Industrial degreasing operations can be separated into two groups based on the temperature of the degreaser during application: hot water degreasing and cold water degreasing.
Determining which process to use involves three considerations: the soil(s) that must be removed, the material from which they must be removed, and the active ingredient that removes them. When you evaluate these factors and determine that a cold water degreaser should be used, you receive three benefits that result from the cool temperature of the degreaser.
- No Temperature Burns
Depending on the formulation of a cold water degreaser, you may receive chemical burns if the cleaner touches your skin, but burns from high degreaser temperature aren’t a part of the equation.
Chemical burns can largely be avoided by using a degreaser with no toxic ingredients. Combining a non-toxic degreaser formulation with a cold water degreaser formulation can eliminate the possibility of burns, potentially allowing you to use a lower, less expensive level of personal protective equipment (PPE) for degreasing operations.
- Degreasing Running Equipment
To avoid electrical shock, degreasing is ideally performed when equipment is powered off, but this isn’t always possible. For instance, airliner engines are often degreased while running in order to achieve a quick turnaround, and get the planes back on the runway.
When cleaning energized equipment, you need a degreaser that contains a dielectric — a substance that blocks the flow of electricity through the solvent. In addition to increasing worker safety, Using a dielectric cold water degreaser can also help keep an engine from overheating as it idles. However, a hot engine should never be sprayed with ice cold water, and it could cause metal and plastic parts to crack.
For reference, a cold water degreaser is generally defined as a “non-boiling solvent degreaser”, not a degreaser that feels like it’s just been removed from an icy storage container.
- Lower Evaporation Rate
The hotter a liquid cleaning solution gets, the faster its molecules move, and the more readily its evaporative ingredients fill the air. In most industrial work environments, a small volume of evaporated water isn’t a big concern (except for the corrosion potential it poses to iron alloys), but the evaporation of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) presents a health risk.
Most VOCs vaporize at room temperature and don’t require a heating process to make them highly volatile. However, the temperature at which a degreaser that contains VOCs is used can impact airborne VOC density, and thus affect the type of VOC mitigation strategies you must use.
Need Help Selecting a Degreaser?
Whether you need a hot water degreaser, a cold water degreaser, or the temperature of the cleaner isn’t a factor, Ecolink offers solutions. If you can’t seem to find what you need mong stock products, we can even produce a custom degreaser that’s tailored to your requirements, and supply it in various quantities, on a schedule or as needed.
To get started on selecting an industrial degreaser, call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use our contact form. We look forward to hearing from you!
Water Based Degreasers Vs. Solvent Based: 4 Benefits
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersDegreasers are some of the most commonly used industrial cleaners in the world. Until machines stop needing grease for lubrication and other purposes, the supply and demand for industrial strength degreasers will remain high. But that doesn’t mean you’re locked into using one of the two basic degreaser formulations: water based or solvent based.
If You Have the Option to Choose…
Many organizations use water based degreasers or solvent based degreasers because that’s what the degreasing application calls for. However, some organizations use solvent based cleaners for practically everything, simply because they use them for most things. If you’re in this position, using water based degreasers for jobs for which they would be a good fit — and provide proper efficacy — could have some important advantages, four of which we list below.
There’s one similarity among degreasers whose ingredients the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates: The ingredients are solvent-based. Water based degreasers have an inherent advantage in the environmental safety department: Chemically, water has an ultra-high safety profile.
Too many solvent degreasers to name have a flashpoint. Sometimes, the flashpoint is high; and sometimes, it’s low. But it typically registers at a specific temperature during testing. Water, as we know, is used to extinguish fires — a characteristic that generally makes water based degreasers safe to store in terms of fire hazard.
Lots of solvent based degreasers contain chemicals that have a high evaporation rate and shouldn’t be inhaled. Also, some solvents cause skin irritation on contact. When these variables are in place (They have less of a tendency to be present with water based degreasers), the need to operate an air filtration system that snags airborne contaminants, and the need to provide high-level personal protective equipment (PPE), can increase operating cost.
Spent water based degreaser may still go in the waste trap, but removing it from the trap could be less expensive than removing a solvent based degreaser. The more precautions and processes a waste removal provider must take to safely handle chemicals, the higher the waste disposal bill.
If you have an area where degreasing operations are performed, and the spent cleaner that hits the waste trap is solvent based, you could potentially reduce waste disposal cost by using a water based degreaser instead.
Interested in Water Based Degreasers?
Compared to implementing a solvent based degreaser, using a water based product can deliver four benefits, among others: better compliance with official chemical regulations, simplification of degreaser storage, reduced chemical mitigation costs, and reduced operating costs.
To find out if eco friendly water based degreasers are a good option for your degreasing applications, call us today at (800) 563-1305, or send us an email through our contact form. For over 25 years, we’ve provided stock and custom cleaners that have amazing efficacy. We look forward to hearing from you and seeing how we can help with degreasing!
