Quotes
Quotes
Hunter Sodablast
Well Firstly what is Soda Blasting?
Soda blasting is the latest technology to safely strip paint and clean most any surface. The soda blaster uses compressed air to deliver sodium bicarbonate based media (baking soda) onto the surface to be cleaned. While at the outset this seems similar to sandblasting, all similarities quickly fade once you understand the process. Sand is a hard, heavy material that can wreak havoc on any substrate. It will pit glass, tear up rubber & plastic and etch metal. Soda blasting has none of that. A properly formulated soda blasting media is made of Sodium Bicarbonate that is manufactured to be in a consistent, larger crystal size. When it strikes the material you are soda blasting the crystal explodes outward and the explosion is the force that strips your target of grease, paint, rust, mold, dirt, whatever it is you are removing.
It is difficult to tell someone about soda blasting without using the phrase "the best part." Why? Because there are so many advantages to soda blasting they are all "the best part!" You want to say:
The Best Part about soda blasting is it doesn't harm the substrate. No metal warping, no flash rust, no more masking of glass, chrome and rubber! What a time saver!
The Best Part about soda blasting is the easy clean up, the media is water-soluble, rinse it off!
The Best Part about soda blasting is how it is environmentally friendly! It's baking soda! Non-toxic, non-flammable, non-hazardous, FDA approved and you can make biscuits with it!
The Best Part about soda blasting is how versatile it is! It can be used in so many applications!
Strip Cars, Trucks, Trailers, Containers, Heavy Equipment Graffiti Removal, Surface Rust Removal, Stain Elimination, Clean Wood and Masonry, Monument Cleaning, Grease & Oil Removal, De-Grease and Strip Engine Components, Fiberglass & Wood Boat Stripping, Aluminum and Stainless Steel Cleaning, Mold Remediation, Fire Restoration
Browse through our site to learn more about soda blasting and its benefits. If you have need of soda blasting services, give us a call
Why Choose Soda Blasting?
"After all," you might be thinking, "I just want to strip some paint/surface rust/grease/bacteria/mold/smoke from this old thing."
To get a good idea of why soda blasting is so good, it might help to understand a bit about how the action of soda blasting is different from other types of blasting. To understand how it is different lets take a look at sand blasting.
We want to remove paint from a fender, let's look at a simplified version of the structure of what we are cleaning. There's not too much to it. You have the metal coated with a layer of paint, in this case, red paint. The paint is thin-thin, only 7 thousandths of an inch thick.
Let's pretend we are going to remove the paint by Sand Blasting. Think about it from the perspective of the paint. That's right we are going to project rocks that are 3 times larger than the thickness of the paint at the fender at a high velocity. The sand is denser than the paint too. The force of the impact smashes and chops through the paint. The sand is harder than the metal as well. Any of the impact force that was not dissipated by the paint is now whacking the metal. Remember this is a thick, steady stream of sand. There is a lot of sand battering the bare metal and the surface ends up pitted and rough. The metal is stripped bare with only a dusting of the pulverized sand covering its scarred surface. Within hours, the ambient moisture in the air will begin to attack the metal and the process of oxidation (rust) will begin.
I tell you, the thought of doing that to my fender is scarier than a Stephen King Movie. Imagine what would be happening to my poor fender if it were made of glass or wood or brick!
Now let's take a look at what happens when I strip the paint with Soda Blasting.
I will assume we are going to use the 100% pure soda blast media used by Hunter Sodablast. Why? Because all there is in a bag of our blast media is sodium bicarbonate. Nearly the same stuff as in a box of baking soda from the grocery store, only it is manufactured differently so the crystals are a much larger, more consistent size. Other brands of blasting soda have smaller crystals and they add dusty stuff to the soda, like calcium carbonate or tri-calcium phosphate to make up for shortcomings. We knew what to look for in baking soda media, and when we found it we looked no further.
