Round 1; Ultrasonic Cleaner Showdown; Cheap vs Expensive Alternative Solvents / Solutions!

I use cascade platinum pods in my diy hot washer cabinet. About 12 pods per the 45 gallons it holds seems to be plenty @ 90c. They work great completely stripping all grease and oil, but doesn't cut the carbon like i want. (I'll be buying an ultrasonic soon to help with this) It will turn any aluminum a dull grey color especially machined surfaces, andneed to make sure to pull the parts out immediately after it's done or it will leave some nasty mineral deposits that can only be removed mechanically. Nice thing with the heat is the parts evaporate off in seconds when removed so no need for blow drying. There's a video on my channel if you care to check it out my contraption.

Have you tried evaporust in the ultra sonic

I use the dawn platinum concentrated liquid. It's meant to refill the foaming dispensers, but a cap full of that cut with water in my little 2.5L harbor freight sonic cleaner works a treat for cleaning BCGs.

Worth noting that fumes from some of these cleaners are likely considered acutely toxic. Definitely check the material safety sheets before using them without proper PPE. I was using Purple Power in my heated parts washer, but it gave me a sore throat, and then I looked it up and I was breathing toxic fumes! My favorite cleaner and degreaser is Oil Eater! I have found it works fantastic for pretty much everything, it is water-based, non-toxic, non-corrosive, and smells kind of like sugar cookies. Works well diluted or full strength. Definitely hope you will try it if you do more testing. I have also found super clean to be pretty effective, but also that it discolors aluminum as you saw.

Probably most effective but most expensive would be Chem-dip carburetor cleaner. Soaking a piston in the stuff cleans it pretty well. The ultrasonic should speed up the process.

Dishwasher detergent is know for discoloring aluminum and many of the cleaners you can buy off the shelf state on the label whether they discolor aluminum.

I'd suggest doing a PH strip on them if possible or just checking the SDS, it's likely that they are alkaline rather than acidic.

Aluminium, lead and chromium are amphoteric meaning that both acids and bases will react with them, which is likely why you saw differences in the rates that discoloration occured between them.

My main concern would be breathing the fumes and how to dispose of the ckeaning solution. Things like dish cleaning products make sense in borh cases.

I cannot thank you enough for not including the ultrasonic noise in the video like everyone else. It’s absolutely chaotic

I have taken hot coffee or iced tea to work in stainless growlers for years. Even with an evening rinse over time they stain. Long ago I discovered that a Cascade pod dropped into the growler full of hot water and left overnight would leave the stainless looking brand new. I didn't make the connection until I saw this vid. Saves me big bucks.

Should have included Evaporust ...

A cheaper way for smaller parts to use less solution is you can put them in a ziplock bag filled with solution or a jar and just put water in the ultrasonic cleaner

Super informative. Appreciate you putting this together.

I have not tried it in mine but I watched a guy put rusty screws & bolts in a ziplock bag with blasting media. Might be worth a try. Vinegar works on rusty stuff too.

Surprised you didn't try CLR ... Works great on rust ... Not sure about dirt and grime. Also, Harbor Freight sells a relatively cheap degreaser that works way better diluted than straight ... Not sure what that's about, but I'd like to see how it would do in an Ultrasonic cleaner.

could you use a deluded mix of muriatic acid and water without harming the basket or tank

I seen one guy use gasoline in a jar without turning on the heating function and it seemed to work better than anything else I've seen.

I use an ultrasonic cleaner for my vinyl records. I thought that's what this was about -LOL. I thought you'd lost your freaking mind during the first minute.

aceton is good...?

That Cascade was surprisingly great!! Thank you

never needed more than dish soap and water

What about using acetone in a ultrasonic cleaner?

i use dishwasher liquid and cirtic acid powder. Dishwasher liquid makes the clean more gentle to the parts cleaned and increases effectiveness of the citric acid.

H7 is the bomb

Is the cascade pods aluminum safe?

Which one would you recommend for carburators? Im looking for something that wont harm aluminum

Clr

I suspect the aluminum coloration is caused by alkaline rather than acid and may be aluminum oxide. You can get test strips at chemical supply places or online that turn colors depending on the ph it is dipped in. Very informative session. Sodium hydroxide (lye) can be used as a cleaner but is a dangerous chemical and must be treated as such and must be thinned a great amount. The power of the chemicals shone is evident and gloves and goggles may be wise. I just bought a small cleaner to clean watch parts and this info is very useful! Thanks..

Awesome video Sir, question what the best Ultrasonic unit you have and part number thks again ,

A tip for anyone interested in using the Zep 505:

Zep 505 is simply their Industrial Purple Degreaser diluted 5:1 with water. This was informed to us at work by a Zep representative when we asked about purchasing 505 by the drum.

“Awesome” does a wonderful job. Probably can grab it from the dollar store

I wanna try dumping a cascade dishwasher pod in mine now so bad :O
have you tired simple green pro HD?

powdered dishwasher detergent must be even better! and cheaper

Is it better than a pot over fire?

Can you try do a cleaning using plain Distilled water?

What about Oil Eater?

I didn't notice anyone else mention it in my brief scrolling through the comments....Cascade pods have dawn in them. Both made by the same company

dawn is a great de-greaser

The "discoloration" might be passivation on the surface. What you might be scratching is the thin oxide layer while in the solution.

Formula 88 is 8 bucks at lowes.

Awesome orange or green cleaner degreaser is $1.50 at dollar tree or dollar general and I’d almost guarantee it will work good because it works well on its own soaking things.

The best in the industry is Branson IS.

Berryman's stinks to high Heaven, but works awesome! It would be nice to have less stinky options!

Omega Clean is the best and it's $49 per gallon of 10 to 1 concentrate.

Super Clean is alkaline based. I use Purple Power which is less expensive and is very similar to Super Clean. If you have a coffeen cup or parts of your coffee pot that have turned brown and can be removed, cleaning with one of these will almost instantly remove most of the brown stain unless it is set deep into the plastic. It works faster than any dish soap, vinegar, etc but I do not use it through the hot water system, only removable parts. I have seen people try to clean a glass coffee pot with salt, ice, and possibly vinegar and swirl it around and not do very well. The alkaline cleaners will remove it almost instantly. Rinse well. Be careful around painted surfaces if you drip the cleaner and leave it alone. Some paints come off rather quickly.

I guess parts cleaners are passe

I would like to see the Pistons without the rings installed and see if it cleaned the grooves

You're supposed to mix/dilute each of them per manufactures recommendations to get a more accurate/true baseline

What if u used half a bottle of dawn because you only used 1 cup.

drain cleaner crystals work awesome for dpf filters.