Solvent parts washers, which are machines in which parts are placed to undergo a highly controlled, solvent-based cleaning process, play a crucial role in the cleaning operations of companies and organizations around the world. Industrial grade parts washers can last for decades, but there comes a time when even the most reliable parts washer must be replaced, which brings us to the subject of this entry: How to shop for solvent parts washers online.
Why Shop Online?
Solvent parts washers are like most other products: You find the greatest abundance of them online. Buying in store provides a face-to-face custom service experience that many buyers appreciate when they make a significant investment in a washer, but if you shop with an online seller of parts washers whose website has contact information for sales support and technical support, you should receive great service there, too.
We recommend shopping online. However, whether you decide to shop online or in store for new solvent parts washers, there are at least five considerations to make before you secure a purchase: solvent compatibility, solvent recycling, wattage requirements, buying from a vendor versus buying from a manufacturer, and training time required to learn the equipment.
- Solvent Compatibility
It’s much easier to implement a parts washer that can use your current parts washing solvents than to implement a washer that requires you to research and purchase a new line of industrial cleaners. As long as the solvents you use are doing the job and have a good safety profile, it makes the most sense to buy a washer that accommodates the solvents.
- Solvent Recycling
Some types of solvents, such as high boiling solvents, are good candidates for solvent recycling of the kind that separates the cleaning catalyst from used solvent so the former can be reused. Because the process is typically performed with a parts washer that exerts a vacuum on the cleaning chamber that pulls the catalyst into a condenser unit, be sure to choose a washer that operates in this capacity if solvent recycling is a part of your cleaning operations.
- Wattage Requirements
If the wattage of a new parts washer is greater than the wattage of the previous equipment, be sure that electricity conduction equipment that serves the washer’s operating environment (e.g., power inverters, frequency converters, power converters, etc.) can handle the additional electricity load. Otherwise, the equipment could experience premature wear and fail during service due to carrying a load that exceeds the equipment’s load size.
- Vendor Vs. Manufacturer
When it comes to receiving technical support, getting your parts washer straight from the manufacturer instead of a vendor offers an obvious advantage: The manufacturer knows its products better than anyone and can thus provide you with a higher level of pre-sale technical support that helps you choose the right model. Buying directly from the manufacturer can also save money, as it eliminates using a “middleman”, a vendor, to get what you need.
- Training Time
How long will it take workers to learn to use the new parts washer? For the sake of productivity, this question should be answered before you buy instead of after. The learning curve for using most solvent parts washers is rather small, but it does require workers to take a bit of downtime. If your company has daily production quotas, considering training time can be quite important.
Contact Ecolink
After you acquire your new parts washer, you’ll soon need to order more solvent to use with the equipment. If you need industrial solvents that are environmentally preferred, we recommend that you make Ecolink your solvent supplier. We supply stock and custom cleaners for a variety of cleaning needs, from the removal of light dirt to the removal of tough, organic accumulations.
To learn more about our eco friendly, industrial grade cleaning solutions, browse through our product list, or call us today at (800) 563-1305. We look forward to hearing from you.
Metal Cleaning Products: How to Choose the Right Ones
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersMetal cleaning products play a crucial role in a variety of work processes, from flux removal, to engine degreasing, to tank cleaning, to removing light accumulations from common metal surfaces. If your company or organization is in the market for metal cleaning products, it’s important to start the selection process by taking the four steps below, which will help you choose cleaners that are perfect for your work processes and safe for your workers to use.
How do you clean metal? There are various options, including vapor degreasing, hand wiping, spray and air dry, and power washing, just to name four. Because there is no use in purchasing metal cleaning products that aren’t designed for your cleaning applications, it makes the most sense to start by identifying products that are designed for your specific processes. After limiting your search to application-specific products, you can move to step 2 and focus on selecting products whose ingredients are non-corrosive for the types of metal you need to clean.
