New environmental cleaning equipment can help you keep up with recent regulations stemming from the Clean Water Act. There are many ways to power wash surfaces without spending alot on environmental cleaning equipment and we’ll be happy to help. Environmental Cleaning Equipment includes Vacuums, Oil-Water Separators, Berms, Booms and Oil Socks. Environmental cleaning is becoming a necessity for the mobile contract cleaner every day. Sun Brite Supply’s prices for environmental cleaning equipment usually cost less than other power washing supply stores for environmental cleaning equipment!
The most important part of any environmental cleaning equipment or reclaim system is the vacuum. You need a vacuum to do the job right. A vacuum’s true power rating is based on airflow and suction, not amps or hp. Don’t be fooled by hp ratings, which are ratings of “effective hp” instead of true hp.
Environmental Cleaning Equipment
A normal vacuum designed for dry soils has a high airflow rating and a low suction rating. A vacuum specifically designed for environmental cleaning to carry liquids has a lower airflow rating and a higher suction rating for environmental cleaning. To understand the difference between airflow and suction in environmental cleaning equipment, let’s describe airflow. Airflow relates to air volume. The airflow of vacuums is measured in ‘cubic feet per minute’ or CFM. A vacuum designed for dry soil on carpets, might move 156 CFM whereas a vacuum designed for the removal of liquids in environmental cleaning might only have the ability to move half that amount of CFM.
Suction is measured in ‘inches of waterlift’ – how high a vacuum motor can lift water in a one inch tube. No airflow – just suction. We refer to this measurement simply as “lift”. This is the measurement of power in any vacuum, because it doesn’t take much power to move air but it takes a lot to lift water for environmental cleaning.
Most wet/dry shop-vacs only have 12″ – 18″ of lift – just enough to get the water into the canister from the floor which makes this ineffective for environmental cleaning.
Since we are lifting water with environmental cleaning equipment, the lift rating is the most important information to understand when buying a vacuum. If we are lifting water from the street to a tank, we probably need at least 4′- 7′ of lift to get the water up there without burning out the vacuum motor (the distance from the street to the top of our recovery tank). The more lift we have in environmental cleaning, the easier it is for the vacuum to do the job and last in environmental cleaning.
Minimum Requirements for environmental cleaning equipment
We recommend atleast 100 CFMs and atleast 100” of lift in any vacuum system you select for environmental cleaning. If you are using a VacuBerm and two vacuum surface cleaners at a time, which is a common set-up for environmental cleaning equipment, we recommend buying a 200 CFM vacuum (either gasoline or electric) with 200” of lift. With that kind of power, you get the job done in a hurry in environmental cleaning!
A good-quality vacuum with all the lift that you need and want can be a significant investment to meet environmental cleaning equipment requirements. Over a couple of years, however, buying a commercial-grade quality vacuum system for environmental cleaning will turn out to be cheaper than all of the $100 vacuums you will buy in it’s place. Meet compliance with local regulations stemming from the Clean Water Act with proper environmental cleaning equipment. Be smart when buying environmental cleaning equipment and stop by Sun Brite Supply!
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