How Does It Compare?
The Leading Alternative
As you would expect from Cold Clean UK, as the UK’s leading supplier of Dry Ice Products and related services, quality comes as standard!
Whether it’s food, automotive, chemical or domestic applications for Dry Ice Blast Cleaning. At Cold Clean UK we have a network of world-leading partners, meaning that we only use the best and most effective products on the market. These industry connections allow us to pass that quality on to you the customer.
Traditional methods such as solvent and chemical cleaning, abrasive blasting, water jetting and hand cleaning are increasingly being challenged by new, more efficient and environmentally sound processes. Dry Ice Blast Cleaning has increasingly become the cleaning process of choice for many industries in the UK due to its versatility and cost-effectiveness.
Abrasive Blasting
Abrasive blasting is a common way of cleaning plant and machinery back to bare metal, however, it risks being too aggressive to the point that surface properties are detrimentally affected. It also affects surrounding surfaces and parts, creating mess and dramatically shortening the life of components through wear and tear.
Dry Ice Blasting is non-abrasive, environmentally friendly and typically more convenient. It won’t wear away surfaces or create additional waste for disposal. Also, Dry Ice Blasting equipment can simply be taken to the machinery, cleaning it in position without the need to dismantle equipment or shut down the plant for prolonged periods.
Soda Blasting
Soda blasting is less aggressive than most abrasive blasting, however, like all open blasting, it creates a great deal of secondary waste. The result is that the time spent blasting can be matched or even doubled by the time it takes to clean up the extra waste. Residue and waste can also stick to the material being blasted, making clearing up even more difficult and time-consuming.
Dry Ice Blasting isn’t simply non-abrasive; it can also achieve a far better, deeper clean, without the worry of secondary waste to dispose of. Additionally, soda blasting is also considered to harm the pH levels of the soil it comes into contact with Dry Ice leaves nothing – no waste, no clearing up and no environmental concerns to worry about.
High-Pressure Water Jetting
Water jetting is becoming increasingly limited due to the high volumes of wastewater it creates, and the associated environmental impact for its disposal. Water jetting can also cause flash rusting on cleaned surfaces. While water jetting creates a large volume of secondary waste, of course, water doesn’t mix with electricity either. Any applications on or in the vicinity of electrics such as welding lines, production lines, presses, motors or machine tools, can be hugely problematic.
Dry Ice Blasting is suitable for virtually any application – and, because there’s no water involved, it can be used on or near electrical equipment. Dry Ice also immediately sublimes during the cleaning process, leaving equipment clean and dry. Plus, with Dry Ice Blasting there’s no secondary waste, so it’s easier to clean up afterwards.
Solvent Cleaning
Solvents are undoubtedly bad for the environment and come with inherent personnel risks, not to mention the potential problems of user safety. Solvent cleaning is traditionally a two-stage process. First, the solvents are used to dissolve unwanted surface materials, and then a flushing, rinsing or hand tool operation may be required to remove the dissolved materials Because equipment often needs to be taken apart or extensively prepared before cleaning, solvent cleaning can also result in lengthy downtime.
On top of this are all the issues relating to solvent management and disposal. Dry Ice Blasting dissolves and blasts away unwanted material in a single step. Like solvents, it can simultaneously clean numerous objects with different, complex geometries. But unlike solvents, machines rarely need to be taken apart, saving on costly downtime. Plus, because dry ice evaporates on contact, there’s no secondary waste to clean up. And of course, there are no environmental or disposal issues to worry about.
Power Tool Cleaning
Although it’s a quick solution for flat, simple surfaces, power tool cleaning can also damage or wear surfaces. Dry Ice Blasting cleans equally as well but without the added wear on expensive moulds and other production tooling. It’s also faster, which is why it’s rapidly taking over power tool cleaning as the preferred method of cleaning in these situations.
Hand Tool Cleaning
Sometimes it’s faster and easier for operators to carry out some cleaning tasks by hand. But some hand tools can damage equipment. Dry Ice Blasting is the perfect solution for simple cleaning jobs too, and, it can be carried out in a fraction of the time.
Solutions to meet your needs
Contract Cleaning
Cold Clean UK has delivered consistent and cost-effective Dry Ice contract cleaning for over 20 years. Our Dry Ice Blasting services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Find out more.
Equipment
Hire
Cold Clean UK stocks a huge range of fully serviced Dry Ice Blasting units. Flexible hire options from single day through to extended hire. Equipment Hire is available complete with training.
Equipment Training
Cold Clean UK’s comprehensive Dry Ice Blaster training packages are delivered by our experienced Cryonomic® accredited technicians and conducted at your convenience.