A crystal of our blast media is huge compared to the layer of paint. But sodium bicarbonate is much softer and less dense than sand but it is still a bit harder than the paint so it can penetrate the paint layer just a bit and this is when the magic happens. Baking soda has a property called "high friability" do you remember that kid in your grade school class that would go all to pieces laughing any time someone made a joke about flatulence? Sodium bicarbonate is just like that. It loves to go to pieces, that's what friability is. The bicarbonate crystal gets a little into the paint and breaks up. But it doesn't just crumble, it explodes! All of the energy that was projecting the Soda at the paint is released outward and all of the bits and pieces of the crystal are carried along. Ripping and shredding into the paint. But, still, the metal is harder than the soda. It isn't affected at all by that battle going on at its surface. What else is harder than Sodium Bicarbonate? Glass, plastic, chrome, rubber, gaskets. Let's face is, Sodium Bicarbonate is that hardest-working wimp you will ever have the pleasure to work with!
When it's all done and my fender is clean there is an additional benefit to soda blasting. The bare, smooth metal has a light dusting of Sodium Bicarbonate. The dust is alkaline. For rust to form there needs to be a slightly acidic pH. The alkalinity neutralizes any acidic component of the air and protects the metal! Pretty cool, huh? Soda Blasting has the same effect when cleaning off mold damage. Mold and bacteria need an acidic environment to survive. When you soda blast you are creating a safe, sterile surface. Still- I'm not going to eat lunch off of my fender!
The dust from the soda blasting can be rinsed off, it will dissolve in water. If there are any bits stuck in crevasses, they too will dissolve and rinse away. If I had sand blasted, I would have to rinse and wipe and wipe and rinse. I would have to take extra care to make sure there was no grit left in any crevasses. Imagine all of that uncomfortable grit left over from sand blasting. Little bits grinding into your floor, in the seams of your clothing, stuck between your teeth. When it comes to final clean up, Baking Soda being water soluble is a blessing. You can only get so much with a broom, being able to easily rinse away any remaining dust is a huge time saver!
Cleaning anything with soda blasting is a vastly superior process`. You can easily remove carbon, grease, oils, gasket material, surface corrosion, paint and coatings from a variety of alloys, plastics and composites without substrate damage or distortion, and leave hard anodized coatings intact.
When you are soda blasting you are saving time by cleaning, de-greasing and de-painting all in one step. What better paint preparation could there be?
No Pre-Cleaning Required
No Need to Re-Profile Steel
Sodium bicarbonate blast media will not profile steel. When an operator removes a coating from a metal surface, he or she exposes the existing anchor pattern under the coating. Unless corrosion has occurred, there is no need to re-profile the surface.
Reduced Solid Waste
Pure sodium bicarbonate blast media can be dissolved in fresh water. By dissolving the media and filtering out contaminates, the solution can generally be discharged to POTW treatment systems or open waterways, with proper discharge permits. Waste volume is generally reduced to less than 5% of the original waste volume. With increasing landfill costs and liabilities, this advantage becomes more important every day.
Natural Rust Inhibitor
Reduced Clean-Up costs
Benefits In Waste Disposal
Increased Worker Safety
The safety of sodium bicarbonate to workers is well understood, since it has been in use for some 160 years. The bicarbonate buffer system is the major extracellular buffer for the human body, thus sodium bicarbonate is part of the body's normal chemistry. Pure sodium bicarbonate blast media is not toxic via ingestion, inhalation or dermal contact, nor is it a skin or eye irritant as defined by EPA and OSHA. Any risk to workers is primarily the contaminate or coating removed during the blasting process.
Removes Odors
The same odor absorbing effect seen in the refrigerator at home is present when blasting with sodium bicarbonate blast media. It not only removes the contaminates, it also reduces the unfriendly odors.
Does Not Produce Sparks
Sodium bicarbonate blast media will not produce thermal sparks and is suitable for use in explosion proof areas; including refineries, chemical plants and grain elevators as long as proper grounding techniques are used to prevent a static charge build up.
