Steam cleaning for head job. Machine suggestions? DIY/Homemade suggestions?

[Mat4644]

Here's your very own $37 - $120 steam cleaner

 

[Mat4644]

Neighbor who repairs equipment runs hot water into his pressure washer to wash down outside. Runs a feed with hot and cold valves to cool down a bit.

 

[fried1765]

Neighbor who repairs equipment runs hot water into his pressure washer to wash down outside. Runs a feed with hot and cold valves to cool down a bit.

Sorta helpful.....maybe.
Nothing like 200 degree water from a dedicated hot pressure washer though.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Some high pressure pumps already get too hot when water is bypassing too long. I think, usually, the pump goes before the heating coil in a hot high pressure washer.

 

[KennyG]

Here's your very own $37 - $120 steam cleaner

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Does anyone have first hand experience on how these work on greasy machinery?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Just my guess, that machinery has too much cold mass to make these effective. A fuel driven burner on a water coil makes a CRAZY amount of heat.

 

[fried1765]

Some high pressure pumps already get too hot when water is bypassing too long. I think, usually, the pump goes before the heating coil in a hot high pressure washer.

Could be true.....sorta makes sense.
That said: The goal is to do hot high water pressure cleaning.
When the pump fails....buy a new one.
Much cheaper than needing to buy a new coil.:grumpy:

 

[tomplum]

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.

So in the dealership (car) we would put heads in a hot water / steam cleaner cabinet that's purpose was to clean and not create excess waste that had to be dealt with. A hot water pressure washer seems to be what you describe rather than a hot tank though. You would very seldom blast water pressure to degrease an engine bay for similar environmental reasons but primarily that you don't want to blast your electronics with water. Which are everywhere. I've had the little handheld type ones depicted on Amazon and they are so underpowered for this type of work. Sometimes it's OK to say it's farm equipment and some dirty is OK.

 

[KennyG]

I just bought a Harbor Freight steam cleaner. I have some non-shop uses for it and a 15% off coupon, so for less than $100 I thought I would give it a try. Here are a couple of pictures of a transmission from a 1988 car that had never been out before. I tried spray on degreaser and it had little effect. The cleaned spots are the result of about 10 minutes work and 2 cups of distilled water.

 

[Industrial Toys]

FWIW, Many, many years ago, I bought a wand, (maybe 18" long) for compressed air that was labelled intended for engine cleaning. It would siphon up cleaner, but I see no reason with the appropriate tubing that you couldn't suck up hot water from an electric kettle. Maybe, the air would cool off the hot water, don't know.

Many people I know just take their dirty stuff to a do it yourslf wash bay. Leave the dirt and grease there. Maybe not very nice, but even if you had the equipment, there is something enticing about that.