[Shop-talk] Parts solvent

[bjshov8 at tx.rr.com]

There might be some risk but not a lot.  Most large parts washers have a lid that will close in case of fire to help put the fire out.

The first one of these that I ever saw was I believe a Safety Clean (sp?) many years ago.  Their cleaning fluid was not nearly as good as what we were used to using but was less flammable.  In fact maybe the O.P. can buy the fluid that they use and put it in his washer.

When I started working in my dad's garage many years ago we used naptha (napthalene) in our washer.  We had a couple of steel tubs, basically the bottom 8" of a small steel barrel, setting on our workbenches.  We would fill them with fresh naptha and we had a round plywood disk that would set on top of the tub to control evaporation and fire danger.  In 6 years I never remember a fire but my dad said that they had set them on fire a few times with welding sparks and such.  They would just set the plywood disk on top of the tub and that would put it out.  That stuff was very good at cleaning parts.  We were in oil country so it was easy to get as much of that stuff as we wanted.


> Aren't mineral spirits flammable? I know they are said to be less flammable than turpentine, but do they pose a fire risk in a parts washer in a sunny, hot garage with no a/c? Am I being too cautious?