I haven't tried it, and I hate to knock things I haven't tried, but unless
my envelope has slipped a digit, it may not be practical. Assuming your
solvent weighs about 7 lb/gallon, your parts washer flows about 1 gpm, and
the specific heat of the solvent is about 1 calorie/gram/degree C (same as
water, actual value is probably slightly lower), I get 200 watts required to
raise the flow by 1 degree C. So, to go from 50F to 68F (which would still
feel cold), you would need 2kW of heater.
The HF 20 gallon parts washer says it flows 50 gph. So for the same heat
input (and a full 20 gallons of solvent), it's only going to take 25 minutes
or so to warm the whole tank up. I think I'd go for less solvent in the
tank (I only use 5 gal or so at a time), and maybe a timer that turns the
tank heater on before I want to use it. It usually takes me a while to get
the part off, anyway <g>
Randall
>
> While we're on the topic of parts washers, I was wondering, has anyone
> tried to do anything to warm the solution? I would imagine it
> would work a
> little better, but more importantly perhaps, it would be more pleasant to
> work with. I was thinking perhaps one could warm the fluid as it goes
> through the pumping system.
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