The Maintenance Jigsaw -do you have a piece missing?

Cleaners and degreasers are a critical first stage of the servicing process, ensuring that all lubricant, grime and dirt contamination is removed, allowing surfaces to be inspected without the risk of dirt obscuring faults or getting into close-tolerance gaps.

Maintenance is a complex jigsaw containing many parts, and it's essential to ensure you're not missing a vital piece. But while you're thinking about lubricants and greases, be sure not to overlook cleaners and degreasers - or all your hard work could be wasted.

Ask any maintenance engineer what chemicals they use, and often the first products itemised will be lubricants and often a squirt of grease or top-up of oil is all that is required to complete the works order.

But if more extensive servicing is required, then a component or part of production machinery will need to be taken apart, inspected, and replaced. This is where the maintenance chemical options open up and reveal the true extent of choice: cleaners/degreasers, lubricants, anti-corrosion, metal cutting, welding, wipes and more.

Cleaners and degreasers are a critical first stage of the servicing process, ensuring that all lubricant, grime and dirt contamination is removed, allowing surfaces to be inspected without the risk of dirt obscuring faults or getting into close-tolerance gaps. It also prevents contamination during relubrication and assembly. A maintenance schedule needs to start and finish with cleaning to ensure a thorough job.

Key Fact: Lubricants and greases degrade with use and time. Carrying out re-lubrication without removing old lubricant will result in inefficient operation or even create a light grinding paste that quickly destroys components. It is good working practice to completely degrease and clean when relubricating to avoid decreased machine life, unplanned downtime, and reduced efficiency.

The technology behind cleaning chemicals is complex. Through the manipulation of chemical formulations, specific cleaning properties can be displayed: fast evaporation, foaming action, grease removal, dry deposit removal, material compatibility and so on. Typically solvent and citrus based cleaners are better at removing greases and heavy/light oils, with water based products able to remove drier or staining materials. Material compatibility must also be taken into account.

Stronger cleaners have reduced materials compatibility but have the power to remove heavy grease and oils and slower evaporation rates are generally less flammable. Product selection is a balancing act that requires careful thought and feature compromise. Ambersil are product experts.

When a poor quality cleaner or the wrong cleaner is selected - either due to perceived cost savings or simply because šwe've always used this one' - reduced cleaning efficiency is inevitable, but the real cost will be seen in time spent waiting for the product to work.

Ambersil offers the most comprehensive range of industrial cleaners and degreasers available in the UK, backed up by lubricants, anti-corrosion, metal cutting, welding, paints, and more - and all available nationwide through ERIKS. The comprehensive MRO range provides engineers and buyers with a Complete Chemical Solution™ for cost-savings without compromising on quality and performance.

Many products are specified to military, aerospace and industrial standards, including NSF food industry registered products.

Contact your local ERIKS Service Centre to discuss your chemical needs or email marketing@eriks.co.uk for more details and free samples.