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Metal cleaning-degreasing

Metal cleaning/stripping.

Cleaning a large piece of steel that is caked with grease maybe 3 inches thick. There must be some chemical that will instantly dissolve grease on contact and not be toxic. Thought about muriatic acid, but fumes to overwhelming. Must be a no fume acid out there?

Tony Underwood
Napa - Newark, Ohio
 

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Hi Tony,

You have a three-inch-thick layer of grease and you want something that will work instantly? I think you're asking for too much.

The acid approach will not work well. You should try a solvent-based cleaner or some other type of cleaner with a detergent system for cutting grease. In order to get all of the soil removed, my guess is that you will either have to submerse the part in an appropriate cleaning bath for a relatively long time, or apply some kind of mechanical action to dislodge the grease. Or, very likely, you will have to do both.

Good luck!

George Gorecki
- Naperville, Illinois