first of all:
This is my personal story... my personal experience... so it s very subjective.
Yet I want to share it... and maybe the mods might make it sticky?

The first experience with water on a bowling ball was when a friend bought a used up Track Animal Untamed and cleaned it.
He told me he held it in the kitchen sink under warm water and was so astonished how much dirt and oil came "off" the ball.

after some testing and trying we soon found out that if the ball is set up in a bucket you can get plenty of oil out of older balls that seemed dead.

For me that was a 1 month old Track Angular Aggressive I got as the former user said it was "DEAD".
took 7 bath... yeah ... 7 x 30min in the water... till nothing came out of the ball and miracle oh miracle... the ball hooked again!

So... for the last three years I use(d) the method with great success.

MY recipt:

Bucket - big enoguh to cover the ball completely in the water
Set the ball on the thumbhole in the middle of the bucket
fill the bucket 2/3 with war water from the water-tap/fauced
fill the rest up with boiling hot water
this will create a mixture of ~50°C/~120°F
!!! be carefull and first try the amounts of each temperature !!!
!!! never put a COLD ball into the hot water !!!
!!! don't wait too long !!! --> rather do it more often

Why? simple:
The "oil" .. or better lane condition's molecules are bigger than water and so water will get soaked into the ball while the oil is removed (that is my thesis)
Others talk about the effect of "phasing" where the coverstock changes its color by temperature. Could also be the reason.
But some balls get brighter with time... I saw this with Brunswick coverstocks as well as with old Columbia ones (Track). And I also found  long soaked balls to not roll right the first game... esspecially pearl püarticles.
Don't be afraid about this... one game and the ball will be back to normal from my experience

Another reason is that the water can only take a certain amount of oil... so any time more is not helping...

So don't wait to long with the ball in the water

Back to my recipt:
I then wait 15-20 minutes and take the ball out. Clean it under running warm water and redo the method described abovew with fresh water if I get the feeling the ball is not tacky when dried.
Now the question of SOAP:
I use soap. Or do you wash/clean your dishes with pure water?
No!
Soap helps to bind the oil in the water making it possible to bind more oil or better to say... remove more oil from the ball.

I did it yesterday with my Machine and though I try to keep my stuff clean and wipe the balls off with spraycleaner after each training, AND the last bath was not more than a month ago....
The ball needed two cycles of each 20min in the warm water to remove the oil out of the ball.
the third time I saw only a very small amount of oil in the water... huh? IN?
Yeah. with the soap and the oil I see white stiae in the water. This is the oil of the new center
With the other center's oil it is like milk. very fine drops of white.

So.
As soon as the water stays clear and there is not much oil anymore on the surface of the water.... then the ball is as clean as you can get with this method.
Why do I NOT say "it is oil-free".
Cause: The ball will not lose all of the oil! the oil migrates into the coverstock and diffusion makes it migrate further and further in.

That's thje reason why balls that are oiled up and let alone half a year suddenly work again... the oil simply distributed fromthe coverstock's surface into the bulk of the coverstock.

the same procedure has to take place when you try to get the oil out!

The whole process is diffusion-controlled and there will stay some oil in the ball. NOT MUCH! but that's the fact.
But don't let you fool by this... the ball will work now.
The more regularly you clean your balls the less will the oil soak in and the higher is the chance that "nothing" will remain in the ball.

Result with my Machine:
the ball is tacky... no more oil on the surface. and it hooks again

How to check if your ball needs a hot water bath... I mean without seeing it jerk around on the lane?
Simple:
Take the ball to your kitchen sink and let warm water run over it.
Stop
if you see oil on the surface or the ball feels slippery (after the water has run off! ... my pearls and solids, but not the particles!, feel slippery with water... but they shouldn't feel slippery when they're "dry")
test it... you'll see and know what I mean then.
you also might see the oil reabsorbed into the ball at once... it needs a bit of experience and you'll get that quick.

let the ball dry before you take it to play!
there will be some water left in the fingerholes and the x-hole and even in the thumb.
Take kitchenpaper to remove it.

There is nothing worse than water on an approach!


So... I hope you have a good idea of how the hot water bath works.
Just don't exaggerate and you'll get a real good result!
--------------------
Sebastian Koch
"Have fun and bowl well!" - Grayson
"Some things are made so even idiots won''t fail using them.... But I ask what about the genius?" - Grayson

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