I was thinking of buying (or making) a steam cleaner, instead of using engine degreaser. I have a number of vehicles (seven) that I work on and it makes sense to look at purchasing equipment. 1) What machine do you recommend? 2) Do you have any experience with commercial grade steam cleaners vs consumer grade? 3) Have you seen or created any good quality diy/homemade steam cleaners that worked well? Thank you for your input.
Are you talking about steam cleaners, or pressure washers?
Hotsy is about the only decent machine for Hot water pressure washing, durable but expensive
Yes, steam cleaners. It was new to me until recently; mechanics use them instead of engine degreasers. Apparently, steam cleaning has been around for a long time in heavy equipment. Here is a quote from my 1989 Cat manual: "Steam cleaning your engine is a good preventative maintenance practice because it provides you with a way to detect oil and coolant leaks.... Steam cleaning the engine as recommended will also improve the engine's heat transfer characteristics." I have seen a number of steam cleaners for engines on Amazon, but I suspect these are not as useful as what a shop mechanic would regularly use.
We have a unit from Power America (actually a Kärcher) that is temperature adjustable all the way to steam. Pressure to around 3000psi.It replaced an ancient Steam Jenny. We usually run around 190°F and 2000psi. Using a butyl based cleaning solution. The unit was not inexpensive and we did have to have a new coil made a few years ago but it has done a lot of work and worth the cost. Cleans way better than cold pressure washing. i would doubt you could DIY any sort of steam unit that would be safe for the cost to buy one complete.
Thank you! That gets me started.
Hotsy is what I have. It’s a 220 volt unit. At work we have a engine driven unit, forget the brand. If there’s a chance you’ll ever want to run remote off water tanks make sure it’ll suck from a tank and doesn’t rely on water pressure for feed. I seldom use the soap setup. You’ll want an assortment of nozzles, I have a nice gentle fan all the way to one I could write my name in concrete with. As far as degreaser I use simple green most of the time. I know there are a ton of products out there. I’ve even put diesel in a Hudson can in a pinch. Just something to soak and loosen up the crud. I don’t think you save yourself much trying to build something. I see low hour units for sale often. I only have a 50’ hose, a 100’ on a reel would be better. Also, a couple lengths of wands would be nice too.
And a FULL Rainsuit!!
Your going to end up with a hot water pressure washer seems true steam Jenny's are out of style
For 20 years on my small farm I half assed it with a 40 gallon water heater supplying a 4000 PSI gasoline washer with poor results. At the hand of someone else the motor locked up. I searched the options high and low. I wanted hot water to nearly steam. There are few manufacturers but many brands. I purchased a industrial Karcher with a Honda motor, electric start and Diesel burner. I also got a 36" driveway cleaner all for about 4K.That was some of the best money spent. All I can say is I should have done it years ago. There is no substitute for never ending pressure and heat.