The industrial cleaning market offers various types of water based parts washing systems, with spray cabinets, ultrasonic washers, immersion units, and drum top washers being primary models. The different models demonstrate that water-based cleaning equipment that’s perfect for cleaning some parts may not be so great for cleaning others. Let’s take a closer look.
Evaluating Your Parts
If you’re fortunate enough to be able to clean all of your parts with aqueous-based solvents, then you can skip this section and move to the next one: choosing the right water based parts washer. However, if your organization is like most large-scale industrial outfits, it has parts that entail different cleaning requirements.
If so, the question is whether you need a water based parts washer, or whether another type could work just as well (i.e. non-aqueous solvents could clean the parts as effectively as aqueous solvents, with no negative consequences). Many organizations have parts that require both a water based parts washer and one that uses non-aqueous solvent.
Homogenous, non-electrical stainless steel parts, for example, can be cleaned in a water based parts washer, as long as the enclosure’s temperature remains below the transformation point of chromium — the lustrous compound that makes stainless steel shine. Carbon steel, on the other hand, oxidizes easily in the presence of water and could benefit from non-aqueous cleaning.
Evaluating Parts Washers
Whether you need a water based parts washer to clean a portion of your parts or all of them, you have four basic systems to choose from. Below, we look at the basic pros and cons of each.
- Spray Cabinets
Pros: High-level cleaning, ideal for heavy soils, excellent for cleaning aluminum
Cons: High startup cost initially, more energy use than solvent unit, may need rust prevention
- Ultrasonic Units
Pros: Good for parts with holes or hidden surfaces, high-performance, reduces cleaning labor
Cons: High startup cost initially
- Immersion Units
Pros: Reduces scrubbing, reduces labor costs
Cons: Costlier than drum top units, could make it hard to clean heavy, stubborn soils
- Drum Top Units
Pros: Great for light cleaning operations, low initial start up cost, minimal waste produced, non-toxic vapor
Cons: Microbial units are high-maintenance and not for large parts or heavy, stubborn soils.
Which water based parts washer is right for your needs requires evaluating parts you must clean, soils you need to remove, and whether a washer offers the benefit of solvent recycling. Ecolink can help you examine these factors and others to choose a washer — and more than one, if necessary — that meets your aqueous-based parts cleaning requirements.
Contact Ecolink Today
For assistance selecting an industrial parts washer or solvents for the parts washer you operate, Ecolink is here to help. For over 25 years, we’ve specialized in supplying stock and custom cleaning solvents that support safety in the workplace and healthy, natural environment.
To reach us, please call (800) 563-1305 today, or use our contact form. We look forward to helping you refine parts washing operations!
Medical Grade Isopropyl Alcohol: Factors That Impact Use
/in IPA/by Industrial DegreasersMedical grade isopropyl alcohol is a concentrated form of standard isopropyl alcohol. It has a purity of 99% or thereabouts, depending on a manufacturer’s formulation process. In medical settings, the product is generally used as a cleaner — particularly as a sterilizer — to cleanse skin for treatments and dressings, and to kill bacteria on medical instruments and surfaces.
Medical grade isopropyl alcohol has a truly diverse range of applications, but there are three safety factors that end users should consider with any type of application: the product’s low flashpoint, its high evaporation rate, and what happens when the solution comes into contact with humans. We take a closer look at each factor below.
The flashpoint for 99% Medical grade isopropyl alcohol is exceptionally low, registering at 12 °C closed cup and 18 °C open cup. Closed cup preparations have a lower flashpoint because the product retains more alcohol, and vapor from the alcohol remains concentrated instead of diffusing into open air.
This means the product should never be used to clean energized equipment and never be stored in an area that has possible ignition sources (heating elements, switchgear, metal grinding stations, etc.) A professional solvent supplier can advise you on the best storage options in relation to the structure of your facility and its operations.