When cleaning metal surfaces for crack detection, standard abrasive blasting tends to peen the crack closed or pack the crack with abrasive, making crack detection more difficult. Sodium bicarbonate blast media actually cleans out the crack, leaving it exposed and easy to see.
No Residue Problems In Small Passageways
Hunter Sodablasts blast media is 100% pure sodium bicarbonate, additive free and water soluble. It can be used to clean critical engine components including those with small passageways. Once cleaned, the baking soda residue can be thoroughly rinsed off by dissolving in water. Traditional blast material are not water soluble and if left after cleaning, can pack into small passageways and possibly damage an engine while on operation
Reduce Surface Acids
As a strong buffer for acids and alkalis, sodium bicarbonate blast media eliminates acidic conditions on the surface of the substrate. For conditions with high acid levels, acid rain or boiler fly ash, blasting with sodium bicarbonate blast media will reduce coating failures.
Media Hardness, Mohs Scale
We do provide baking soda blasting services to the disaster restoration industry. Due to its low relative hardness of 2.5 and its exceptional odor neutralizing properties, baking soda blasting is a natural choice for restoration professionals.
Soda blasting removes smoke and soot damage from brick, concrete block, concrete, interlocking stone, wood studs, joist, truss, sheathing materials. It also works exceptionally well on mold damage.
Baking soda not only removes the visual damage during the blasting process, but the natural deodorizing properties of baking soda work to eliminate the "smell" associated with the damage. Fire, smoke and the accompanying ash are typically at the high end of the pH scale ( strong bases ), where baking soda works quickly in absorbing odor. The longer that the air in the affected area is in contact with the baking soda, the more neutralizing takes place.
Mold removal by baking soda blasting, has turned out to be a natural extension of the use of baking soda blasting in the fire restoration industry.
The soda blasting ( as does any other method of blasting, including dry ice ), just removes the mold growth and mold spores from the surfaces. We feel that the blasting should be followed by HEPA vacuuming, damp wiping ( with appropriate chemicals ), then HEPA vacuum and damp wiping again until a final suitable result is reached, as determined by the testing company.
Soda Blasting Facts
A quick message regarding vegetation:
THE Advantages Of Blast Cleaning
& De-Coating in one easy step
Standard abrasive blasting is a dirty process, often loading and even embedding the surface with contaminants (grease, oil, tar & abrasive particles) in the process of removing the coating. Recycled abrasives compound this problem by loading increasing amounts of contaminants into the substrate. Pure sodium bicarbonate blast media effectively de-coats and cleans the substrate in one step; producing a level of cleanliness not seen with most processes. The media is not reusable thus eliminating the issue of blasting with re-used media. Coating adhesion relies heavily on surface cleanliness and a surface profile has been used to offset this lack of cleanliness.
Unique Cutting Action
Sodium bicarbonate blast media offers the unique properties of sodium bicarbonate, the primary ingredient. The softness (Mohs hardness scale of 2.4) and friable nature of this crystal produces a unique cutting action with little or no effect on most substrates. For example, thick coatings can be removed from glass without any etching effect. With proper care, delicate substrates can be cleaned without damage.
For projects where the coating is covered with grease, carbon, salt or other contaminates, the more traditional methods require the coating to be fully cleaned before blasting. This is required so that the contaminants on the surface of the coating not be driven through the coating and into the surface of the substrate, causing future coating failure.
As long as Baking Soda is on a ferrous metal surface, rust will not form. For rust to form, free moisture and an acidic condition must exist. In most cases, free moisture combines with carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to form carbonic acid. This acid releases a free metal (ferrous) ion, which combines with oxygen (oxidizes) to form rust. Pure sodium bicarbonate blast media buffers the acids, prevents the release of free metal ions and prevents rust.
