This is one of the main advantages of solvent cleaning when compared to water cleaning. Water cleaning uses a great deal of electricty while solvent cleaning uses almost none. For customers in locations where electricity is expensive, vapor degreasing is the most energy efficient and affordable way to clean.

There are four design features in every water cleaning machine which make the systems very energy-intensive: the numerous, high-pressure pumps which move the water around the machine, the energy it takes to heat the cleaning water, the energy it takes to dry the parts, and lastly the energy it takes to treat and purify the water for re-use or disposal.

All of this additional work is required because of the inherent characteristics of water. Basically, water has high surface tension, and a high latent heat of evaporation. These are characteristics that no amount of fancy engineering can change.

Most cleaning problems have their basis in surface tension issues, and customers making precision mechanical components experience this frequently. The photo at rifgt (courtesy of Branson Ultrasonics) shows a set of tiny hollow pins which needed to be cleaned, inside and out. The Vertrel^® products, due to their low surface tension and high wetting index, can easily clean in these difficult circumstances. The high surface tension is a problem. It stops the water from going into tight spaces. That's why you need (a) to heat the water, and then (b)you need to use additives to boost the cleaning power and reduce surface tension, and finally you need (c) those big pumps to spray the water-and-additive mix in to tiny components.

Then, the high latent heat of evaporation causes still more problems because this is the characteristic which makes water a slow-drying cleaner. It takes a lot of heat and big, energy-sucking air knives to remove the aqueous resdiuals from the components.

At this point, the water has picked up the contamination -- in addition to the cleaning additives, the water may now be holding oils, or fluxes, or lead from the PCBs, and so on. That water, additives and contamination now must be treated to re-purify the water. Normal treatment facilities include reverse-osmosis systems and multiple stacks of de-ionizing filters. Obviously, this takes more electricity and more pumps to move the waste water through these cleansing processes.

Compare this to solvent cleaning, particularly solvent cleaning with Vertrel^®:

• There is no water to heat, which saves electricity. Instead the solvent is heated to only about 40° C/100° F which takes very little electricity.
  
  
• There are no big pumps required to push the solvent around, which saves electricity; the solvent moves by gravity.
  
  
• There are no blowers or "air knives" on vapor degreasers, which saves electricity; the solvent is trapped inside the machine and the components come out dry. (In fact, even motorized fans in fume hoods are not recommended near vapor degreasers because it increases solvent losses.)
  
  
• There is no waste treatment facility required, which saves electricity, because the degreaser is automatically, inherently and continuously re-purifying the solvent.

The net result is that the typical vapor degreaser uses about 30 amps or power when cleaning and one-tenth of that energy in stand-by (night) mode; many of the smallest machines use standard household electrical connections! This contrasts with water-cleaning systems which often require 440 volt circuits and big power panels, and their power consumption is measured in hundreds and thousands of amps.

This is one case where simpler really is better.

Please call, fax or email us at MicroCare Marketing Services
for more information about our full line of cleaning answers.