Tag: cleaning

Clean Up Clean Up… Everybody Do Your Part

Published on by Brian Farno2 Comments

Okay, if the title doesn’t get the song stuck in your head, maybe the YouTube video will. Whenever our kids were younger, my wife and I would start to sing this song when the kids didn’t want to help clean up, and then we would just be singing and trying to get them to clean up with the words. Eventually, they would help…

1 – Clean Up – Barney

So what does this have to do with industrial compressed air? Well, the compressed air system generally starts in a remote corner or location in the facility that not many people venture to. It is often where there is minimal routine cleaning that can directly impact the well-being of the air compressors for a facility.

We’ve blogged about this many times on critical ways to improve your compressed air system, and we often touch on ensuring you have clean compressed air. That all starts with the room or areas the compressors are housed in. If you keep the area clean and keep the air exchanging there, then the compressor has clean, fresh air to entrain and begin the compression process. If your compressor condensate drain just goes into a puddle and oil dry gets thrown on top of it, then that dust and debris all begin to become airborne over time. That gets entrained into the intake and not to mention the smell and biomass that begins to generate is rather foul. If oil or some other lubricant gets spilled and not cleaned up when it happens, then when a real leak develops on the compressor it can’t be found because the area is already covered in oil and grime that never gets cleaned.

The notorious “Compressor Closet” that never gets opened in a small shop.

When trying to perform preventative maintenance and the area is littered with debris, oil dry, unused parts, and dimly lit, you can’t easily see or find all the maintenance points on the equipment and will often spend more time trying to clean the area up than the actual maintenance takes. Adding a cleaning process to the weekly routine of the area is one of the best things that can be done for the compressor room/area. It makes operators more aware of where the compressed air is coming from and should anything not look right, it makes it easier to see and report.

If you would like to talk about other key components to optimizing your compressed air system, contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno, Application Engineer

More Benefits Than Being Adjustable

Published on by Brian Farno2 Comments

Years ago I was working with a pet food manufacturer who was having issues with their bag opening machine. The problem they had with their existing setup was the dust from manufacturing processes would get sucked into the venturi and start to decrease their performance. Hence, they needed a better solution that wouldn’t need to be replaced and could be cleaned.

Adjustable E-Vac

The bags were empty, and this vacuum generator was positioned to pull the bag open. The bags were made of a non-porous material as they had a coating on them and thus the actual action of opening the bag was not difficult. Enter dust through the throat of a small venturi, and it caused several downtimes that were not scheduled. When looking at the performance characteristics of their existing system I crossed that over to an EXAIR model 840008M – Adjustable E-Vac w/ Straight Through Muffler. This unit was able to open the bag and hold it open for their machine needs. The throat passage of the unit was also larger than their existing generator and the biggest benefit, the Adjustable E-Vac could easily be taken apart and cleaned. To see how easy they are adjusted, which is the same method used to take them apart, check out this previous video blog linked in the image below.

The process changed from changing an existing vacuum generator out, scrapping the old one, and putting in a new one to keeping two on hand. One (EXAIR Adjustable E-vac) that is in operation and functioning, then after a designated amount of time (predictive maintenance), they change it out for the spare (EXAIR Adjustable E-vac) vacuum generator. The second part of the process involves breaking the used one down (without the need for any specialized tools), to clean each of the three pieces on the unit. The refurbished unit is then reassembled, benchmarked for performance, and put on the shelf for the next maintenance cycle.

While this system uses the same volume of compressed air as their previous solution, we still save money in the amount of unusable replacements they were ordering with repairable units, allowing them to keep a working spare on hand. So it saves the customer money on the life of the product. A further benefit is the customer can also get the EXAIR Adjustable E-Vacs quickly as they are standard stock item for us at EXAIR and can ship the same day on orders received by 2 PM ET.

If you want to discuss how an Adjustable E Vac makes sense for you and your team, contact an Application Engineer today!

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Spring Cleaning & Free STUFF

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

That’s right in case you didn’t notice, Spring is upon us and that generally means a good amount of cleaning is coming into your lives. I have been cleaning up the yard, garage, patio, shed, and even basement just trying to get everything for being outside more and making sure all of my equipment is ready to go for the warmer weather. The good news for you is that EXAIR is making Spring cleaning even better in your industrial setting with our new promo.

Right now, purchase any EXAIR Industrial Housekeeping System and receive a FREE Vac-U-Gun! The best part about these pneumatically driving vacuums is that there are no carburetors to clean them, and no batteries to charge, just plug them into your shop air and go. Whether you need a liquid vacuum, dry vacuum, or wet/dry vacuum, we have a product that will fit your need and if you aren’t sure, we have a dedicated team of Application Engineers here to help.

EXAIR's new Chip Trapper
EXAIR’s new Chip Trapper

For liquid vacuums, we offer the Chip Trapper which permits you to filter solids from the liquid being sucked up, then pump the filtered liquid right back out of the 30, 55, or 110-gallon drum. Filter bags are available in 1, 5, 25, 50, 100, and 200-micron ratings. The High Lift Chip Trapper is the same principle just near double the vacuum level so you can suck more viscous liquid or sub-grade sumps clean.

