cleaning equipment the hard way.

gmatov said:

JST,

When you mix Lye and animal fats, or, indeed, other fats, what you get is "soap", glycerines

What Lye WILL do is eat any part of the machine that is aluminum. Lye doesn't even do a good job keeping soap scum from building a plug in a baffle into your septic or Municipal Sewage System. Lye, by itself, will not even clean out your trap in a plugged sink trap. That is why Drano has aluminum paritcles in it. The chemical reaction with the Aluminun, when wetted, create heat, which clears drain clogs, NOT the Lye, itself..

Go figure.

Click to expand...

The lye will in fact clear teh trap..... it just takes too long, and the trap has no way to 'wash away" the "soaps" created.....

The aluminum is indeed added to make heat, because that will melt the grease and allow it to be cleared.... it also accelerates the reaction of the remaining lye to make "soap" of the grease that isn't "kicked down the pipe" by the heat.

No use to explain that lye or purple does not work..... I use it all the time, and it DOES work.
Sorry

What Forrest says has a definite point......

Basically, the cleaner isn't the whole problem..... what you clean off is an issue also. Probably a bigger one.

If you are "industrially" cleaning equipment, your EPA "sewer probe" will turn up any heavy metal or solvent contaminations, and you will get a friendly letter about your fine that you are being assessed....

if you need to clean something once in a while, and don't get "probed", Ok. It isn't like what rolls into the sewer from off the streets is pure, it's worse than most anything you will ever put down.

Now, Forrest's OTHER point is much more worthwhile in a practical sense.....

Using ANY water-based cleaner is a no-go unless you are stripping the machine and cleaning PARTS.

if you are doing the "lazy way", of cleaning off ONLY the exposed surfaces, and leaving the swarf that is packed-into gearboxes etc alone, then solvents, scraping, and wiping is best.... you don't want to get a lot of water and cleaner into places it will do harm....

Sometimes that is all you can do..... but it is largely cosmetic, or prevents further wear from grit on moving surfaces.

1 clean equipment

2 move equipment

3 spread thin layer of top soil over affected area

4 seed

5 wait for new grass to grow

"Cosmoline" once had a specific meaning but casual use over the years has reduced the term to a collective noun covering a wide range of metal preservatives from a thin soft amber colered grease to a thick tough black asphaltic material.

The stuff usually found on new machinery is thin, soft, and waxy. It's intended to be removed with petroleum solvents. It can be removed by steam cleaning, pressure washing, strong caustics but anyojne who does to is either in ithe grip of misinformation or addicted to doing things the hard way.

I've been hassling "cosmiline" in its various forms since I was a kid apprentices. I served a Navy civilian apprenticeship and I can attest that every metal part inthe navy supply system is coated in a metal preserative some kind. I,ve spent weeks over a lonf career washing and prepping replacement parts for machinery repair/overhaul. I know all the tricks and what to avoid.

The single best preservative is probably naptha as in lighter fluid but because of its flamallability it's not reccommended unless used in open air away from ignition sources.

Removing grease-like metal preservative is very simple. User friendly solvents are either WD40 ot charcoal lighter fluid. Both are flammible so use them is well ventillated areas away from ignition sources.

Scrape off the worst of preservative with a plastic scraper from the paint store and place the waste in a burnable container like a smallish corrugatede paper box. Fog on a film of WD40 or charcoal lighter fluid (actually deodorized kerosene) focusing on the corners and crevises where the residues persist. Allow the solvent to soak for a moment. Scrub the solvent and preservgative intill it turns into a thck goo you can wipe up with a paper towel or rag. Repreat until the item/assem,bly is clean and more or less dry. Apply wax, Boeshield, light oil etc as needed for the end use of the equipment.

Do not use gasoline because of the extreme fire hazard. Do not use diesel becase of the stink and poor "carrying power". Do not use plain kerosene if you don't like the smell.

Especially do not use water based solutions because of the hazardous chemicals, requiired (lye? Come on!!), the rust and corrosion potential in crevices and joints, limited effectiveness unless hot. and the labor for clean up, and the hazardous waste it generates. Dossassembly. Hot tanking assembled new equipment is plain stupid..

Dri ice blasting might be one easily catchable cleaning process. Simply lay down some dust sheets prior to starting. Probably out of your price range, but won't result in cancers or contamination of the site! Works brilliantly on semi - wet inks - grease on old presses.

You might look at Soysolv. They have water soluable solvents as well.
Steyer Farms
1 800-231- 4274
I just called them back as we are running out of the one we are using, they are still there and have new corn oil and soy oil based products.