Bio degradable degreaser

ives.
ives. Posts: 62
edited May 2010 in Road buying advice
Hi,

What bio degeaser do people here prefer?
Up till now I've used White Spirit to degrease chains and stuff, but I'd like to get something a little more environmentally friendly.
Any suggestions?

thanks
ives

Comments

  • moonshine
    moonshine Posts: 1,022
    do finish line still do a citrus degreaser?

    ah here it is...
    http://www.finishlineusa.com/products/citrus-cleaner.htm
    or
    http://www.finishlineusa.com/products/degreaser.htm
  • lewishamilton
    lewishamilton Posts: 138
    Halfords stock 'Gunk' (the green one is the bio-friendly one.

    Its pretty decent
  • balthazar
    balthazar Posts: 1,565
    ives. wrote:
    Hi,

    What bio degeaser do people here prefer?
    Up till now I've used White Spirit to degrease chains and stuff, but I'd like to get something a little more environmentally friendly.
    Any suggestions?

    thanks
    ives

    Another good reason to take chains off to clean them, is that you can re-use the same nasty solvents endlessly. I have a few jars of white spirit that are years old; the sediment settles out, and I pour off the spirit into another jar, in which I rattle the dirty chain. The old jar gets scraped out and the cycle continues. Every now and again I add a bit of fresh spirit, but nothing toxic ever soaks into the ground or runs into the drain.

    I have and use citrus degreaser, but as minimally as I can, because I'm not convinced that any substance which breaks down oils so aggressively (surfactants?) can be considered environmentally friendly.
  • winterdancer
    winterdancer Posts: 42
    I've been using this stuff for the past few years, having found the Finish Line citrus degreaser great, but €€€. This will do you for months!

    http://www.mistral.ie/details.php?code=R1536

    I use this neat in a chain cleaner, it gets the chain spotless, and then dilute for washing the rest of the bike. I guess that unless you use biodegradable lube on the chain too you are still putting petrochemicals down the drain, but this stuff at least is kinder to your hands and everything. It also does a great job on grimy kitchen surfaces (rental house... need I say more?)
  • antikythera
    antikythera Posts: 326
    moonshine wrote:
    do finish line still do a citrus degreaser?

    ah here it is...
    http://www.finishlineusa.com/products/citrus-cleaner.htm
    or
    http://www.finishlineusa.com/products/degreaser.htm

    Have used citrus cleaner for years and it works *really* well. For those that have used the Finishline version you may have noticed that the bottle is now significantly smaller and they've increased the price.

    It was such an obvious rip-off that went looking for another source. I've just bought a 5Litre container for ~ £16.00 (incl shipping, thats only £4 more!) and it works better than finishline (not sure why), but I'm not complaining.
  • crankycrank
    crankycrank Posts: 1,830
    balthazar wrote:
    Another good reason to take chains off to clean them, is that you can re-use the same nasty solvents endlessly. I have a few jars of white spirit that are years old; the sediment settles out, and I pour off the spirit into another jar, in which I rattle the dirty chain. The old jar gets scraped out and the cycle continues. Every now and again I add a bit of fresh spirit, but nothing toxic ever soaks into the ground or runs into the drain.
    I have and use citrus degreaser, but as minimally as I can, because I'm not convinced that any substance which breaks down oils so aggressively (surfactants?) can be considered environmentally friendly.
    I'm with balthazar here. All the gunk eventually settles to the bottom of the container of used white spirit which can be drained off and as mentioned, disposed of as solid waste with nothing going down the drain or into the ground. One liter/quart lasts forever.

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