Industrial equipment is crucial in our modern society because it produces the goods and services we rely on daily. They’re helpful in various sectors like manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and transportation. These machines and tools can also perform heavy-duty tasks beyond human labor’s capabilities.
However, like other essential items, your industrial machines and tools need regular maintenance to ensure they function correctly and protect the assigned operators. While scheduled maintenance and emergency repairs are crucial, you can keep your equipment’s best condition with regular descaling and quality scale removers.
If you want your tools and machines to be more efficient and extend their lifespan, this article will delve into what a descaler is and why industrial property owners need it.
What Is a Descaler?
A descaler is a liquid that removes scales or mineral build-up from an appliance or machinery. Applying this agent during regular maintenance can help prevent further damage and safety hazards, maintain its best condition, and increase the equipment’s appeal.
What Surfaces Can Benefit from a Descaler?
You can use a descaler on many surfaces like copper, iron, fiber, steel, brass, and glass. Regular descaling can also benefit nickel, rubber, plastic, ceramic, titanium, and stainless steel surfaces.
What Machines Need Regular Descaling?
Professionals commonly use descaling for boilers, chillers, heat exchangers, and heat-treating machinery. Plastics, pulp & paper machinery, tires & rubber, vacuum pumps, wastewater facilities, and tankless water heaters can also benefit from this maintenance requirement.
How Can Mineral Deposit Affect Machines?
Scale occurs when minerals like calcium and magnesium build up inside boiler heating surfaces. When water turns into steam, any leftover materials will be left behind and form scale. Even small amounts of scale-forming materials in the water can coat the surface, leading to overheating, increased fuel usage, and tube failures. They can also cause damage like hot spots, cracking, and distortion.
Why Do You Need Boiler Maintenance?
Industrial properties must schedule regular boiler maintenance and an annual cleaning to remove mineral scales that can build up in the heater. These deposits inhibit heat exchange and cause the boiler to lose heat transfer efficiency, increasing fuel consumption. They also contribute to boiler tube failures, a significant cause of power plant outages.
Where Do Mineral Deposits Come From?
Mineral deposits occur in boilers because of operating hours, feed water hardness, boiler treatment methods, feed-water control functions, and blow-down techniques and procedures.
What’s a Descaler’s Main Purpose?
Professionals use scale removers to help maintain and extend the lifespan of various machines, appliances, and surfaces. They use them to eliminate limescale, rust, mud, and metal oxides like iron and copper from equipment, helping machinery operate efficiently. Descaling can also remove blockages and mineral build-ups from different surfaces like metals, plastics, and glass.
What Happens If You Don’t Descale Equipment?
Not cleaning industrial equipment properly with a descaler can cause issues like mineral build-up affecting the machines and manufacturing temperatures. This problem can increase costs because the machinery needs more energy to heat up to a given temperature.
Untreated mineral deposits can also impact cooling towers and chillers, leading to higher energy costs for facilities with large air conditioning networks or data centers.
Are Descalers Safe to Use?
General descalers are safe with proper use. On the other hand, heavy-duty or specialty descalers require careful handling. Regardless of your industrial-scale remover, you must understand the safety precautions and appropriate disposal methods.
While you can dispose of biodegradable scale removers in regular plant sewers, remember that not all are eco-friendly. You should also invest in agents that are safe for accidental skin contact and have no transportation or handling restrictions.
The Bottom Line
Industrial property owners must schedule regular upkeep to prevent expensive damages and efficiency. You can keep your machine’s best condition with regular descaling and investing in quality scale removers.
If your company needs professional descaling, let J&J Industrial Sales Inc. help! We’re a family-owned service-oriented business headquartered in Amherst, OH, committed to providing safe, cost-efficient, timely services to industrial properties nationwide. Contact us now to get a customized quote!