Large grain or coarse sodium bicarbonate soda blast media performs roughly the same level of work (somewhat slower) as sand blasting while producing 1/5 to 1/7 of the total waste volume. Although media costs per square foot are higher, site clean up and residue disposal are significantly lower. Combine that with the lower consumption rates of the Buster Blaster system. The net balance is that total cost per square foot are about the same for both approaches.
In most non-hazardous applications, the residue from blasting with pure sodium bicarbonate blast media can be rinsed into sanitary drains or sewers, which flush the residue to a water treatment facility, greatly reducing the clean up time. Pure sodium bicarbonate is actually beneficial to waste water treatment systems. For industrial treatment systems, where chemical neutralization is a major cost in water treatment, pure sodium bicarbonate blast media can often save significant dollars in waste treatment.
Replaces Dangerous Solvents
Sodium bicarbonate blast media when applied wet is an excellent de-greasing medium that eliminates the use of solvents in most cleaning processes. Sodium bicarbonate blast media does not "dissolve" or "emulsify" grease or oils, it simply coats them causing the grease or oil to release from the surface. It also eliminates the translocation of oil and grease.
Improved Crack Detection
The softness of this media means that it can be used to remove most coatings without harming the substrate.
Corundum (natural aluminum oxide) 9
Alumina (synthetic aluminum oxide) 9
Garnet ( Fe3Al2(SiO4)3 8
Steel Shot or Grit 8
Copper Slag or other mineral slag 7.5
Quartz (Silica sand) 7
Glass Bead 5.5
Plastic Bead 3.5
Soda (Sodium bicarbonate) 2.5
Mohs Scale of Abrasives
Hard abrasives seven and above on the Mohs scale (see Table 1) mostly remain intact and hence, most of the force is directed into the substrate. Softer abrasives such as glass beads and soda crystals shatter on impact and part of the forces are directed in other directions as the particle "explodes" into finer fragments. Some of the fragments travel along the substrate perpendicular to the initial direction of impact. These fragments moving along the surface do a tremendous job of cleaning.
Fire Restoration
Mold Removal:
The soft, angular nature of baking soda allows for quick removal of the mold, while providing minimum impact on the wood surfaces.
We believe that soda blasting should be incorporated into a mold removal strategy in conjunction with a qualified mold removal contractor under the supervision of a mold remediation inspection company. This is not an area where soda blasting should be considered the only step required, and should best be left to professionals.
In the past, the only way you could remove paint or some other unsightly material from a contaminated surface, was to either chip it off, sand blast it, use harsh chemicals, sand it until your arm fell off or your equipment failed. In most cases, after these time consuming, or hazardous methods are discarded, the final solution was just to paint over it and hope no one noticed.
There is now a process, known as Soda Blasting, where a surface is cleaned or paint is removed or coatings of any kind are stripped from a substrate both efficiently and safely. It is very similar to traditional sand blasting yet has the significant advantage of cleaning the surface without causing any harm to the substrate or the environment.
Baking soda can burn vegetation due to the pH of the product. Flowering plants that are more delicate seem to be more quickly affected. Leafy green plantings and common lawn grass seem less likely affected. Having said this, all vegetation can be affected by baking soda residue to different degrees depending on how much baking soda contacts the surface or ground. Use of breathable tarps to cover plantings around houses and decks works well. Follow removal of the tarps with a copious tap water wash down of the plantings. In areas where tarping is not practical, start with a pre-soaking of the plantings and ground the day before with tap water. Flood all plantings with tap water immediately after blasting. We have even used a lawn sprinkler to keep baking soda residue off plantings and to keep the ground wet during blasting operations. Baking soda is water soluble and use of additive free baking soda, like Ourss, will increase the likelihood of a good outcome.
There is no guarantee that you won't burn vegetation with the above mentioned techniques - these are just some ideas that have worked for us. I always caution my customers about the possibility of burning the vegetation. Because of what we can do with baking soda, most customers are happy to deal with any possible side effects.
