| Q1. |
How does dry ice
blasting work? |
| A. |
In basic terms we are
simply using the kinetic energy of the dry ice particle
to hit the target relocating the contaminate. Unlike the
chiseling effect of grit blasting, dry ice creates a
nonabrasive gas flushing action. |
|
| Q2. |
How do I store
dry ice? |
| A. |
Air is dry ice's worst
enemy. It just simply needs to be kept in a well
insulated container usually provided by the dry ice
manufacturer. Putting dry ice in a freezer will not help
its shelf life. |
|
| Q3. |
How long can I
store dry ice? |
| A. |
From the time it is
made you can have usable ice for up to 14 days. We
typically advise our customers the ice should be used in
3 to 5 days from delivery. Older ice can cause
inconsistent feeding and may slow your removal rate due
to the ice getting softer. "losing its density". |
|
| Q4. |
Where do I get
dry ice? |
| A. |
There are typically
more than one supplier in your area. Contact your
representative for more information. |
|
| Q5. |
How are dry ice
pellets produced? |
| A. |
Dry ice is
manufactured using liquid carbon dioxide (CO2).
Liquid CO2 is stored in a bulk tank at 300 psi. To form
dry ice pellets the liquid CO2 is sent through an
orifice or expansion valve into a chamber. The pressure
drop created going through the orifice cause the liquid
to flash into gas and dry ice snow. The dry ice snow is
then compressed into rice-sized pellets and the gas is
vented to atmosphere or recovered to be reused. The
conversion from liquid to solid is approximately 46%. |
|
| Q6. |
What kind of
safety equipment do I need? |
| A. |
In most applications:
face shield, long sleeve shirt, gloves, eye protection,
earplugs and headsets are typically sufficient. |
|
| Q7. |
How much dry ice
will I use? |
| A. |
2-3 pounds per minute.
Typically is sufficient in most applications |
|
| Q8. |
Does using more
ice per minute speed up my removal rate? |
| A. |
No, more is not better
in most applications. |
|
| Q9. |
What is the cost
of operation? |
| A. |
Cost of operation will
depend on the feed rate and cost per pound of the ice.
An on-site demo is the best way to determine your actual
cost. |
|
| Q10. |
Can I get an
onsite demo? |
| A. |
Link: See Demo Q&A. Click Here. |
|
| Q11. |
How do I get
training? |
| A. |
Upon the delivery of
your system we will provide onsite start up assistance
and safety training. |
|
| Q12. |
Why would I use
dry ice cleaning instead of a traditional blasting
media? |
| A. |
Dry ice is typically
used in applications where you would not want any left
over media or where other types of media may cause
damage i.e. sand, soda, water, etc. also in some
applications dry ice is faster than current methods. |
|
| Q13. |
Do I freeze the
contaminate? |
| A. |
No, This is one the
misconceptions on the technology we don't freeze the
contaminate and hit it with a hammer and it falls to the
ground. While their are rare cases where freezing is
helping the removal process it is not common. |
|
| Q14. |
Where does the
contaminate go? |
| A. |
We are simply
relocating the contaminate it will go somewhere: floor,
other parts of your target, etc. While most of the time
you can control where it goes with proper blast
techniques and blast pressures. |
|
| Q15. |
What type of dry
ice do I need? |
| A. |
Rice style pellets. |
|
| Q16. |
Can you use dry
ice blasting to clean hot tools online? |
| A. |
Yes. It will actually
speed up the removal rate. A cool tool will typical take
longer to clean. |
|
| Q17. |
What is the
power supply and how much will I need? |
| A. |
All you need is cool
dry compressed air our system is all pneumatic.
Most applications require on the low end 60cfm at 60 psi
up to 220 cfm at 100 psi |
|
| Q18. |
Will dry Ice
cleaning damage my substrate? |
| A. |
Typically No, Dry ice
cleaning is a non abrasive process. In most cases, there
is no etching or profiling it is more of a flushing
action. In rare cases i.e. soft surfaces such as wood,
drywall, and soft plastics etc. could possibly be
damaged if the machine's parameters are set too high
(too much ice, too high of blast pressure, wrong nozzle
etc.). |
|
| Q19. |
Does dry ice
cleaning cool the substrate? |
| A. |
Yes, but not
dramatically generally the temperature change of the
surface being cleaned is small. |
| |
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