Many industries use industrial ovens to heat treat, cure, and dry parts. With continuous use, oven residues deposit on the inside and may interfere with heat transfer, uniform heating, product quality, and cleanliness. To maintain product quality, manufactures routinely clean industrial ovens during preventative maintenance periods or scheduled maintenance shutdowns.
The Challenge Of Industrial Oven Cleaning
An automotive manufacturer contacted Snow White Services to find a new, efficient method to clean industrial ovens used for pretreatment.
The manufacturer used the industrial oven to cure the e-coat on manufactured parts. Due to continuous production, a carbon based residue condensed on the walls, floors and ceilings of the oven and as the residue thickened, it began to flake off the oven and deposit on the manufactured products.
During the annual maintenance shutdowns, the manufacturer cleaned the pretreatment oven using 25 technicians. The technicians used wire brushes and industrial oven cleaning chemicals to remove the surface residue. The entire process consumed 9 days, 5,400 hours of labor, 462 cans (12 oz.) of industrial oven cleaner, 67 wire brushes, and 3,500 white cotton terry cloths.
Due to the expense and time required for cleaning, the manufacturer needed an economical and timely solution.
The Dry Ice Blasting Solution
Snow White Services tested several alternative cleaning methods and developed a cleaning protocol using dry ice blasting. Dry ice blasting removed the industrial oven residue quickly and did not introduce a secondary waste stream.
The dry ice blasting services efficiently removed the carbon residue from the walls, floor, and ceiling of the industrial oven and proved to be an effective industrial oven cleaning method.
Benefits of Dry Ice Blasting
The dry ice blasting services used 8 technicians, 360 labor hours (3 days), and 15,000 pounds of dry ice. The dry ice blasting solution saved the client $65,000 and reduced labor time by 93% and cleaning time by 66% compared to the former cleaning method.
Snow White Services removed the residue with dry ice blasting, eliminated the use of hazardous chemicals, minimized cleaning costs and time, and avoided the generation of secondary wastes during the process.
