The holiday season is a time to reflect, celebrate, and give back. At Wickens Dry Ice Blasting, we’re proud to support our clients, team, and community during this special time of year. With the spirit of gratitude in mind, we want to share important updates about our holiday schedule, ongoing charitable efforts, and our outlook for 2025.

Supporting Our Community Through the Holidays

Giving back has always been an integral part of who we are at Wickens. This year, we continue our tradition of donating to the Salvation Army, an organization that plays a vital role in helping individuals and families in need. Their work, from offering shelter to distributing meals, supports over 2.1 million Canadians annually. We encourage everyone to consider contributing to support their impactful programs during this season of giving. Together, we can create positive change and bring joy to those who need it most.

Holiday Closure Dates for Wickens Dry Ice Blasting

Our team will be onsite for confirmed projects, but our office will remain closed on:

• December 25
• December 26
• January 1

We’ll resume our regular operations January 2nd, 2025.

Plan Your Facility Maintenance for 2025

The holiday season is the perfect time to set your plans in motion for a productive and efficient year ahead. At Wickens Dry Ice Blasting, we’re here to support your operations with services that address critical maintenance, cleaning, and restoration needs across industries. Whether you’re preparing for routine equipment upkeep, tackling large-scale restoration projects, or implementing preventive maintenance strategies, our team has you covered.

Our dry ice blasting services provide a non-abrasive, eco-friendly solution to clean industrial machinery, remove contaminants, and extend the lifespan of your equipment. Need to restore fire-damaged properties? Our fire restoration services remove soot, char, and odors without causing further damage, helping you meet deadlines with confidence. For industrial facilities, our painting and blasting services protect and preserve your assets against wear, corrosion, and environmental challenges.

If your 2025 goals include reducing downtime, improving operational efficiency, or enhancing the safety and appearance of your facilities, now is the time to schedule your services. Wickens offers tailored solutions, dependable expertise, and the tools you need to ensure your projects are completed seamlessly.

Start the year on the right foot. Contact us today to discuss your specific needs and secure your spot on our 2025 schedule. Let’s work together to make this your most successful year yet.

Updated: November 18, 2024

Make the Most of the Holiday Shutdown for a Cleaner, Safer, and More Efficient Workspace

As the year draws to a close, many industrial businesses, including factories, manufacturers, and production facilities, are gearing up for a well-deserved break. The holiday season, particularly the period between Christmas and New Year’s, is an optimal time for businesses to conduct thorough cleaning and maintenance. This is where Wickens Dry Ice Blasting offers a unique and effective solution.

The Challenge of Year-Round Cleanliness in Industrial Environments

Throughout the year, industrial environments accumulate various kinds of residues like dust, grease, and other by-products of production. These residues often settle in hard-to-reach places and on sensitive equipment, creating not only a cleanliness issue but also potential safety hazards and efficiency loss. Regular cleaning methods may tackle surface-level dirt but often fall short in dealing with these intricate and delicate areas.

Why Factory Shutdowns are Ideal for Thorough Cleaning

Shutdown periods, especially during the holidays, present an excellent opportunity for deep cleaning. With reduced operations and fewer personnel on-site, professional cleaning services can efficiently tackle areas that are otherwise bustling with activity or are inaccessible during regular operations, like conveyors, production equipment, and electronics.

Introducing Dry Ice Blasting: A Superior Cleaning Technique

Dry Ice Blasting, a technique mastered by Wickens, stands out as a highly effective solution for industrial cleaning. This method involves propelling dry ice pellets at high speed to clean surfaces. The unique properties of dry ice make it an ideal cleaning medium for several reasons:

1. No Secondary Waste: Dry ice sublimates upon contact, meaning it directly transitions from a solid to a gas without leaving any residual waste. This property significantly reduces cleanup time and environmental impact.
2. Effective and Efficient: The process effectively removes contaminants, including grease, oil, and production residues, even from hard-to-reach areas. It’s faster than traditional cleaning methods, ensuring minimal downtime.
3. Non-Abrasive and Safe for Delicate Equipment: Unlike traditional cleaning methods, dry ice blasting is non-abrasive. It safely cleans sensitive equipment without the risk of damage, making it suitable for electronics, conveyor belts, and other precision machinery.
4. Non-Conductive: As dry ice blasting doesn’t use additional chemicals or liquids to clean, it is safe to use on electronics without powering them down.
5. Eco-Friendly and Chemical-Free: Dry ice blasting is environmentally friendly. It doesn’t involve harmful chemicals or solvents, making it a safer choice for workers and the environment.

Start the New Year with a Clean Slate

Wickens Dry Ice Blasting offers a unique opportunity for industrial businesses to start the new year afresh. By scheduling a thorough clean-up during the year-end shutdown, businesses enhance their operational efficiency, ensure the safety of their work environment, and maintain their equipment reliability.

Contact Us Today!

The holiday shutdown period is an ideal time for businesses to invest in deep cleaning and maintenance. With Wickens Dry Ice Blasting, industries can achieve a higher level of cleanliness and efficiency, setting a strong foundation for the year ahead.

