When you begin to do your research on industrial parts washers, you’ll have questions.
- What kind of parts washer would be best to use for your specific need?
- Can you purchase one already made or should you have a parts washer custom designed?
- How much space will the parts washer take up on your shop floor?
- How many employees will it take to operate?
Another question you should ask, particularly when it comes to aqueous parts washers is: How often will you need to replace the aqueous cleaning product? If you’re a business owner in the market for a parts cleaner, how can you know the answer to this question?
How Often Should You Change Your Aqueous Cleaning Product?
While aqueous parts washers use water-based solutions to clean instead of petroleum-based solvents, those solutions require cleaning formulations to do their work (in addition to heat, agitation, and soap action). Those cleaners have a limited lifespan. Even when you combine a parts washer with a washer washer, the cleaners do not last forever; they degrade. A number of factors influence how long they will do their job effectively. These are:
The amount of dirt, grease, or swarf the cleaner has to remove
How dirty are the individual parts and how many parts are there to clean? Is the “dirt” just dirt or is it debris or swarf? What is the overall workload? If the parts are very dirty, the cleaner will lose its effectiveness sooner and you will have to replace it.
The size of the sump
The size of the sump determines how much soil in solution the parts washer will be able to accommodate before the solution no longer works to clean. The smaller the sump, the sooner the cleaner will need to be replaced.
Because the soil composition varies based on the parts themselves and how they are used, it’s difficult to estimate how long a cleaner will last. It’s a good question to ask your parts washer manufacturer. The engineer who designs the parts washer will have an idea.
After you have installed your parts washer and begin to use it, you can monitor how clean your parts are bath after bath and then determine when the cleanliness levels dip below specification. When you observe this process several times, you’ll have a better idea of how often you will have to replace the cleaning product for your parts washer to remain effective.
If you are looking at parts washers and would like to know how a specifically designed washer can and would work to clean your parts better and more efficiently, contact us at AEC Systems. We would love to talk to you about your needs and how we can design a system to meet them.