Some metal cleaning products are corrosive to some types of metals and not others. For example, cleaners that contain sodium hypochlorite have been shown to readily corrode aluminum and carbon steel, compromising their surface quality and fracture strength. However, this cleaning agent is typically considered compatible with 303 stainless steel. If you need help identifying non-corrosive cleaning agents for the type of metal you need to clean, don’t resort to informed guesswork. Contact the chemists at Ecolink for help selecting non-corrosive cleaners.
As efficacious as a metal cleaner may be for your cleaning needs, it won’t do you much good if you can’t use it in sufficient quantities to perform cleaning operations. This is what can happen when a cleaning solution contains ingredients that are listed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) List of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs). Chemicals on the list are generally not illegal to use, but their use in industrial facilities is regulated to the point that most companies simply can’t use enough of them to adequately support crucial metal cleaning operations.
Last but certainly not least, consider how much it would cost to implement a particular cleaner. In addition to the cost of the product, consider how using it would impact waste disposal cost, whether using it would require you to outfit workers with a higher level of personal protective equipment (PPE), whether a special ventilation system would be needed for the work environment, and whether using the solution would put you at risk for violating emissions caps. If you are looking for a long-term solution, cost should always be a major consideration.
Contact Ecolink for Metal Cleaning Products
Metal cleaning products can be distinguished in several ways, such as whether they are designed for a particular cleaning operation, whether they contain ingredients that would corrode the metal you need to clean, whether they are EPA regulated, and the overall cost of using them. The product specialists at Ecolink can help you select metal cleaning products that account for these considerations and have the safety profile that you need for workers and the environment. Call us today at (800) 563-1305 for help selecting the right metal cleaners.
4 Ways to Use Less Chemical Solvents & Maintain Cleaning Standards
/in Chemical Management Company/by Industrial DegreasersFor many companies and organizations that depend on chemical solvents for business-critical cleaning operations, the desire to use less chemical solvents while maintaining cleaning standards is a primary goal for two reasons: reducing the cost of solvent and improving the safety of solvent use for workers and the environment. If you wish to use less chemical solvents for these reasons, below are four effective ways to go about achieving the goal.
The impact of the green movement on the industrial cleaner industry has motivated the creation of safe, organic cleaning solvents that are as powerful as the hazardous chemical solvents they’re designed to replace. Substituting organic cleaners for chemical cleaners is one of the easiest ways to use less chemical solvents while maintaining cleaning standards.
When you shop for organic replacement cleaners, remember that just because a cleaner is “organic” doesn’t mean it’s safe. For safety’s sake, focus on identifying organic solutions that contain little to no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that negatively affect human health.
Even if you decide not to replace your chemical solvents, you can reduce your need to purchase them by recycling them. For example, high boiling solvents can be recycled by using them in a parts washer that applies a full vacuum to the cleaning chamber to draw solvent vapor into a condenser unit, where it condenses into liquid solvent that can be reused. Over time, solvent recycling can significantly reduce how much you spend on a cleaning solvent.
Another way to reduce solvent expense is purchasing chemical solvents in concentrated form. Concentrated solvent can be diluted until it attains the precise degree of cleaning power you need for specific cleaning operations. If you purchase a solvent in pre-diluted form, you may be using the cleaner in a formulation that delivers more power than you really need. Carefully diluting concentrated cleaner is another viable option for using less chemical solvents.
Some companies and organizations adopt the practice of using chemical solvents for practically all cleaning operations — even ones that don’t necessarily require the use of strong chemicals. For example, removing light accumulations of dirt and grease from work surfaces can often be accomplished with the use of an over-the-counter (OTC), safe organic cleaner. So, why use industrial grade cleaning solvents for applications for which they simply aren’t necessary?
How Ecolink Can Help
If one of your company or organization’s resolutions is to use less chemical solvents, Ecolink can support the goal by providing organically formulated solvents that are chemical-free. We can also supply you with chemical a solvent that may be perfect for recycling when it’s used in a parts washer, and reveal helpful strategies for using less chemicals without replacing them.
To inquire about our organic replacement cleaners and/or receive professional advice on minimizing the use chemical solvents you don’t plan to replace, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or use our contact page. We look forward to helping you use less chemical solvents.
