[Closed] Cleaning a chain with petrol?

Do you live next door to a fire station?

given the price of petrol, it seems a very expensive way to do it. If you do, use a sealed container and fill it up with the petrol. The liquid is much less volatile than the vapours.

I've used petrol to clean my chains for years. It works a treat at getting all the cr@p off them.
Then I rinse in water, spray with GT85 and leave to dry.

Apply lub of your choice once fitted back on the bike 🙂

Forgot to say that I use a plastic container and lid from the local chinese takeaway. That way I can fill with petrol then leave the chain to soak with the lid in place 🙂

Petrol is a slightly daft material to use. It can ruin a lot of plastics, and will quickly eat through latex gloves.

Works fine, just take appropriate care when using it.

And as for the price, its actually cheaper than most dedicated 'chain degreasers' by volume 😉

cant be any worse than your last maintenance attempt...best not get up tp your usual garage hobby either 😯

yes it will be fine I have done this use a metal tub or a safe plastic one and just soak. As they say fumes are flammable so keep away from ignition sources etc if you use alid if it get hot it will pressurise..unlikely now but will occur in sumer
Dry it by throwing a lit match on it.... highly entertaining but incredibly dangerous...do this outside away from your vehicle and the petrol you just soaked your chain in!!!!!!!!
You do this at your own risk clearly it would be stupid but fun!

I used to do it when I always had a can lying around for a petrol mower. Worked fine, but no better or worse than just soaking in citrus degreaser.

HAve you tried white spirits. Similar stuff but without all the nasty additives that are put in to make the fuel burn well. Should be a good degreaser.

White spirt works just as well

Jam jar half full of petrol, pop the chain in, lid back on - now give it a good shake
Comes out sparkling in about 30 seconds

Al the sediment will settle so you can decant it into another jar & use again

scrub the worst off with washing up liquid in sink, rinse, pop into dishwasher with dishes, lube = sorted

what is this chain cleaning that you speak of?

petrol = too bloody dangerous now we have good bio degradable cleaners etc.

petrol = too bloody dangerous

I dunno, I hurtle around at silly speeds most weekends with a couple of gallons of the stuff between my legs

Paraffin is by far the best and safest thing to use for this. B&Q sell it in 4 litre packs.

Junkyard - Member
...yes it will be fine I have done this use a metal tub...

Yeah, and make sure you're wearing nothing but nylon when you open the tub. For extra safety, put your plastic-soled carpet slippers on and scuff them along the carpet before you start.

I've heard cillit bang grime and lime or degreaser is good.

I just use brake cleaner.

.....waits for post about oily residue being left behind.

If you're worried about using a bit of petrol, perhaps you best not go out
It'll take a bit more than the odd static spark off clothing to ignite it, how do you think petrol stations manage or people filling their lawnmowers etc?

I get a big spark off my hand every time I leave the car [even in petrol stations]

how we managed to discover half the world, I'll never know

Ox
Thank god I have survived the opening of all those jerry cans.
and given I suggested lighting it with a match at the end you just picked on that bit as dangerous 😯

LOL @ Junkyard/uplink

I'm not saying it isn't possible to clean chains this way. I'm saying it's stupid*. But if you think it's fine to be suggesting the use of petrol in metal containers to Joe Schmoe in their garage, it's no skin of my nose.

*[url= http://www.esdjournal.com/static/refuelfr.htm ]evidence[/url]

But if you think it's fine to be suggesting the use of petrol in metal containers

I actually have a 'proper' steel petrol can - as in designed to hold petrol

Like this
[img] [/img]

I also have a metal petrol tank in my car, & on all of my motorbikes

🙂

uplink - Member

But if you think it's fine to be suggesting the use of petrol in metal containers

I actually have a 'proper' steel petrol can - as in designed to hold petrol

I also have a metal petrol tank in my car, & on all of my motorbikes

Simple fact is, petrol is dangerous. It may be fine 99 times out of 100 for washing a bike chain, but the one time it [i]does[/i] go tits up, it will cause a hell of a mess. Use a proper, [i]safe[/i] chain cleaner.

🙂

Ox - either you are more experienced at handling vast quantities of fuel than I am, which is possible, or you are a bit of a keyboard warrior yourself. A jar of petrol in a well-ventilated place is no problem for most upright-walking humans with a modicum of common sense.

Keyboard warrior, maybe, but I'm VERY bored at work and this beats anything else I could be doing. Anyway, I work on an oil rig, so that's probably a yes on your first point. And part of the training I received, me being involved with collecting and analysing samples of oil and other flammable liquids and gases, involved seeing pictures of the aftermath of static-charge-induced fuel fires, some with very small (<500 mL) quantities of fuel. It's generally not very pretty, but then they do like graphic illustrations in the oil industry. All the people involved had 'common sense' or they wouldn't have obtained a job in the industry in the first place. It's just that sometimes, people switch off. As I said before, use petrol by all means. It's no skin off my nose.

I use diesel. Does a pretty good job without the flamability of petrol.

Complete with anti-static & anti-vapour release mechanisms, I presume?

no

So your petrol tanks aren't earthed? Hmmm.

And anti-vapour release? My bad. That would be silly. But the vapour certainly won't be vented past anywhere there could be a spark potential, will it?

Yes but it will also be attached to a large metal box that heats up in the sun so a jar in dark unlit garage is hardly likely to produce much vapour or erupt into flames as a human opens it ...whilst it is possible so are many things in life. It is not dangerous in the same way MTB is not dangerous. Eveything has inherent risks you seem to be acting like we have suggested he does it a sealed room lit with only candles pi55ed up.
How many people fill up generators/chainsaws /cars outboard engines etc without blowing themselves up from a static spark what do you think the risk is per million?
ps GT65 and wd 40 are both highly flammable and expelled as a near atomised spray...I hope to god they are not in his garagea and he does not risk it with these either..... not least because he owes me money 😉
PPS the static is quite likely to be in the tank due to the friction of the moving liquid [hence earthing]again it is difficult to see how a static tub can achieve this charged state or have enough vapours. In your clip the vapours come from the fuel supply pump I assume. I agree it would be fool hardy to try it in a petrol station even in rubber wellies

So your petrol tanks aren't earthed? Hmmm.

Fairly sure that at least one of the tanks [BSA Gold Flash] is rubber mounted - there's certainly no earth strap or any fixing that you could say was a safe earth

Point taken guys. I know 99% of the public can and do use petrol for uses other than in their vehicles without incident. I've done it myself. I was being argumentative for the sake of illustrating a point.

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