Due to its high percentage of purity, medical grade isopropyl alcohol is even more evaporative than the rubbing alcohol pharmacies sell, with a vapor pressure of 43.996 hPa at 20 °C. If the solution’s container is left open, waste occurs rapidly in the form of evaporation. In addition to wasting the product, letting it evaporate in medical settings can cause negative health effects in patients, some of which are listed below.
Unlike many solvents used to sterilize medical equipment, medical grade isopropyl alcohol doesn’t cause immediate harm when it contacts skin, although repeated contact can cause profound skin dryness. Like standard isopropyl alcohol, the chemical produces a burning sensation when it contacts the eyes and open wounds, with the high-purity formulation intensifying the effect.
As an overview from MDGuidelines notes, negative health effects from medical grade isopropyl alcohol can occur with short-term exposure and include: “dizziness, giddiness, headache, nausea, vomiting, and irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and throat.”
Prolonged exposure can lead to skin corrosion, as well as “reduced memory and concentration, personality changes (withdrawal, irritability), fatigue, sleep disturbances, reduced coordination, and/or effects on nerves supplying internal organs (autonomic nerves) and/or nerves to the arms and legs (weakness, ‘pins and needles’).”
Need Medical Grade Isopropyl Alcohol?
If so, Ecolink has what you need. Our isopropyl alcohol is 99% pure, making it an excellent option for general sterilization and cleaning procedures in medical facilities. To inquire about the product or to place an order, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or send us an email through our contact form. We look forward to supplying medical grade isopropyl alcohol to support your cleaning operations.
Choosing a Water Based Parts Washer: An Overview
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersThe industrial cleaning market offers various types of water based parts washing systems, with spray cabinets, ultrasonic washers, immersion units, and drum top washers being primary models. The different models demonstrate that water-based cleaning equipment that’s perfect for cleaning some parts may not be so great for cleaning others. Let’s take a closer look.
Evaluating Your Parts
If you’re fortunate enough to be able to clean all of your parts with aqueous-based solvents, then you can skip this section and move to the next one: choosing the right water based parts washer. However, if your organization is like most large-scale industrial outfits, it has parts that entail different cleaning requirements.
If so, the question is whether you need a water based parts washer, or whether another type could work just as well (i.e. non-aqueous solvents could clean the parts as effectively as aqueous solvents, with no negative consequences). Many organizations have parts that require both a water based parts washer and one that uses non-aqueous solvent.
Homogenous, non-electrical stainless steel parts, for example, can be cleaned in a water based parts washer, as long as the enclosure’s temperature remains below the transformation point of chromium — the lustrous compound that makes stainless steel shine. Carbon steel, on the other hand, oxidizes easily in the presence of water and could benefit from non-aqueous cleaning.
Evaluating Parts Washers
Whether you need a water based parts washer to clean a portion of your parts or all of them, you have four basic systems to choose from. Below, we look at the basic pros and cons of each.
Pros: High-level cleaning, ideal for heavy soils, excellent for cleaning aluminum
Cons: High startup cost initially, more energy use than solvent unit, may need rust prevention
Pros: Good for parts with holes or hidden surfaces, high-performance, reduces cleaning labor
Cons: High startup cost initially
Pros: Reduces scrubbing, reduces labor costs
Cons: Costlier than drum top units, could make it hard to clean heavy, stubborn soils
Pros: Great for light cleaning operations, low initial start up cost, minimal waste produced, non-toxic vapor
Cons: Microbial units are high-maintenance and not for large parts or heavy, stubborn soils.
Which water based parts washer is right for your needs requires evaluating parts you must clean, soils you need to remove, and whether a washer offers the benefit of solvent recycling. Ecolink can help you examine these factors and others to choose a washer — and more than one, if necessary — that meets your aqueous-based parts cleaning requirements.
