What Goes Up Must Get Cleaned: The Dirty Facts about Escalator Cleaning
Things can get pretty sticky in the escalator business.
Dirty handrails are easily wiped down. It’s the treads beneath your feet where the real cleaning expertise comes into play. Escalators are subjected to every kind of dirt, debris and mess that can be tracked in, spilled or dropped.
From hordes of teenagers schlepping cherry slushies on a Friday night at the shopping mall to casino patrons juggling drinks on their way to the blackjack tables, escalator treads catch it all.
But cleaning them poses more than a few challenges. Hydroblasting and cleaning with chemicals pose a risk to the electrical components beneath the treads. As a result, electricians who maintain escalators may specify hand cleaning or even the dismantling and removal of the treads for off-site cleaning.
There’s no sugar coating it: cleaning escalators is a tedious and exhausting process.
A Cleaning Method Tailored for Difficult Jobs
The good news? Polar Clean dry ice blasting is tailor-made for sticky scenarios like these. A water-less and debris-free process powerful enough to break through hardened-build up but capable of a dusting-like application around sensitive equipment, dry ice blasting – also known as CO2 cleaning – is fast, effective and safe. Polar Clean processes have been further refined over decades of innovation that includes proprietary dry ice blasting equipment and special nozzle designs that enable the cleaning of hard-to-reach places and complex machinery.
Dry Ice Blasting Results & Casino Example
Escalator cleaning is a complex job. Apart from the endless variety of grime that may be involved and the potential need for disassembly, the risk of collateral damage is high when water or other media is introduced. Any machinery cleaned by a water-based method faces the threat of rust, mold or mildew as well as damage to electrical components. Residual moisture can gum up the inner workings of machinery like, well, gum on an escalator.
Our work recently at a Detroit-area casino saved our client the trouble and expense of having to dismantle, clean and reassemble an escalator to avoid the hazards of water-based cleaning. We got the job done in under two shifts with results that left the escalator gleaming. It’s a safe bet we’ll be asked back.
Dry ice blasting is an environmentally safe method of breaking surface adhesion on contact to remove dirt, grime, rust and other material buildup without water or messy media to clean up. Unlike the various materials used in abrasive blasting methods, dry ice dissipates on contact, with no residual waste to remove.
Other advantages to dry ice blasting for escalator maintenance include:
- Speed: the process is quick with no cleanup required so an escalator can be thoroughly cleaned in one shift
- Dry: there’s no water to dispose of afterward, and no risk of rust, mildew or damage to equipment or electrical components
- Good for Tight Spaces: Polar Clean’s patented variety of specialized nozzles, as well as varied ice pellet sizes, enables cleaning in tight spaces and intricate crevices
- Precision: while dry ice blasting can clean a large surface area, the blast can be adjusted to provide a narrow dusting of delicate components
Is Dry Ice Blasting Right for You?
If you’ve got a cleaning job complicated by sensitive equipment or processes, or hard-to-reach areas where hand cleaning would take too long and hydroblasting isn’t a realistic option, dry ice blasting may be the solution you need. From the cleaning of food processing facilities, to historic restoration projects, to petrochemical and power generating facilities, maintenance and facility managers across many industries rely on Polar Clean to get the deep cleaning they need without risk to their products, equipment or electrical components.
Polar Clean specializes in jobs where other methods have failed or pose too great a risk of collateral damage. Our team is well-trained, experienced and certified for the most difficult jobs, including working at heights, in confined spaces, and in areas where a respirator is required. Speak to a dry ice blasting expert today to learn more and to get a quote.