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Pharmaceutical · Miami, FL
Cleanroom Equipment Ice Blasting
Cleanroom Equipment is one of the jobs dry ice blasting was made for. We clean it without water, without chemicals and without anything abrasive touching the surface.
What builds up, and why it matters
On this kind of work the problem is process residue, flux, particulate and film on sensitive equipment. These environments have documented cleaning requirements and very low tolerance for residue, moisture or abrasive media. Dry ice leaves nothing behind because the media is gone.
Work is scoped against the facility's own procedures and containment requirements. The people who call us about cleanroom equipment are usually facilities and validation teams, and the thing they are actually worried about is introducing a contaminant while removing one.
The method
Why dry ice and not the alternatives
- Non-abrasive
Cleaning should not shorten the life of what you are cleaning. Because nothing scours the surface, a part can be cleaned again and again without wearing.
- Low moisture
Moisture is where rust and electrical faults start. Cleaning with dry ice keeps water off the part from start to finish.
- No secondary waste
Walnut shell and soda end up in every crack of a machine. Dry ice leaves no media behind, only the removed deposit.
- Often no teardown
In-place cleaning is the norm. Minimal disassembly means less time with the equipment offline and fewer parts to put back.
More pharmaceutical work
Related jobs we get called for
Questions we get asked first
Will it damage the surface underneath?
No grit touches the surface, so there is nothing to wear it down. The ice hits, breaks the deposit loose and vanishes. On anything we have not cleaned before, a quick test spot comes first.
Do you have to take the equipment apart for cleanroom equipment?
Rarely all the way. Dry ice does its work on whatever the nozzle can see, so we plan around access, open what has to be opened and leave the rest assembled.
How much mess does it make?
Customers are usually surprised at how little there is. Without blasting media to recover, the pile at the end is small, and we take care of it.
Do you come to us?
Yes. The rig is fully mobile and supplies its own air, so a driveway works as well as a plant floor. Our range runs from Miami out roughly a hundred miles through South Florida.
What does a job cost?
Honestly, it depends, and we would rather not quote blind. A few photos and a sentence about the access usually give us enough to price it properly.
How soon can you look at it?
Send a description today, photos if you have them. An owner looks at it and comes back to you, and if your timeline is tight we will say whether it is doable before you plan around us.
The comparison
The other ways to do this
- Solvent and degreaser
It loosens the mess and leaves its own behind, along with fumes and something to dispose of.
- Hand scraping
Slow enough to be uneconomic on a machine, and the tool always leaves a trace.
- Media blasting
Effective and indiscriminate. On soft metal or a finished surface it does damage you then have to fix.
- Pressure washing
It is fast and it is wet, which is fine outdoors and unusable on anything with a winding in it.
- Dry ice
The deposit shrinks away from the surface it is stuck to and releases. The ice is gone before it can do any harm.
What comes off
What comes off, and why
Not sure whether yours qualifies? Ask yourself whether it was added on top. If it was, the odds are good, and the common cases are listed below.
- Adhesive and sealant
Bonded material that outlived whatever it was bonding, usually harder to shift than the part it is on.
- Resin and mold release
Hardened resin on a fixture shrinks under the cold and lets go, and the metal under it does not lose any material.
- Paint and coatings
Selective removal, layer by layer, on parts where media blasting would cut into the substrate.
- Salt and corrosion product
A constant in South Florida. Removing it without stripping the protective finish is the whole trick.
- Ink and printing residue
Dried ink and coating build-up on rollers and press components, where the surface texture is the product.
- Food residue
Burnt-on product, fat and sugar on processing gear, with no chemical residue left on a contact surface.
- Grease and oil
Oil film is the layer everything else sticks to. Remove it and half the job is already done.
How a job runs
Nothing about this should be a surprise
Nobody should have to guess what they booked. This is every stage of a job in the order it happens.
- We test a small area
Rubber, plastic trim and wiring insulation react differently from metal. If any of that sits near the dirty area, the test checks it too, so we know where to back the pressure off or mask instead.
- We blast, then clean up
Nothing is left of the pellet, so the only thing to collect is what was on your equipment. That collection is part of the work we quoted.
- You look before we pack up
A second pass while everything is still connected is free in every sense. A return trip is not.
- You describe the job
What it is, what is on it and whether it can stop. If the answer is that dry ice is wrong for it, you get that answer first, not last.
- We look at access and containment
The layout decides the method more often than the contaminant does. We work out reach and containment before quoting anything.
What to expect on site
Solid CO2 leaves no film and nothing poisonous behind. In a sealed room, though, the gas it becomes takes the place of oxygen, and that is something we plan for ahead of time.
Expect noise. Everybody inside the working area wears hearing protection, us included.
Right after the work, the surface is chilled through. Depending on its size, that means a few minutes before it is comfortable to handle, or some moisture while it recovers.
No extension cords running across your shop. The air we blast with comes straight from the compressor on our truck.
Describe what you are dealing with.
A few lines and a picture are plenty. Your message goes straight to Giancarlo or Kenny, the two owners of the business.