I did this with a Rubbermaid tub, about 30" long by 18" wide and 16" tall
with a snap on lid. Bought a $10 submersible pond pump from HarborFreight
and put a couple of feet of pvc hose on the outlet, dropped the pump in and
filled the tub halfway with water and a lot of powdered dishwasher detergent
(figured it would be good at degreasing), and cleaned some engine parts.
The pump did a good job of rinsing off loose stuff but the soap didn't do
too well at dissolving grease. For an oil pan I soaked it overnight with
the pump running for circulation, and it cleaned it up pretty well with lots
of scrubbing with a brush. Dumped that and made a fairly strong orange ZEP
solution (should be pretty similar to simple green) and cleaned some more
parts, did a little better but still not nearly as fast as using a regular
parts washer with organic solvents. Unless your lid seals a lot better than
mine you will gradually lose water to evaporation, and after a few weeks to
months you will get stuff (that's a technical term for various kinds of
molds :-)) growing either on the walls or floating in the water. I added
some sanitizer (zep brand from Sam's Club) at 1 oz per gallon and that kept
a fresh batch clear for several months but then the growth started up anyway
so plan on making fresh solution every few months. I didn't want a
permanent parts washer and this was cheap, so I guess it worked out ok.
Maybe with a better choice of soap I would have been happier - good luck
with yours.

-----
Regards,
Carl Ijames
"Ignoramus10092" wrote in message
...

I have a plastic tub and I wonder if I can fill it with an aqueous
degreaser solution, like Simple Green, and keep it there more or less
indefinitely. I would use that for parts washing. I just cannot
reconcile myself with buying flammable, expensive and hazardous
petroleum based solvent. I want something cheaper, greener, and
safer. So... Will a tub filled with simple green solution, work OK to
degrease stuff? Say, leave stuff overnight in it? If this works, I
would just sell off my parts washer designed for petroleum.

i