High
pressure water sandblasting is done
above and below water. It is a very
controllable cleaning process. The
pressure and flow can be adjusted
for any cleaning job from removing
surface dirt to stripping chipped
paint or barnacles. High
pressure cleaning is a flexible
cleaning system also. It can be
a portable, manual system with
several guns to accommodate
hard-to-get-at spots or a
portable, automatic system with
a specially designed oscillation
nozzle arm to follow the whole
contour of the ship’s hull.
A high pressure pump is part of a
truck-mounted, diesel-powered manual
system. The manual system was chosen
because it can adapt to the varied
cleaning jobs of this contractor who
refurbishes small pleasure craft, as
well as, larger commercial vessels.
The pump delivers 45 lpm and 320
Kg/cm2 of water to remove
the most stubborn attackers of these
ship hulls. When paint is removed, a
rust inhibitor is used to prevent
further rust development until the
vessel is repainted. It has been
found that high pressure blasting is
much more effective than the old
by-hand method with brushes and
scrapers in removing the rhizoid of
weed spores or barnacles. The old
cleaning methods didn’t get at the
root of the problem and the growth
quickly reappeared. When the
cleaning task is especially
stubborn, this cleaning system can
be quickly converted to a
wet-sandblaster.
APPLICATIONS OF
WATER SANDBLASTING