How to Shop Solvent Parts Washers Online
/in Ecolink News/by Industrial DegreasersSolvent parts washers, which are machines in which parts are placed to undergo a highly controlled, solvent-based cleaning process, play a crucial role in the cleaning operations of companies and organizations around the world. Industrial grade parts washers can last for decades, but there comes a time when even the most reliable parts washer must be replaced, which brings us to the subject of this entry: How to shop for solvent parts washers online.
Why Shop Online?
Solvent parts washers are like most other products: You find the greatest abundance of them online. Buying in store provides a face-to-face custom service experience that many buyers appreciate when they make a significant investment in a washer, but if you shop with an online seller of parts washers whose website has contact information for sales support and technical support, you should receive great service there, too.
We recommend shopping online. However, whether you decide to shop online or in store for new solvent parts washers, there are at least five considerations to make before you secure a purchase: solvent compatibility, solvent recycling, wattage requirements, buying from a vendor versus buying from a manufacturer, and training time required to learn the equipment.
It’s much easier to implement a parts washer that can use your current parts washing solvents than to implement a washer that requires you to research and purchase a new line of industrial cleaners. As long as the solvents you use are doing the job and have a good safety profile, it makes the most sense to buy a washer that accommodates the solvents.
Some types of solvents, such as high boiling solvents, are good candidates for solvent recycling of the kind that separates the cleaning catalyst from used solvent so the former can be reused. Because the process is typically performed with a parts washer that exerts a vacuum on the cleaning chamber that pulls the catalyst into a condenser unit, be sure to choose a washer that operates in this capacity if solvent recycling is a part of your cleaning operations.
If the wattage of a new parts washer is greater than the wattage of the previous equipment, be sure that electricity conduction equipment that serves the washer’s operating environment (e.g., power inverters, frequency converters, power converters, etc.) can handle the additional electricity load. Otherwise, the equipment could experience premature wear and fail during service due to carrying a load that exceeds the equipment’s load size.
When it comes to receiving technical support, getting your parts washer straight from the manufacturer instead of a vendor offers an obvious advantage: The manufacturer knows its products better than anyone and can thus provide you with a higher level of pre-sale technical support that helps you choose the right model. Buying directly from the manufacturer can also save money, as it eliminates using a “middleman”, a vendor, to get what you need.
How long will it take workers to learn to use the new parts washer? For the sake of productivity, this question should be answered before you buy instead of after. The learning curve for using most solvent parts washers is rather small, but it does require workers to take a bit of downtime. If your company has daily production quotas, considering training time can be quite important.
Contact Ecolink
After you acquire your new parts washer, you’ll soon need to order more solvent to use with the equipment. If you need industrial solvents that are environmentally preferred, we recommend that you make Ecolink your solvent supplier. We supply stock and custom cleaners for a variety of cleaning needs, from the removal of light dirt to the removal of tough, organic accumulations.
To learn more about our eco friendly, industrial grade cleaning solutions, browse through our product list, or call us today at (800) 563-1305. We look forward to hearing from you.
Environmental Safety: Are There Different Types of Cleaning Solvents?
/in Solvents/by Industrial DegreasersCompanies that have industrial grade cleaning needs have hundreds of different cleaning solvents to choose from, depending on the type of cleaning that must be performed. These cleaning solutions can be differentiated in several ways. Since the green movement began and solvent users became more environmentally conscious, one of the most popular ways of distinguishing solvents is categorizing them based on their effect on the natural environment.
In terms of environmental safety, cleaning solvents are often placed in the following categories by the companies that supply them: toxic solvents, environmentally preferred solvents, and environmentally safe solvents. Below, we take a look at each classification regarding its general safety profile for the environment as a whole.
Toxic Solvents
In most cases, toxic solvents are cleaning solutions that have at least one ingredient that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers hazardous due to the substance’s negative effects on human health and the environment. Thankfully, there is no guesswork in choosing cleaning solvents whose ingredients are not regulated by the EPA. Cleaning solvent ingredients that are regulated by the EPA are posted in the organization’s List of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) that was originally created in 1990 as an extension of the Clean Air Act.
