hey all,
i saw my neighbor giving away an old dishwasher and i had a great idea: build a parts washer!

as of now, ive spent 0 dollars. i just drilled a hole in the bottom of a 5 gal bucket, stuck a pipe through it, and hooked it up to the fill line of the dishwasher. its super simple! i just fill up the bucket with water+purple power, and start the dishwasher! i made it so it doesnt drain, ut just continues to use the fluid in it until i drain it out manually and it will refill automatically from the 5 gal bucket!

ive spent 0$ and got a parts washer!

hope yall enjoy this!

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That is sick! Thanks for posting!

I will have to try this when I get more space...

Does the dishwasher have a heating element in it? You might want to make sure that it doesn't, and, if it does, disconnect it...

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

How'd you disable the drain feature? Could this be adapted to your kitchen dishwasher while the wife is at work?

__________________
1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

Voted most likely to get divorced next: kerry

well... im 16 so not quite married yet, but i have used the house dishwasher while my dad was away and it worked beautifully. just plain dishwashing soap and its great!

anyway, as for this project. it does have a heating element and i was wary of it, but i figure the puple power to water ratio that i have (maybe 30:1 water to purple p) wont be too risky to ignite.

so far im happy with the results, considering its a very old dishwasher.

I would be more concerned about what you're washing -- you wouldn't want gasoline or diesel, even if diluted, ending up on the heating element.

If you want to make this setup permanent, you could look for free dishwashers on CL. I see three in our area right now.

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Ahh gotcha. I'll keep that in mind, didn't think of that. Because it's an old dishwasher I've gotta clean off the big chunks first, but I'll eventually upgrade to a good powerful dishwasher.

Ohh re-reading your first post I see that this is a free dishwasher, sorry about that. Again, thanks for the post! Really cool way to save a bunch of $$$.

__________________
"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Used one for cleaning brake/clutch/transmission parts for years at my former shop. Never used it on anything which could be considered flammable though. Cascade dish washing powder worked great for de-greasing the nasty stuff such as diff lube, bearing grease, etc.

Disposal of the accumulated nasty grime became problematic.

__________________
“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.”
― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now

Be careful of using Purple Power or other strongly alkaline cleaners on aluminum parts. Not a good combination.

__________________
62 220sb
67 250S
72 280SE 4.5
74 280C
77 300D
82 240D
85 190E 2.3
86 300E RIP 12/28/09
85 300SD
92 300D 2.5
00 E320 Current
Over 1,000,000 miles in Benzes, Since66

....and a whole passel of BMW 2002 and Tii

I have wondered about doing this. Search for tips, I'm sure others have made the easy mistakes already and shared their "DUH moments".

It might kill the machine pretty quick so keep your eyes out for a replacement.

Hot water might clean better but might be more volatile in other ways also.

Years ago I worked at the Hydraulic pump drive division of Marco Marine in Seattle. We had a parts washer that used some sort of thinner/kerosene solvent for use in cleaning components on units that had come in for service or repair. Great device, had a pump and a hand sprayer, and some sort of filtration in the bottom.

Haven't used the purple power, not sure how it compares.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

. Just pull one of the spade clips off the small discharge pump. You can usually reach the area by removing the front apron. Turn the water supply off to the unit and manually fill the bottom with your cleaner.

Make sure to post what the wife says after you have been caught. In fact a video recording could be spectacular.

Without going into much detail. Many years ago I accidentally sucked up some solvent with the wifes 800.00 newish vacuum cleaner. Looked like an afterburner on a jet engine as it melted the plastic trim. As a result I was restricted to opening the refrigerator door for a period of time.