Industrial Degreasing: 4 Benefits of Cold Water Degreaser
/in Degreasing Agents/by Industrial DegreasersIndustrial degreasing operations can be separated into two groups based on the temperature of the degreaser during application: hot water degreasing and cold water degreasing.
Determining which process to use involves three considerations: the soil(s) that must be removed, the material from which they must be removed, and the active ingredient that removes them. When you evaluate these factors and determine that a cold water degreaser should be used, you receive three benefits that result from the cool temperature of the degreaser.
Depending on the formulation of a cold water degreaser, you may receive chemical burns if the cleaner touches your skin, but burns from high degreaser temperature aren’t a part of the equation.
Chemical burns can largely be avoided by using a degreaser with no toxic ingredients. Combining a non-toxic degreaser formulation with a cold water degreaser formulation can eliminate the possibility of burns, potentially allowing you to use a lower, less expensive level of personal protective equipment (PPE) for degreasing operations.
To avoid electrical shock, degreasing is ideally performed when equipment is powered off, but this isn’t always possible. For instance, airliner engines are often degreased while running in order to achieve a quick turnaround, and get the planes back on the runway.
When cleaning energized equipment, you need a degreaser that contains a dielectric — a substance that blocks the flow of electricity through the solvent. In addition to increasing worker safety, Using a dielectric cold water degreaser can also help keep an engine from overheating as it idles. However, a hot engine should never be sprayed with ice cold water, and it could cause metal and plastic parts to crack.
For reference, a cold water degreaser is generally defined as a “non-boiling solvent degreaser”, not a degreaser that feels like it’s just been removed from an icy storage container.
The hotter a liquid cleaning solution gets, the faster its molecules move, and the more readily its evaporative ingredients fill the air. In most industrial work environments, a small volume of evaporated water isn’t a big concern (except for the corrosion potential it poses to iron alloys), but the evaporation of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) presents a health risk.
Most VOCs vaporize at room temperature and don’t require a heating process to make them highly volatile. However, the temperature at which a degreaser that contains VOCs is used can impact airborne VOC density, and thus affect the type of VOC mitigation strategies you must use.
Need Help Selecting a Degreaser?
Whether you need a hot water degreaser, a cold water degreaser, or the temperature of the cleaner isn’t a factor, Ecolink offers solutions. If you can’t seem to find what you need mong stock products, we can even produce a custom degreaser that’s tailored to your requirements, and supply it in various quantities, on a schedule or as needed.
To get started on selecting an industrial degreaser, call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use our contact form. We look forward to hearing from you!
Using Foamless Parts Washer Fluid: Pros and Cons
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersThe term parts washing fluid applies to different yet similar industrial cleaning agents: cleaners used in enclosed parts washing systems, and cleaners used in open air work stations. In this entry, we look at the basic pros and cons of using foamless parts washer fluid for industrial parts cleaning, both for enclosed parts washer cleaning and open air operations.
Pro: No Foaminess in the Parts Washer
If you’ve ever overfilled a dishwasher with foaming detergent, you have may have encountered a flow of suds that required multiple mopping sessions to remove all of the soap residue from the floor — residue that attracts dirt faster than a clean floor would.
A similar event can happen with parts washers that aren’t designed for foaming action solvents. If you use an industrial model parts washer, it may be sealed tight enough to contain the foam. The question is whether the washing cycle is thorough enough to remove the foam. If it’s a quick washing cycle with no anti-foaming agent, you could open the machine and find suds on work pieces and throughout the wash chamber, necessitating at least one more rinse cycle.
Con: No Cleaning From Foaming Action
Sometimes, foaming action is more than a byproduct from a cleaner. The foam is designed to encapsulate a workpiece, slowly cleaning away tough accumulations from any number of substances — from grease, to bitumen, to tar — to leave the piece looking as clean as new.
Letting the foam work its magic can result in using less solvent, while still powering away thick coatings of gunk (often making the gunk easier to remove using moderate water pressure).
Pro: Not Always Good for Fast Cleaning
Whether you use it in a parts washer or an open air cleaning station, a parts washing fluid that has foaming action can require a longer cleaning operation than using a foamless parts washer fluid.
If you’re treating a limited number of parts that must be treated quickly to get them back in action, a slow foaming cleaner often isn’t your friend. A better option is choosing a foamless parts washer fluid you can use in a parts washer or workstation to consistently achieve the quick turnround you need.
Con: Can End Up Consuming More Fluid
If properly formulated, a small reservoir of parts cleaning fluid can produce a significant amount of cleansing foam. If you have the flexibility to use a foaming cleaner that has a long turnround time, your solvent expenditures could be lower than if you used a foamless parts washing fluid that requires using more solvent to perform the same cleaning operation.
Conclusion
Foamless parts washer fluid and foaming parts washing fluid both have a place in industrial cleaning. Some organizations need one, some need the other, and still other organizations need both.