Ready to plan your year-end industrial cleanup? Contact Wickens Dry Ice Blasting today to schedule your service and learn more about how we can help your facility start the new year on the right foot.

In the realm of dry ice blasting, the efficiency and longevity of your equipment are directly influenced by the quality of compressed air used in the process. An air preparation unit (APU) is more than just an accessory; it’s a critical investment that ensures your operations are not only effective but also economically viable over time.

Understanding the mechanics, benefits, and proper implementation of an air preparation unit can significantly transform operational efficiency and outcomes.

What is an air preparation unit?

An air preparation unit, often integral to operations like dry ice blasting and media blasting, is a system designed to treat and condition compressed air before it is used in pneumatic tools and processes. This unit typically includes filters, regulators, and lubricators (often referred to collectively as FRLs). These components collaborate to ensure that the air is clean, dry, and delivered at the correct pressure, crucial for optimal performance and the longevity of pneumatic tools.

An APU improves air quality through several stages:

• Filters remove particulates, moisture, and other contaminants from the air, preventing damage to equipment and ensuring efficient operation.
• Regulators control the air pressure, ensuring that it remains consistent regardless of fluctuations in the supply line. This helps to maintain the blasting process’s effectiveness and safety.
• Dryers remove any remaining moisture from the air provided to the unit. Moisture in dry ice blasting can cause the pellets to stick together or to surfaces, disrupting the cleaning process, so it’s critical to remove as much as possible.

The air preparation unit connects to a dry ice blaster through a series of hoses. Compressed air flows from the unit into the blaster, where it is used to accelerate dry ice pellets out of the blasting gun at high speeds. Proper connections and seals are critical to maintaining air quality and pressure throughout the process.

How Air Preparation Units Help in Dry Ice Blasting

In dry ice blasting, the quality of compressed air is paramount. Here are several ways an air preparation unit enhances the process:

1. Prevents Moisture Problems: Moisture is a significant concern in dry ice blasting because any moisture in the compressed air can cause the dry ice pellets to clump together, clog the blasting equipment, or reduce the effectiveness of cleaning. By using filters and dryers to eliminate moisture from the air, air preparation units help maintain the integrity of the dry ice pellets throughout the operation.
2. Maintains Consistent Pressure: Dry ice blasting requires precise control over the air pressure to ensure effective cleaning without damaging the surface being cleaned. Regulators in the air preparation unit ensure that the air pressure is stable and consistent, providing reliable and safe blasting performance.
3. Extends Equipment Life: By filtering out contaminants, air preparation units protect the internal components of the blasting equipment from wear and damage, extending the equipment’s lifespan and reducing maintenance costs.

When to Use Air Prep Units

Air preparation units are essential for ensuring high-quality compressed air, which is crucial for various industrial applications. However, their utility varies significantly depending on the industry, existing infrastructures, and the operational scale.

Industries Benefiting from Air Preparation Units

• Small Scale Facilities and Mobile Operations: Smaller facilities or mobile setups that do not have extensive built-in air treatment systems benefit greatly from portable air preparation units. These units can provide the necessary air quality for effective dry ice blasting and media blasting on-site, where built-in systems are absent.
• Temporary or Field Operations: In situations where operations are conducted outside traditional facilities, such as during field maintenance or in temporary setups, air preparation units are essential. They ensure that the compressed air remains clean and dry, crucial for maintaining the effectiveness of blasting in varying environmental conditions.
• Specialized Cleaning Areas: Locations within larger facilities dedicated to precision cleaning, such as specific maintenance areas or sections handling sensitive components, may require standalone air preparation units to meet stricter air quality standards than what general facility systems provide.

Industries Where Air Preparation Units May Not Be Necessary

• Factories and Manufacturing Plants: Large manufacturing plants and factories often have comprehensive, centralized air management systems designed to provide clean, dry air throughout the facility. These systems make additional air preparation units redundant for dry ice blasting within these environments.
• Well-Equipped Industrial Facilities: Industrial locations equipped with advanced and extensive compressed air systems that already include stages of air treatment typically do not require separate air preparation units. These systems are usually designed to handle the demands of various tools and processes, including dry ice blasting, by ensuring optimal air quality facility-wide.

How to Get an Air Prep Unit for Your Business

If you’re looking to enhance the effectiveness of your dry ice blasting operations with high-quality air preparation, Wickens Dry Ice Blasting offers versatile solutions that cater to a range of business needs. We provide air preparation units for purchase or rental, available in two sizes to suit different requirements. The APU-450 model is perfect for single blaster setups, while the APU-600 model can efficiently support two blasters simultaneously.

Whether you choose to buy or rent, we offer comprehensive training and guidance on how to integrate these units seamlessly with our dry ice blasters, or with any other dry ice blasters you may already have. This ensures that you maximize the performance and safety of your operations.

For those not ready to commit to purchasing equipment, Wickens also offers professional dry ice blasting services, providing all the benefits of this technology without the need for investment in the hardware.

Please contact our team for more information about air preparation units or to inquire about buying or renting one.