Disadvantages of Dry Ice Blasting
We often get asked about the advantages of blasting with dry ice. But customers also need to know the disadvantages of dry ice blasting. Its pointless telling the customer there isnt any, because as soon as we got to site, they will quickly find out some of the more obvious disadvantages!
Im not attempting to ‘do my industry out of work’ here. Im being more pragmatic and preparing any future customers on what to expect. After all, if you are searching this question and have ended up here, you are fulfilling you due dilligance and exploring both positive and negative aspects of our service. And, we believe, the positives outweigh the negatives or we wouldnt have been trading for 15 tyears!
The List
Noise
Dry ice blasting is noisy. There is no getting away from that fact. In some instances we have recorded 123Db at 5m from the blast gun. But on average we are around the 100Db mark.
Our Solution – Altough problematic, it can also easily be controlled. We circumnavigate the noise isse by erecting noise barrier systems around the workface. This has the effect of taking15-20Db’s off the volume! Echo barrier is a good, all round sysytem for controlling noise. We use it a lot!
Humidity
Dry ice blastings’ effectiveness can be hampered by certain conditions. For instance, in environments with high humidity, the dry ice pellets can sublimate too quickly, reducing their cleaning efficiency. This makes it less reliable in certain climates or industrial settings where humidity control is challenging. High moisture is our worst nighmare and can cause freeze ups inside the blast machine. This can take time to remedy and, potentially, could comprimise a job if there are time restictions.
Our Solution – In line driers are useful for taking moisture out of the air flow. This stops machine freeze up and keeps the work flow active. Storing dry ice in a cooler area also helps keeps moisture ‘locking’ into the pellets. Our best weapon is air flow. We take large fans on to site in order to keep air moving, this helps massively when controlling humidity.
Suitability
While dry ice blasting is effective in removing contaminants without leaving residue, it is not suitable for all surfaces. Delicate materials or surfaces with fine details can be damaged by the high-pressure pellets. This limits its applicability in industries that deal with sensitive equipment or require a gentler cleaning approach. Also, mineral based contaminants or ceramics are impossible to remove along with certain resins.
Our Solution – experience is key. We dont say ‘yes’ to every job for it to fail once on site. Offering an alterantive is the key. And with our 30 years of knowledge in industrial cleaning processes, we always have a plan B!