Was speaking to one of our supplier reps today and we got on the subject of the new brake cleaner they have to sell in Canada now. Apparently it is about 60% acetone and it eats nitrile. Apparently one shop he deals with tried it and two techs ended up in hospital after their nitrile gloves melted to their hands. I'm all for the environment but this crap is going to harm more people than it helps. What a joke this country is.
Ridiculous all right….
Not just your country, you've got plenty of company down in the crapper.
Pump bottles for bulk cleaner are also nearly 3x the price of the old ones with nitrile seals. Rep said it disolves some plastics as well. Probably isn't good on paint either I'd imagine. I guess we're going to have to learn how to get by without it. I don't mind using a solvent tank but that doesn't really work for large parts or when in the field.
Flammable brake clean has been banned in our place for quite some time. The supply cans of non-flammable stuff that’s chlorine based. It knocks the wind right out of your sails if you need to use it somewhere that’s not got good airflow
The chlorine stuff is the good stuff. But I thought it was almost phased out now?
Pretty soon we'll all be washing parts in K1 again or gas for the risk takers.
I don't see much different between gas and the flammable stuff in a spray can. I run gas engines on the spray can stuff all the time for testing purposes, they run fine if you can meter the correct amount with your finger.
We had been using Ford brake clean, but it went to hell. We're using CRC in a green can, it seems OK so far. Can I ask what brand was melting your rubber gloves? ( I want to avoid it)
Wasn't our shop, it was another shop the rep was talking about. I'll try to remember to ask him next time he stops in.
Haven't seen or used chlorinated brake clean in nearly a decade.
Fortunately, in my area chlorinated brake clean (red can) is still readily available, works far better dissolving grease and oil than the green can stuff. And if you get an oil or grease stain on your clothes or patio furniture it will remove that as it's pretty much the same chemical used in the dry cleaning process.
I started using mineral spirits in a Sure Shot can. Works pretty good. Brake clean sure got expensive.
Not many of you will remember the old Carbon Tet for carbs or other parts. Cleaned like no other. But it was a true killer.
The stuff that smelled like antiseptic, ate the skin off yer fingers and came in a 3 gallon pale. I miss that evil concoction. We'd put parts in the basket and dip 'em for a day, wow, what a difference. Then came "hogwash" Any of you work with that? Caustic carb cleaner in an aerosol spray, good stuff.
It was hell on liver & kidneys.
I used carbon tet to clean the grease out of 10 electric motors. The solution was to change bearings to sealed and remove the zerks from the motor. The operators gave the motors 5 shots of grease each week whether they ran or note. The stators were packed solid. That was the end of the pail at our facility and it was replaced with something else.
Carbon tet was just being phased out when I got started. But, I remember using it. Along with plenty of MEK. I remember using buckets of stoddard solvent and air sprayers. Until one day, the safety guy took our solvent sprayers. I knew that era was over. Hexane mixed 50/50 with isopropyl works pretty good as a fast evaporating solvent, if available in your area.
The stuff we subject ourselves to, to get a job done, SMH. It's a miracle any of us are still kicking, let alone spawned any offspring.
I sure don't like subjecting myself to clouds of cleaner in enclosed spaces.
So true.
Then there was hot tank--Oakite, throw in a piece of aluminum and watch it froth.
I think the year was 1998, the last time I worked in a facility with a hot caustic tank.
We picked up a sample of some new brake clean that was not acetone based. Rep said many other shops are happy with it. More useless than soapy water IMO.
Probably won't even kill bees/wasps/yellowjackets, etc.
Its a joke is what it is. Push this enviro junk on the problem countries.
I hear ya brother. I agree. As a matter of fact, I’m going to put a five gallon bucket of stoddard in my service truck and stick a suction sprayer in the top. I’m going to spray that **** likes it was 1999.
Just a fact if it doesn't require full ventilation, because it will smoke your lungs or sting your hands----it probably isn't going to work real well. Takes bad to clean bad.
