How do you get the longest life from expensive industrial equipment?
We all know that well-maintained equipment lasts longer. Downtime is costly. Repairs chew up budgets. Equipment replacement? Don’t even think about it. It’ll ruin your day.
Fortunately:
Industrial water jetting is one of the best methods to clean and maintain your equipment and massively prolong its operational life. This high-powered cleaning method blasts away at some of the nastiest deposits no other method can touch.
What’s more…
It’s environmentally friendly, super-efficient and can save you thousands in repair and replacement costs.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- What Is Industrial Water Jetting?
- Why Equipment Maintenance Is Important Now More Than Ever
- How Industrial Water Jetting Can Prolong Equipment Life
- Key Industries That Benefit the Most
- Jump-Starting Your Water Jetting Program
What Is Industrial Water Jetting?
Industrial water jetting uses a pressurised stream of water to clean surfaces, remove contaminants, and prep equipment for maintenance.
Pressures range from 10,000 PSI to over 60,000 PSI depending on the task at hand. The high pressure is strong enough to remove rust, scale, grease, concrete residue and much more without harming the base surface.
Wow!
This is possible because the tech converts the water pressure into kinetic energy. The force of water exiting through specialised nozzles at high velocity can break the bond between the surface and any attached contaminants.
This also makes it effective at removing:
- Paint and coatings
- Rust and corrosion
- Grease and oil buildup
- Mineral deposits and scale
- Chemical residues
And here’s the best part…
It does this using water alone. Water jetting removes tough grime and buildup without abrasive blasting or harmful chemicals. There’s no secondary waste produced. Just clean and ready to use equipment.
Why Equipment Maintenance Is Important Now More Than Ever
Here are a couple of startling stats:
Infraspeak reports that 67% of facility managers indicate ageing equipment as their biggest future obstacle. That’s a lot of people worried about machinery failure.
It gets worse…
Facilities experience an average of $260,000 in lost business per hour when something goes offline unexpectedly. This is a major issue since the financial impact of sudden equipment failure is well beyond repair costs.
This problem extends to the global industrial cleaning market as well. The market size is expected to reach $25 billion by 2027 as the emphasis on preventive maintenance rises.
The bottom line is…
Equipment cleaning isn’t optional anymore. It’s necessary for survival.
How Industrial Water Jetting Can Prolong Equipment Life
Industrial water jetting can tackle some of the root causes of equipment degradation.
Grease, grime and mineral deposits may just look dirty. But they actively damage components with time. Buildup causes friction, which creates heat. The heat then wears out equipment parts at an accelerated rate.
Water jetting removes those contaminants before this chain reaction can start.
Prevent Corrosion
Water jetting can remove rust, corrosion and scale from all sorts of equipment and infrastructure. This is especially useful before applying protective coatings. It not only extends service life by removing existing damage, but it also sets up a barrier against future corrosion as well.
Improve Heat Transfer Efficiency
Water jetting is amazing at removing scale buildup from heat exchangers. In many industries, these deposits dramatically reduce the efficiency of any industrial equipment involved in heat transfer. Jetting removes the internal deposits that restrict flow and insulate the surfaces, so heat exchangers run at peak efficiency and extend the life of the component.
Protect Lubrication Systems
The lubrication systems in any piece of industrial equipment are essential to operation, but also very expensive. Dirt, debris, and contaminants all work to destroy lubrication systems over time. When that happens, expensive components start to wear out much faster. Jetting keeps equipment clean and the lubrication able to do its job, so components are well-protected from premature wear.
Prepare Surfaces
Before you apply protective coatings, or perform repairs, surfaces often need proper cleaning to ensure things like paint will adhere properly. Water jetting creates ideal surface conditions, which maximises the ability for coatings to stick, and protect equipment for the long-term.
Key Industries That Benefit Most
There are a ton of different industries and applications where water jetting delivers tangible benefits.
Manufacturing
Factories need to keep machinery clean to meet certain quality standards in order to produce good products. Water jetting will remove contaminants from production lines, processing machinery and assembly systems to give you the clean equipment needed to create better products with fewer defects.
Oil and Gas
Pipeline maintenance for this industry is a major focus since safety and efficiency are of paramount importance. Water jetting clears blockages and removes pipeline and storage tank deposits without damaging the infrastructure itself, keeping operations running smoothly for a longer period.
Marine and Shipping
Ships can build up marine growth and rust that can really hamper performance and increase fuel consumption. Water jetting blasts all that off and preps hulls for new coatings so you can slash drag and reduce fuel use by a large margin.
Food Processing
Food safety and hygiene standards are non-negotiable. Water jetting can eliminate any bacteria harbouring residues on processing equipment without chemical contamination, while also protecting expensive stainless steel machinery.
Construction
Concrete equipment, cranes, and heavy machinery see a lot of abuse on construction sites. Water jetting can remove concrete residue, sand and debris that lead to premature equipment wear and tear, keeping your construction equipment operating for a long time.
The Environmental Advantage
Traditional cleaning methods involve either harsh chemicals or abrasive blasting media.
Water jetting does neither.
The only byproduct of water jetting is the removed materials mixed with water. This water and residue can be filtered out and recycled on site, which results in massive savings for waste disposal and reduced environmental liability.
Workers also benefit from this, too. No toxic chemicals or abrasive blasting dust to breathe in means reduced risk of health problems and lower insurance costs.
Jump-Starting Your Water Jetting Program
Planning to use water jetting as part of your maintenance program needs to be done correctly.
Evaluate Current Equipment Condition
Evaluate which assets would benefit the most from industrial water jetting. Signs of corrosion, loss of efficiency or excessive wear are good places to start when looking for equipment that would benefit.
Set Maintenance Schedules
Preventative maintenance is the key with water jetting. Cleaning before issues occur will ensure you have longer equipment lifespans. Professionals can help you determine the cleaning frequencies to best suit the operating conditions and equipment type.
Train Personnel
Water jetting isn’t something you can do without training personnel first. Jetting requires expertise for safe and effective application. Operators need to have an understanding of the equipment capabilities, as well as safety protocols and best practices when operating the equipment.
Measure Results
The proof is in the results. Monitoring equipment performance pre and post-application of industrial water jetting is the best way to track results and show improvements. Documenting these improvements in efficiency, less downtime and extended component life will help you make the case for continuing to use water jetting to maintain equipment.
Summing Up
Industrial water jetting is a game-changer in equipment maintenance and service life.
Water jetting provides:
- Thorough cleaning without damage to surfaces
- Extended equipment operational life
- Lower maintenance costs over time
- Environmental friendliness
- Improved worker safety
By blasting off the contaminants that lead to wear, corrosion and loss of efficiency, industrial water jetting is a great way to help facilities protect their valuable equipment assets.
The choice is yours. Invest now in the form of preventive maintenance through water jetting or pay much more later to have equipment repaired and/or replaced.
Equipment longevity is more about making informed maintenance decisions rather than luck.