Environmentally Preferred Solvents
Environmentally preferred solvents are considered non-toxic to the environment, but they often contain some ingredients that workers should watch out for, particularly volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that instantaneously evaporate at room temperature. More often than not, these solvents contain a low percentage of VOCs per volume (e.g., 5%) if they contain VOCs at all. Due to the reasonably safe formulation of the cleaners, many companies and organizations have the opportunity to use environmentally preferred solvents in large volume.
Environmentally Safe Solvents
In terms of how they impact the environment, environmentally safe solvents are a step above environmentally preferred solvents. Whereas the latter type of solvents often contain a small percentage of potentially dangerous ingredients that are included strictly for cleaning purposes, the former type of solvents contain no such ingredients and are environmentally safe to use when they are applied according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Need Eco Friendly Cleaning Solvents?
If so, Ecolink is one of the best places to find them. We offer a wide array of cleaners that are environmentally preferred or environmentally safe. These solutions are ideal for companies that must carefully manage emissions, reduce or eliminate the presence of hazardous chemicals and/or volatile organic compounds in the work environment, and replace cleaners whose ingredients have been regulated by the EPA with cleaners whose ingredients are safer.
In addition to providing stock cleaners, we can formulate cleaning solvents that are tailored to unique cleaning requirements — and all of our industrial cleaners are competitively priced. To inquire about which of our environmentally prefered solvents and environmentally safe solvents are a good fit for your company or organization’s cleaning needs, please give us a call today at (800) 563-1305, or refer to our contact page. We look forward to hearing from you!
Industrial Degreasing: Simple Solutions for Your nPB Replacement Needs
/in N-Propyl Bromide/by Industrial DegreasersFor the past 20 years, n-propyl bromide (nPB) has been a highly popular, industrial solvent that is used for degreasing plastics, optics, and metal surfaces. In addition to providing excellent degreasing power, the solution is prized for its eminent affordability. However, considering that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appears poised to add NPB to the List of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) that was created in 1990 as an extension of the Clean Air Act, these benefits are currently of nominal value.
According to the EPA, “Based on the chemical and physical properties of nPB, petitioners [in the scientific community] claim that nPB is carcinogenic, has toxic reproductive effects and is a neurotoxin.” Consequently, the EPA “will launch a comprehensive review on the impact of the chemical n-Propyl Bromide, setting the stage on whether it should be added to a List of Hazardous Air Pollutants in the Clean Air Act” (Law360.com).
A Few Options for nPB Replacement From Ecolink
If your company or organization uses nPB in large quantities for industrial degreasing operations, now is the time to switch to a different degreaser that delivers the same efficacy as nPB but is formulated to be safer for humans and the environment. At Ecolink, we provide several degreasing solutions that meet this description. Depending on what you need to degrease and how you plan to degrease it, below are six nPB replacement options that could meet your requirements.
The products above are just a few of the industrial degreasing solutions that we offer for nPB replacement. In many cases, these and other Ecolink degreasing solvents can be used as drop-in replacements for cleaners that contain nPB, meaning that your degreasing processes can remain in full swing while your nPB degreasers are replaced with safer cleaning solutions.
Looking for an Effective nPB Replacement?
nPB has yet to be added to the EPA’s List of Hazardous Air Pollutants, but considering nPB’s negative association with the development of cancer and other chronic health problems, it appears that it’s only a matter of time before the EPA adds the hazardous, organobromine compound to the list. That’s why now is a great time to contact us about replacing nPB degreasers with ones that have a better safety profile but deliver the same cleaning power.
If you need assistance with assessing which of our nPB replacement cleaners are a good fit for what you plan to degrease and the method(s) of degreasing you plan to use, please call us today at (800) 563-1305, or refer to the contact page on our website. We look forward to presenting you with eco friendly, highly efficacious degreasing options for nPB replacement.