For assistance selecting a foaming or foamless parts washer fluid for industrial cleaning, contact Ecolink today at (800) 563-1305, or send us an email through our contact form. We look forward to helping you make the right selection!
Corrosion Removal Solvents for Rust: Introducing Rust Rip
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersRust occurs in metal that contains iron. When iron alloys are exposed to moisture or water in the presence of oxygen — and no protective barrier prevents the metal from oxidizing on the surface — unsightly rust begins to form and proliferates until rust removal is performed.
The scientific name for rust is iron oxide — a substance that eventually corrodes an entire piece of metal unless removed from the surface. Rust removal can be performed manually through heavy brushing, grinding, or sandblasting, but using a chemical rust remover is usually the most efficient option.
Corrosion Removal Solvents for Rust
Rust is generally considered an eyesore that doesn’t impact the strength of metal. For example, a rusty iron chain may pull as much weight as the same type of chain that has no rust. If so, it’s indicative that oxidation is limited to the surface of the rusty chain. If the chain rusts for a significant period of time, its microstructure grows progressively weaker as rust penetrates deeper. Eventually, the chain becomes nothing but a pile of rust.
This is why it’s important to attack rust with corrosion removal solvents when the oxidation process is first noticed, especially when the appearance and/or dimensional stability of the object is essential to its function. If you’re shopping for corrosion removal solvents for rust, Rust Rip — a rust remover and phosphatizer from Ecolink — offers the following advantages, among others:
Rust Rip is useful for removing rust from any type of metal, but it also has an important niche application: removing rust from metal that will subsequently be painted. Rust flows away, leaving the metal with a surface that bonds well with paint and helps prevent paint from peeling.
Applications where these traits come in handy include: auto body restoration, restoring rusty metal ceilings, repainting rusted industrial equipment, and preparing rusty metal for marine applications that require waterproof paint sealer. Any application that involves removing rust from the surface metal — and then painting the metal, or not — is fair game. The biggest key to success is removing rust before it progresses past the surface and causes pitting.
Considering Your Supply Options
One of the most diverse corrosion removal solvents for rust, Rust Rip is available in 55 gallon drums, 5 gallon pails, and four 1 gallon containers. Have the product delivered on a schedule or order it as needed. We ship orders of all sizes, from bulk supply to small box orders.
If you’d like to compare Rust Rip to other corrosion removal solvents, we’ll send you a free product sample so you can test its efficacy. To get your free sample, visit our Request a Product Sample page. To place a regular order or request information, call us today at (800) 563-1305, or send us an email through our contact form. Let us help you rip away rust the easy way!
Airplane Maintenance Cleaners: The Case for Aerokleen
/in Aerospace Cleaners/by Industrial DegreasersWhether you need to clean a space shuttle, a commercial airliner, or a military fighter jet, you need one or more airplane maintenance cleaners that are designed for aircraft cleaning needs. This is why Ecolink developed Aerokleen — an environmentally preferred aviation solvent that delivers the following important benefits over other, conventional aviation solvent solutions.
Now that we’ve laid out the major benefits of Aerokleen, let’s take a look at how they distinguish the solvent from competing airplane maintenance cleaners that you could use instead.
Breaking Down the Benefits
One of the most helpful benefits is the solvent’s compatibility with all metals. Your aircraft almost certainly contains different types of metal, especially in the engine compartment. Apply the solution without worrying about the corrosion or oxidation of metal components, then take advantage of the cleaner’s excellent solvency to wash it away with water, as needed.
Aerokleen is also a great choice because it contains no hazardous ingredients found on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) List of Lists, has no ingredients listed in the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) or the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and has a formulation that complies with aerospace National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS). This means Aerokleen can be used without extensive protect equipment. It also means that the EPA is highly unlikely to regulate or ban ingredients in the solvent.
Another major benefit of Aerokleen is its exceptionally high flashpoint that qualifies it as a non-flammable solvent. A high flashpoint doesn’t equate to a dielectric that impedes electricity, so Aerokleen should be used to clean motors that are in a non-energized state. However, the solvent’s high flashpoint allows you to use and store the solvent in most types of environments without worrying about fire hazard.
In addition, Aerokleen Conforms to McDonnell Douglas Corp. CSD#1, Type 3, Boeing Commercial Airplane BAC 5750, and DC 17487 specifications. This makes the solvent an excellent catch-all cleaner for organizations that share the same aircraft solvent specifications, and makes it a highly compatible solvent for airline solvent cleaning operations.
Need Airplane Maintenance Cleaners?
If so, Aerokleen is just one of the options you have through Ecolink. We also offer a variety of other environmentally preferred stock solvents that are suitable for cleaning aircraft. In addition, if one of our stock solvents doesn’t address your requirements, we can use toll blending to create a custom solution that’s tailored to your needs, and supply it on an ongoing basis.
To learn more about our airplane maintenance cleaners or other products, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or send us an email through our contact form. We look forward to answering your questions!