The Reversible Drum Vac and High Lift Reversible Drum Vac use the same vacuum generators as their Chip Trapper counterparts and give you the ability to use a 5, 30, 55, or 110-gallon drum to empty a sump and pump all the contents into another container. (5 gallon is only available in the standard Reversible Drum Vac, no High Lift version.) I know I’ve told the story before, I used to utilize a Reversible Drum Vac when I was in the metal cutting industry. As I was setting up trade show booths full of metal cutting machines, I would hook my RDV up to the drums and pump machines full of premixed coolant, then at the end of the show, I would suck all the sumps dry and be waiting for load out while other booths would still be fooling around with an electric vacuum or waiting on another service that had a large tow-behind system.

(Left to right) Chip Vac, Heavy Duty Dry Vac, Heavy Duty HEPA Vac

When it comes to dry vacuums, the Chip Vac, Heavy Duty Dry Vac, and Heavy Duty HEPA Vac are all ideal due to their no moving parts and simplistic design to get the job done. Whether it is a machine shop cleaning up chads and chips, a grinding shop cleaning up fines, or even a general facility cleaning dirt, debris, and scraps from the floor, these vacuums hook straight to shop air and are ready to work. The filters can all be cleaned and reused or replaced if you chose. They again, fit standard drum sizes and can even include the drum with the purchase.

For critical dust containment, the HEPA EasySwitch Wet-Dry Vac System is your durable, reliable, compressed air operated solution!

Lastly, our EasySwitch Wet/Dry Vac is the only vacuum I know of on the market that can be converted from wet to dry in less than 10 seconds and still have no internal moving parts. The unit is honestly a game changer compared to the electric equivalent and doesn’t have a motor or impeller to wear out.

Then, to top any purchase of those units off, the current promotion enables end users in the US or Canada to receive a Vac-U-Gun for free. This is a tool that many utilize to blow down a workstation, then turn around and vacuum everything up off the floor.

If you would like to discuss any of these systems more in-depth, since I stayed at a high-level explanation, please feel free to contact an Application Engineer.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Cleaning Foam From Beer Bottles

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

I was contacted by a company that was bottling beer; and they had an issue that they wished to solve.  They were producing 35,000 bottles per hour in two different sizes; the 24 oz. (710 mL) bottles and the “stick it in a brown paper bag” 32 oz. (946 mL) bottles.  The problem area was located at the wash system after capping the beer bottles.  They sprayed a solution of water and a low-concentration of chlorine dioxide as an antimicrobial agent.  Sanitation is at a premium to eliminate any bacteria growth. 

Currently, they were using two sets of three liquid nozzles that were spraying a flat pattern at the top and both sides of the bottle, just under the cap (reference photo below).  The issue that they were experiencing was too much solution was being used as well as creating a slip hazard on the floor outside the wash system.  They tried to reduce the liquid pressure to lessen the amount of solution, but the stream was not strong enough to clean properly.  So, they asked if the EXAIR Air Atomizing Nozzles could be a better solution.

Washing system

With liquid solutions, the smaller the particle size, the greater the surface area.  With higher surface areas, less liquid can be used to cover the same target area.  For this application; I recommended the model EF1040SS External Mix Atomizing Nozzle with a narrow-angle flat fan spray pattern.  The liquid spray pattern matched their current nozzles, and the liquid flowrate produced by this Atomizing Nozzle was within their recommendation.  By adding compressed air, we can shear liquid into much smaller particle sizes.  And as mentioned above, we can use less liquid to cover the same area.  Another feature of the EXAIR External Mix Atomizing Nozzles, the liquid and air pressures are independent.  Unlike the liquid nozzles that they were using, the liquid pressure can be changed while the air pressure can be increased.  Now, they can get a hard-hitting force to remove the beer foam while using less liquid.  This was exactly what this customer needed.   

EF1040SS

I suggested six pieces of the EF1040SS to replace each liquid nozzle to keep the same coverage around the caps.  The stainless-steel construction makes the Atomizing Nozzle corrosive resistant for Food and Beverage applications.  The flat fan pattern is able to reach multiple bottles and hit the target area evenly.  The amount of solution can be controlled by the liquid pressure and by the manual liquid needle valve.  So, the setup can be “dialed” in for the exact amount of cleaning solution needed to clean the bottles without flooding the floor.  This was important for safety as well as saving the company money by using less solution.  For this application, they were able to use about 20% less liquid.

If you have high-value liquids that you would like to spray evenly, efficiently, and effectively; EXAIR Air Atomizing Nozzles can do that for you.  We offer three different port sizes with a variety of liquid flowrates and spray patterns.  If you would like to discuss more about an application or need help in selecting the correct model, an Application Engineer will be happy to assist you.  For the customer above, the bottles were cleaned and ready to “pop the top”.  

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Photo: Empty brown beet bottles by manfredrifchter.  Pixabay License