Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Cleaning oil lubesters

What is the best way (besides steam cleaning) to remove the oil residue from oil lubesters? Dawn soap? My sand blasting folks do not want any oil left on them.

Power washer and some automotive grade degreaser

If there is oil left in the lubester start with a bag of cheap cat litter. Let it sit in the lubester and soak up the oil. Empty the lubester and then using a garden hose you can use something like Purple Power or other cleaner to either power wash or mechanically scrub with a decent brush. Repeat if necessary. At that point the lubester should be clean enough for most sandblast operations to tackle the lubester.

Drain as much of the oil as you can. Then rinse it out with diesel fuel as that will dilute and break down the oil. (Gasoline would work better but it is much more volatile and flammable. Diesel fuel is much safer.) After that you can proceed with the above mentioned processes.

On my texaco double lubester i cleaned it out then painted it with por15 i think or por35 can get it at a parts store. Brush on and looks great.

Thank you all for your helpful tips.

Have it tank dipped, thats the only way not to have oil seeping out of the seams in the future.
Drill a two inch hole in the bottom for drainage when its dipped.
Cost is verry little and it work great, then just paint