Contact Ecolink Today
For assistance selecting an industrial parts washer or solvents for the parts washer you operate, Ecolink is here to help. For over 25 years, we’ve specialized in supplying stock and custom cleaning solvents that support safety in the workplace and healthy, natural environment.
To reach us, please call (800) 563-1305 today, or use our contact form. We look forward to helping you refine parts washing operations!
4 Financial Benefits of Solvent Recovery Systems
/in Recycling/by Industrial DegreasersSolvent recovery systems allow solvent to be recycled and reused for cleaning operations. For many organizations, the simplest way to recover solvents is to use them in a pressurized parts washing system that performs solvent recovery automatically, such as by using condensation to separate the solvent from soils it collects during the cycle.
Below, we take a brief look at four important financial benefits that come with using solvent recovery systems that operate in this manner. If your company needs guidance on selecting a parts washing system that would make solvent recovery a reality, contact Ecolink to speak with a product specialist.
Because solvent recovery lets you reuse a single application of solvent for multiple cleaning cycles, you naturally use less solvent, which reduces the frequency of your solvent purchases. Considering the cost of best-in-class cleaning solvents, using solvent recovery systems can easily save large-scale users thousands of dollars a month.
Large-scale users typically have a big chemical waste disposal bill that reflects the investment they make in cleaning solvent. Parts washers that have solvent recovery systems can perform solvent recovery internally, which keeps the cleaner inside the washer and out of the waste trap. The only substance that enters the waste trap is a mixture of the soils that the cleaning solvent removed during the pressurized parts washing cycle.
One factor that impacts the return on investment (ROI) for a parts washing system is how much solvent the equipment uses. Increased productivity is responsible for much of the ROI, but increasing cost savings due to purchasing less solvent can play a part, too. The more times you can recover and reuse a single application of solvent, the faster you break even on your investment in the machine.
Another benefit of using solvent recovery systems that perform solvent recovery internally, is that workers who operate the systems experience less exposure to potentially harmful fumes, especially when solvent recovery is performed in a sealed chamber.
Any company that’s been on the receiving end of a chemical injury suit knows what a difference reducing chronic chemical exposure can make. When damage from chemical exposure results in chronic, debilitating health conditions, injury settlements can reach into the multiple millions of dollars.
Who We Are
Ecolink is an industry-leading supplier of industrial grade, environmentally preferred and environmentally safe cleaning solutions. We specialize in providing stock solvents and custom, toll blended solvents that have a better safety profile than most early generation solvents, while delivering the same or better power than the hazadous solvents they replace.
To ensure you get the right product, we give you have the option of receiving a free test sample of the solvent you might purchase. To inquire about our products, give us a call today at (800) 563-1305, or fill out the contact form on our website. We look forward to helping you select solvents for your organization’s industrial cleaning requirements.
4 Ways to Reduce Industrial Chemical Disposal Costs
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersMost industrial chemicals have a four-stage life span: The solvent manufacturer creates the chemicals, the solvent user implements them, and then the user sends the chemicals to the waste trap. From there, a chemical waste disposal outfit removes the solvent from the trap.
If it sounds simple, it is, but the scenario isn’t always free of complexities. For some companies and organizations, one complexity is determining how to reduce the cost of industrial chemical disposal that accounts for too much of the annual operating budget to be considered an affordable, long-term solution. If your outfit is in this position, we propose the following measures that can help you mitigate waste disposal costs.
One way to mitigate the financial burden of solvent disposal is to use a parts washing system that’s designed to purge solvents of soils, and prepare the solvents for reuse within the washing system. Receiving several washing cycles from a single solvent application reduces the amount of solvent you place in the washer. By extension, it reduces the need to release used solvent into the waste trap.
Implementing more power cleaning solvents is another way to reduce the cost of industrial chemical disposal. If using a more power solvent lets you use less solvent than before for the same cleaning operations, it ostensibly means that less of the cleaner will see the waste trap. However, because some chemicals cost more to remove than others, the first thing to consider is how much it would cost to dispose of a particular solvent you’re considering using.
