Parts washer

[New Englander]

Yesterday was Portsmouth's hazardous waste day. The surrounding towns all get to  use it. I decided to clean out my parts washer. It's a HF or similar I've had for decades. The pump died in infancy and I've been using it as just a big bucket of red kerosene. It had almost two inches of sludge in the bottom and a lot of nuts, bolts and washers. Looking for a replacement pump on line I came upon a YT video of a guy who modified his with an external sump, filter and pump getting rid of the shelf. I like it. I was thinking of running the drain through a spin-on hydraulic filter on the way to the sump. They're a low pressure filter for the return line and might pass the return OK but I don't know.

Thoughts?

[Cattech]

Most filters require a little pressure to push the fluid through the element, simple gravity feed you'll probably pump the wash tank full and the sump empty.

I rigged my parts washer with a double sump arrangement. The wash drain fed into a settling bucket that held about 2.5 gallons. I made a jumper line from that one into the "clean" sump where I housed the original cheapy pump. The pump pushed the fluid through a 2 micron fuel filter on the way back up to the spigot. It worked quite well, most of the grime and solids settled as a sludge in the first bucket and I seldom had to replace the filter after the pump. I would send a picture, but my pump also gave up a few years ago. I don't do nearly as much mechanical work as I used to and have never taken the time to revamp with a better pump, the buckets went in the trash and the parts washer has been sitting outside empty for a couple years.

The industrial parts washers we have at work are the type with the wash tank on top of the barrel sump. The pump in those units actually hang from a chain a few inches from the bottom. The drain in those have a nice screen you can pull up from the top. I was always thinking I could somehow make something like that on mine.

The washers at work are really fancy. Each one has a "Still Clean" unit. Basically, it pumps the cleaning spirits out of the sump, boils and re-condenses the spirits. It has a drain on the accumulator where all the oils and impurities can be drained off. 

 

 

[wild one]

My parts washer is an old 35 gallon barrel cut in half length ways with four legs and a bottom shelf. On the bottom shelf sits a five gallon bucket with a at one time popular replacement parts washer pump mounted to the bucket and a plastic hose going to a remote oil filter bracket, with some cheap PH8A car filters,mounted to the legs. From the filter a hose to some fittings mounted to the old barrel and a flow thru parts washer brush. Have a drain in bottom of the barrel that sticks up a bit so the worst stays in the bottom of the barrel and some plastic pipe and hose from the drain that goes thru lid on bucket and back to pump. Not safety approved and was a quick fix at the time but still works pretty well.

[New Englander]

I was wondering if gravity alone would push through a filter and it probably won't. I have a bunch of FL1 or PH8A filters that came with a chipper. They're no-name or just old so I won't use them on an actual engine but I like the idea of using them for a parts washer. Maybe a plastic sump with a remote filter adapter in the pressure line and a submersible pump. FIL has an old Safety-Clean type that works well. We had one in the aircraft shop and they changed the solvent often but airplane parts are never really too dirty so it seemed a waste. Old FAA mechanic books recommended washing in AVgas, newer publications removed that.

[460]

Dad has a parts washer that they were throwing out at work, it had a squeaky bearing on the ac motor that just needed some oil to quiet it down, got it around 1999 or 2000 and had to oil again recently.  Anyway it had a canister with a screen.  A large furnace fuel oil filter fits in the canister very well, so we use that.

[Diesel Doctor]

The settling area uses gravity to your advantage. 

This is the best first stage and you can clean out once in awhile with a putty knife. 

After that, it is what you have on hand, what you can afford and what you want. 

[oleman]

I use the CARTER electric fuel pump from an 88 Ford F350 460 motor, it does not have a high volume but will exceed 120 PSI into a dead head, I use it to clean the fuel  tank for the diesel tractor. The tractor tank is the sump and the fuel tank. A tall fuel filter and a couple of valves and gauges is all it amounts too.  Being 12 VDC operated, no mains power is required.  Best attribute is very little cost  outside the surplus parts shelf.   NO fuel is filtered through the normal tractor filtering system, with the correct fuel filter it will remove water or other contaminates.  I am mostly attempting to keep  the fuel tank rust from forming on a 464 D179  tractor. 

 

 

 

[New Englander]

On 5/10/2026 at 9:09 AM, Cattech said:

rigged my parts washer with a double sump arrangement. The wash drain fed into a settling bucket that held about 2.5 gallons. I made a jumper line from that one into the "clean" sump where I housed the original cheapy pump. The pump pushed the fluid through a 2 micron fuel filter on the way back up to the spigot. It worked quite well, most of the grime and solids settled as a sludge in the first bucket and I seldom had to replace the filter after the pump

I like that idea if I understand it correctly. So the washer drains into the first bucket and I assume it drains into the second from a level high enough to allow most of the dirt to settle out. Is that correct? 
Then a submersible pump in the second supplies solvent back up though the filter?

[Cattech]

14 hours ago, New Englander said:

I like that idea if I understand it correctly. So the washer drains into the first bucket and I assume it drains into the second from a level high enough to allow most of the dirt to settle out. Is that correct? 
Then a submersible pump in the second supplies solvent back up though the filter?

Correct, I had bulkhead fittings/nipples about 6-8" from the bottom of 5 gallon pails with a short hose between them. Dirty fluid from the drain into first one to settle out, pump from the 2nd bucket.

If I set it up again, I will use much smaller containers so I only need a gallon or two. This setup took a good 5 gallons to flow continuously.