I just bought me a cheap 20 gal. parts washer and i need probally about 15 gals. of cleaner i have decided to use a solvent based since the washer will be located where it could freeze i can buy paint thinner for half price of mineral sprits.Other than the less odor with mineral sprits will the thinner do just as well?

Paint thinner is much more flammable that M/S. Also, the thinner will evaporate much quicker than the M/S. Paint thinner may also attack any rubber gloves that you should be wearing when using the parts washer.

Varsol is the accepted standard and safe enough to use in-frequently, always wear your gloves and eye protection.

Has anyone used those citrus based solutions in a parts washer? How well does it work?

PLEASE! Do not use paint thinners or Mineral Spirits in your parts washers! MUCH to flammable! Use the washer recommended cleaning fluid ONLY!
I've used Varsol and a friend of mine is using one of the citrus based cleaners. I really see no difference in performance from one to the other. And will probably try one the next time I need cleaning solution.
Mark

Just wanted to ditto above. You are asking for a catastropy using either as washer fluid.

Chris

mineral spirits was the recommended solvent for my cleaner. damn ebay crap. its what i use, we tested it for flammability, and were unsuccessful..... that was last august....

works fine as parts washer i dont know what you would do with your parts washer that it would catch on fire i genarally clean parts

When I bought my parts washer I went to Lowe's and bought mineral spirits. It cost ten bucks for five gallons and I got by with ten gallons in a twenty gallon washer. That sure beat spending thirty dollars for five gallons of the recommended solvent.

I've been using it like that for three years and NO problems with flammability or evaporation. Granted, it's evaporated a little and it's about time to add another five gallons (only about a gallon evaporated, but the pump is starting to draw air). It also cleans really well and I can only smell it when the lid is open on the parts washer.

On a side note, if I had put a full twenty gallons of the recommended solvent in there, I would have had more money in solvent than I had in the washer itself.

This is a legitimate post, and interesting, but it's in the wrong area of the board. We need to pay attention to where we post. If it's electrical, there is a place for that and a general area for other non-specific topics.

I have had good success with a product called "Citra-Clean".

It takes a little longer to do its job, but it is bio-degradable and smells nice.

I like the sound of that, just clean yourself up in the parts washer and splash a little on yourself and you'll be ready to hit the bar on friday night after work.

Kerosene

Interesting. I've always used kerosene to clean parts, but w/o the parts washer. I've got a new parts washer in the basement, unused, because I don't have enough floor space left in the garage. Would there be a problem in using kerosene?

mineral spirits, kerosene, and paint thinner are NOT FLAMMABLE. They are combustibles. You can drop a lit match into a bucket of kero and it will put the match out. But soak a rag in it and put a lit match to it and you will get a nice fire. Now lacquer thinner, gasoline etc is flammable meaning they don't need a carrier(wood,cloth,paper) to ignite. The vapor that these liquids puts off is what burns which is what makes them more dangerous. I would not use mineral spirits as a cleaning solvent in a parts washer. It is not to healthy to breath and you must be careful to properly store your dry off rags. The new citrus cleaners are biodegradable, work well,and are safer.
*bonus*...When you are done you smell like an orchard nor a refinery

Where do you purchase these citris cleaners and will it freeze?

Rich