I have a Clarke degreasing tank and use a commercial degreaser that is non-solvent. The chemist at work used to say it is strong washing up liquid but it is certainly strong even well diluted; It has stripped all the paint in the tank up to the liquid level.

Brian

For stuff you can get in a bath I use caustic soda. It doesn't dilute the oil/grease like solvents, it converts it to something that washes away. Be careful though, as it's name suggests, it doesn't do skin/clothes a lot of good, Marigolds are OK to protect your hands. You can pour it down the drain to get rid when you've finished, and it's as cheap as chips. Don't use it on non ferrous, especially aluminium.

Edited By duncan webster on 22/04/2017 12:52:30

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[ … like body parts ? ]

It’s very much a question of how clean you really need it to be.

Immersion in an agitated bath of either Hot Caustic or Chlorinated Solvents (Perchloroethylene AKA Perkalone) are the only two methods of degreasing parts totally in one step.

Both have serious health hazards (burns and carcinogenicity respectively), so are sparingly used by industry, often when all other options fail to deliver sufficient levels of cleanliness.

A petroleum solvent (White Spirits, Petrol, Diesel, etc.) or brushing on a strong detergent leaving it to stand and flushing off with hot running water (Traffic Film Remover, Commercial Aqueous Degreasers or my favourite a 4:1 mix of fairy liquid and water are all good candidates here) will remove gross contamination with oils effectively enough for almost all normal requirements.

For very high levels of cleanliness, you can remove the residues of a petroleum solvent or detergent by leaving the part until dry, then wiping thoroughly with clean rags soaked in a more volatile solvent (Acetone, Ethyl Acetate, Methanol and Diethyl Ether are all effective), other than specialist coatings, I can’t think of something which would make this necessary.