LMAO! I carried a 5 gal bucket with about 2 gallon of stoddard on my service truck to use as a parts washing bucket with a parts brush, but never thought about "spray that **** like it was 1999"! Love it!
Ah . . . 1999 . . .
The new brake clean sucks,takes 3 cans to clean areas
Dad and I where brushing epoxy of some sort one night in the shop that we thinned MEK (fairly sure that's what we used) I remember us giggling and finally figured up we needed some 02.
Along with Tet brake cleaner, MEK is still available in my area. Although you won't find MEK in the big box stores, have to go to the professional paint stores to get it.
Methyl Ethyl Ketone is bad stuff. I remember when my ship (a submarine tender) went through a yard period at Newport News in 1965. They had cleaned, dried and sandblasted the potable water tanks, and then one night they cleared everyone off the ship and sprayed some epoxy type coating in them, using MEK as a solvent. I think they kept us off the ship until the next night until the air sampling folks were satisfied that re-entry on board was safe. The smoking lamp was definitely out for a big radius around the ship.
You guys that keep harping on the new brake cleaner need to go back 50 yrs when we had no brake cleaner in a nice little spray can. Times change. Get over it. Ya, I’m cranky this morning
Just oil for the harness leather, back in the day . . .
Or a bucket of gas to wash parts in
I've done that enough times.
Varsol will be my go to.
Yeah! A more simple time, when we used leaded gasoline or Jet A to clean everything.
Dad talks about that stuff back in the day at the power plants is it even still around
I think so, we have two parts wash tanks with that in them. Or something similar. Thing that gets me is just how exactly are we going to adapt? If I have to pull a bunch of hoses off a valve body or split apart components how is a guy supposed to get all the crap off to avoid contamination? A pressure washer isn't always available and even if it is, it isn't really feasible to pressure wash units in a shop bay every time you pull off a component. Its just going to make a mess. This acetone based stuff sounds nasty too. Apparently it eats nitrile, probably eats up paint as well.
For sure. Especially today, with the need for perfect contamination control. Not having the resources will require more labor hours, longer turnaround, more expense and make QC drop.
This discussion brings back a memory. I worked a season at a Klukwan Forest Products logging camp in the 90’s. There was a 20’ conex completely filled with starting fluid that we used for cleaning. Grab a case whenever we left camp to fix something. The sort yard crew went through much of it entertaining themselves by tossing cans and cases into the perpetually burning stump pit.
Back before WIMIS, I worked with a coating that used MEK for a cleaning solvent. We had the wrong rubber/nitrol gloves and didn’t know better. The gloves would blow up and rip with regularity. Being young and stupid, I would just power through if the task was almost done. That **** was bad for me. I remember laying on the bed vibrating one night. I learned to payed more attention to the PPE after that.
I've been using starting fluid as a cleaner for years both in shop and in the field. Change a failed hose on a valve body, stick a rag under it and hose it down with starting fluid. It was away oil very well and evaporates very quickly. I wear nitrile gloves when working on oily/greasy stuff. Starting fluid works very well for a quick spray and wipe with a rag to get oil and grease off of your gloves. Motor Medic Thrust starting fluid is my favorite.
Starting fluid is great, strips oil better than acetone and pretty much non toxic and does not damage paint and plastic very much. However it has some drawbacks as well. First, it is way more likely to ignite because its flammable range is something like 1%-50% in air, where acetone, gasoline and the like are like 2-10% flammable range. That is why it is good for starting stuff, besides the compression ignition aspect. Second, its evaporation temp is very low, it acts a lot like liquid propane only not as cold, lots of times I hose some part off with starting fluid and it is now clean but also very cold, it will form a lot of ice or dew depending on temp and since the oils are now gone, flash rust very quickly. Bottom line is, everything stinks and "they" are always trying to take our tools away
You are 100% correct. All these things we're discussing requires knowledge of how to properly use them. All of the things we have discussed here have a very low tolerance for idiots or stupidity and will rapidly render appropriate reward, the sting, when not used properly.
Boiled livers & kidneys.