I brought back my father's 20 gallon last week. It's... absolutely filthy. There's still a little residual in it, but I want to completely clean it out and start fresh.

I know the obvious answer is mineral spirits. However, I have a bad liver that I'd like to get as many years out of as I can, so I'm ruling that out. I also see recommendations of using kerosene and diesel with ATF mixed in, but again, I'd prefer to avoid using flammable stuff. To boot, this parts washer will live in a garage that catches direct sun from morning until noon, and it gets oven-hot in there in the summer months. It will also be by the garage door, so, the warmest part of it. Not a fan of vapors and fumes and all that just building up in the heat. Not sure if it's a valid concern or not, but it seems logical.

I've seen mention of using Simple Green instead, and they make an aircraft grade version, too. Non-toxic, supposedly works pretty well. Zep and a few others make some degreasers as well, but can get spendy.

My purposes are mainly cleaning tools and the odd car part now that I have nearly everything I need to start performing some of my own maintenance. I want it to help scrub off motor oil and grime.

Used this stuff in the past, relatively cheap:

https://www.tractorsupply.com/...l-3893915?store=1644

Check out a product called Blue Gold Degreaser. I have used it for many years and it is friendly to humans.
https://www.bluegoldcleaners.com/

quote:

Originally posted by stoic-one:
Used this stuff in the past, relatively cheap:...

I use that. It's mineral spirits.
95-100% Aliphatic naphtha.

No good for the OP.

Based on your requirements, I'd go with Simple Green. You can experiment with the dilution rate.

No parts washer, but I use Simple Green for a lot of cleaning chores. I think that it eats up Aluminum, some caution in that area may be warranted. Purple Power is also good stuff and about half the price of SG.

Thanks for the suggestions! Might go with Simple Green, Zep, or Purple Power. Still looking into this.

We used to use Tide to scrub engine blocks. I did that with aluminum motorcycle cases too.

ZEP

I've used this for years with great success.

On a side note, you can't use regular Simple Green with aluminum parts. You can however use Simple Green pro, which is purple.

ETA: I saw your other post about the ultra sonic cleaner and several people made mention of Simple Green and aluminum.