The dispensing method of aerosol, in which a uniform spray of fine particles settle on the cleaning surface, tends to send less liquid into the waste trap than solvents that have a more generous method of application, such as spray bottle application or power washer application. Aerosol is a great option for cleaning precision parts that have complex geometries, cleaning flat work surfaces that accumulate dirt and grime, and general spot cleaning operations.
Just as sending toxic solvents into the waste trap can drive up the cost of industrial chemical disposal due to the solvents’ hazardous formulation, which requires the disposer to take special safety measures and implement special, precision removal processes, eco friendly solvents that have a better safety profile can have the opposite effect. They can cost less to remove.
According to Indiana University at Bloomington (UAB), “Disposing of the hazardous waste generated at IUB for one year costs approximately $100,000.” IBU has a big campus, but the institution is far from an industrial outfit that frequently cleans a large volume of critical surfaces and industrial equipment. A highly cost-effective waste removal strategy could potentially save a large, industrial facility at least six figures in waste disposal costs annually.
Who We Are
Ecolink is a supplier of industrial grade, eco friendly cleaning solutions that are better for humans and the environment than the toxic, old generation solvents they’re designed to replace. In addition, the environmentally preferred formulation of many of our cleaners can be helpful for reducing waste disposal cost for the reasons covered above. To inquire about our stock products and custom formulations, call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use our contact form.
6 Characteristics of Safe Industrial Solvents
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersThe safety of an industrial solvent is partly contextual. For example, while an solvent ingredient that burn skin would be considered dangerous in all cases, an ingredient that combusts at a certain temperature could be dangerous or safe, depending on how and where it’s used.
Nevertheless, there are certain qualities of industrial solvents that generally identify them as “safe” in all situations. Below, we list six of these characteristics to aid you in choosing safe industrial solvents for your cleaning operations.
Simply put, a solvent that has no flashpoint doesn’t burn. You could pour it into a smouldering volcanic crater, and it would vaporize but not ignite. Safe industrial solvents are often identified as having a “high” flashpoint, which is certainly better than a low flashpoint. But no flashpoint is the safest classification of all.
A dielectric is a buffer that prevents electricity from flowing from one point to another. When used in solvents, the goal is usually to prevent electricity from energized equipment from moving through the solvent stream and shocking the worker, and possibly exploding the container of solvent. A dielectric isn’t needed for all solvent operations, but it’s never considered dangerous.
The solvents on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) List of Lists aren’t the only ones that emit hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Trichloroethylene (TCE), for example, isn’t on the list, but it’s now known to have a cancer causing effect. Thanks to the internet, you can usually discover whether a solvent emits HAPs or has other dangerous ingredients just by performing a Google search.
Solvents themselves are seldom studied to see if they cause cancer, but animal studies of chemicals used in solvents often reveal whether carcinogenicity is a factor. Carcinogenic chemicals can be especially insidious, as their terrible effect often takes years to develop. By that time, the workers it effects may have shortened lives, and the company that exposed them to the danger could be on the hook for millions of dollars in settlements and legal fees.
Cancer may be the most fearsome health effect that toxic solvents cause, but it isn’t the only one. Even after workers take basic safety precautions, some solvents cause acute health effects such as blurry vision and dizziness, and chronic effects such as nerve damage and visual impairment. If basic safety precautions don’t eliminate the threat, the solvent really isn’t safe.
Who We Are
Ecolink is an industry-leading supplier of environmentally safe and environmentally preferred industrial solvents. Our solutions can be found at small businesses, midsize organizations, and large corporations throughout the U.S. and beyond. We take pride in supplying dynamic, safe industrial solvents that are friendlier to humans and the environments than toxic chemicals of the past.
To inquire about our products and services, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or fill out the contact form on our website. We look forward to learning about your needs and seeing how we can help you meet them by supplying safe industrial solvents.