Best degreaser

[Guest]

Time to clean and refill my parts washer. I have been using varsol or similar for many years but I'm wondering if other fluids available might do a better job. I see lots of products on the shelfs at the stores but many like Dunk cost 5 times what a jug of varsol costs. What the best?

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Hi, Dave...

Must be one of those experience jogging days on this site for me. "Odd ball stuff, like the tubular steel cast into the exhaust manifold topic."

An account of ours, Universal Valve, produces gas pump/station products. We produced the shear valve body, of which, is a safety unit that shuts off a gas pump's flow at the hose should someone hit a gas pump. Universal would hot dip galvanize the casting, machine it, assemble the valve, then pressure test them by submerging the valve into a tank of varsol. Varsol represents the closest viscocity to gasoline safely.

The other reason varsol was used is it cleaned the valves without oxidating any component parts. Goes without saying, the valves were new and had to look it in their customers eyes after testing.

As you noted, it is cheaper than some alternative products. Hope this helps in some way.

Regards, Peter J. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Guest Albert]

I have been using diesel/varsol& dunk mix seems to remove everything.

[Guest]

The GM Dealership that I worked for in the 60's always used Varsol. About half of the tune up men mixed a pint of ATF in a gallon of Varsol. They said it took the bite out of it and made it much easier on their hands.

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Hi, Reid...good point.

You brought to mind what I forgot to relatively mention. When Universal, and, other companies, test assembled valve bodies utilizing Varsol, it is gentle enough, so as not to attack plumbers tape on the threads, soldered triggers, and so on.

Regards, Peter J. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Guest Ken G]

From the internet: "Varsol is the ExxonMobil Chemical brand for a line of conventional aliphatic fluids with low, medium and high flash points. These fluids boil in the mineral spirits or white spirits range. These grades are characterized by mild odors, clean evaporation and solvency power to meet the requirements of a broad range of applications, often replacing less refined kerosene. Heavier Varsol fluids exhibit tight, well-defined properties that provide more consistent performance than many process oils available today."

There is a whole range of fluids sold under the brand-name Varsol. Which do you mean?

Ken G, 1925 Rover 16/50, San Francisco

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Hi, Ken...

You got me on this one. The Varsol Universal Valve used had such a low flash point that they were using it in an open manufacturing area. As I mentioned above, they used it to represent the closest viscocity to gasoline without damaging the plumber's tape on 3 different threaded/bolted areas. During the test, the people wore rubber gloves, which, makes sense, especially if performing pressure tests all day long.

I would have to ask the people at Universal Valve what grade they use. As far as using a particular grade for degreasing, I would ask the question to a pro, or, as you did, look it up on the web. I'm in the foundry/machining business, not, Varsol applications.

Thank you for taking the time to look into it. Should give some guidance.

Regards, Peter J. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />