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Miami-Dade County · Florida
El Portal dry ice blasting
When we take a job in El Portal, the rig comes to the machine rather than the other way round.
What a job looks like locally
Everything arrives on the van: compressor, hose, operator and containment. That is the practical reason a mobile rig beats hauling equipment somewhere: the machine never leaves El Portal.
Because the media disappears on impact, there is nothing abrasive left in a bearing and nothing to shovel up afterward. Whatever came off the surface is ours to gather before we leave.
What we clean
What we clean in and around El Portal
Nearby
Also working across Miami-Dade County
Questions from El Portal
What is the first step?
Describe the job and send a photo or two. Giancarlo or Kenny will call you, not a scheduler.
Will you travel to El Portal?
We do. The whole point of a mobile setup is that El Portal is no further than any other stop on the schedule.
Do you need anything set up before you arrive?
Just access and parking. There is no tap to find, no drain to use and nothing of yours to plug into.
Can you come outside business hours?
Generally yes. Weekend and overnight work is routine, and the limiting factor is usually noise, not us.
What do most jobs look like?
A mix, vehicle work, shop equipment, marine and light industrial. Same rig, different constraint each time.
Is there a travel charge?
Distance can factor in. You will hear about it up front, not on the invoice.
The local conditions
Humidity is the constant. Anything bare oxidizes faster than it would almost anywhere else. So the job is usually less about scrubbing harder and more about not making the underlying problem worse.
The mix here runs from vehicle work in driveways to production equipment inside industrial units. Whatever the setting, the rig arrives with its own compressor and containment, so nothing about the site has to change to accommodate us.
No runoff and no residual grit, which matters more than it sounds on a Miami-Dade County job with neighbors close by.
What comes off
What this takes off
The method does not care much what the contaminant is, only that it sits on top of something. Here is the usual list.
- Resin and mold release
Release agent builds up in thin layers until it shows on the finished part. We clean it off the tool without scratching the surface.
- Paint and coatings
Taken off in a controlled way when what is underneath matters more than speed.
- Salt and corrosion product
The year-round problem on the coast. The finish holding corrosion back has to survive the cleaning.
- Ink and printing residue
Ink and coating on anilox and press rollers, surfaces where changing the texture changes the print.
- Food residue
Carbonized product build-up in a plant where neither standing water nor a chemical film is acceptable.
- Grease and oil
The greasy base coat that traps grit and dust. It releases early and takes the loose material with it.
- Carbon and soot
Heat-bonded black deposit. Because heat put it there, a sudden cold front is what breaks its grip.
How a job runs
The sequence, start to finish
There is no mystery to how these jobs run, and no part of it we would rather you did not ask about.
- We test a small area
Old paint can be fragile in ways that don’t show until it is hit. A small patch out of view tells us how it will behave.
- We blast, then clean up
The ice is gone on impact. What is on the floor afterward came off your machine, and clearing it is ours to do.
- You look before we pack up
If something needs another pass we do it then, on site, while the rig is still running. That is a better outcome for everyone than a callback.
- You describe the job
Be specific about the constraint. A machine that can stop for a weekend is a different job from one that has to keep running beside us. Tell us what it is and what is on it, add a photo, and we will say plainly if dry ice fits.
- We look at access and containment
Hose run, compressor position, what needs masking, and where the contaminant is collected. For food and electrical jobs the containment plan takes longer to settle than the blasting does.
The comparison
Why not just pressure wash it
- Hand scraping
Labor-intensive and uneven, and whatever you scrape with eventually marks what you are scraping.
- Media blasting
Cuts into the substrate by design. Fine on structural steel, wrong on aluminum, plating, machined faces or anything with a tolerance.
- Pressure washing
Forces water where water should not go, looms, bearings, seams, and then the job stops while it dries.
- Solvent and degreaser
Good at softening, bad at leaving. There is always a residue and always a drum to get rid of.
- Dry ice
The pellet is soft and the mechanism is temperature, not abrasion. It turns to gas on impact, so the only thing left to sweep up is what came off.
Before we turn the rig on
The noise is the one thing that surprises people the first time. It stops the moment the hose does, and nothing about it lingers.
The surface ends up colder than the room around it. That is the only thing the process leaves, and it goes away by itself.
You will not lose an outlet or a circuit to us. The compressor on the truck runs the blaster on its own.
Masking happens first. Whatever is adjacent and vulnerable gets covered before the hose is picked up.
Tell us what needs cleaning.
Let us know what the surface is made of if you know it. Painted, bare or plated changes how we approach the job.