Water to clean bearings, really? Well yes, some people do opt for water to clean their bearings. But won’t that just rust them? If you are careful and work with it appropriately, water should not have any immediate adverse affects on your skate bearings.
General comments on water for bearing cleaning
The Good
- Reasonably safe if you handle it appropriately.
- Environmentally friendly
- Cheap
The Bad
- Water will promote corrosion and rust in your bearings if used inappropriately. Do not leave your bearings in water for extended periods
- Safety concerns are a factor when using water to clean your bearings since you need to boil and bake them. The water, your bearings and the equipment you use for this will be hot with the potential to severely burn you.
Safety
In using water to clean you are going to be working with heat sources, hot equipment, boiling water and hot bearings. These all have the potential to cause major burns to humans and animals. Be very careful handling bearings, equipment and hot water.
Also consider that the whatever is cleaned out of you bearings could be hazardous to humans. Do not use cookware that will also be used for food. Use pots/pans/trays that will never be used for food preparation.
Ideally you should also use equipment (stove/oven) that is not going to be used for food prep either. Having a workshop toaster oven and portable electric stove is a good option for this. Please also consider the fire hazard this could cause if you do have one in your workshop. If you opt for a camping or portable gas stove you must use it outdoors only.
Using Water To Clean Your Skate Bearings
Here are some typical steps for cleaning your bearings using water:
- Turn on your oven to about 120 degrees Celsius/250 degrees Fahrenheit to pre-heat.
- Add water to your dedicated bearing cleaning pot/saucepan. About 1/3 to 1/2 full in a small saucepan/pot should do.
- Place your bearings in the water and immediately apply heat from a stove using a high setting to bring the water to a vigorous boil.
- Boil for about 2 to 3 minutes and stir once or twice with a suitable tool to make sure all the bearings have been exposed to the bubbles from the boiling water. Remember the water, bearings, saucepan/pot and stirring implement will be extremely hot so do not place your hands too close to anything as you could sustain serious injury.
- Drain the water from the bearings into an appropriate receptacle such as another saucepan/pot to cool. Again your are working with hot items so take appropriate safety measures.
- Transfer the bearings to a wire rack. If you have one shield on have the open side of the bearings facing up. It will also help if you support the wire rack on a baking tray or cookie sheet. Also remember that the bearings will be hot so use an appropriate tool and thermal protection for yourself when doing this.
- Place the bearing and wire rack (on the baking tray/cookie sheet if you used one) into the oven and bake for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
- Carefully remove the bearings and wire rack/tray from the oven and leave to cool for about an hour. Again, your are working with hot bearings and equipment so use appropriate thermal protection such as an oven mitt.
- Once you are satisfied they are dry and are cool enough to handle, add your choice of lubricant in an appropriate amount and put back in your wheels (don’t forget your spacers if you have them).
- Once the water you used has cooled, discard of it appropriately.