The Challenge: A not-for-profit healthcare laundry service was experiencing an unavoidable issue in regards to their dryers. The Michigan based company, which handles half the state’s medical laundry, was dealing with severely hampered dryer efficiency due to clogging. The issue was that the sorters at the beginning of the process were not always removing everything from linens and lab coats when sorting laundry. Because of this, latex gloves, ink pens and other plastic materials would make their way through the cleaning process and end up in the dryers. As a result of the drying temperatures, these items would melt to the inside of the dryers and clog the holes, drastically reducing air flow and efficiency. A problem faced by all healthcare laundry services, conventional methods entailed uninstalling clogged panels and blasting them with dry ice to remove the large debris. Any holes not unclogged by the dry ice were then individually drilled out by hand. The whole process was extremely laborious and inefficient, sometimes taking a single individual two whole working days to clean just one panel.
The Solution: Based on their application knowledge and expertise, DECC applied a reinforced, specialty resin system with exceptional release properties. The coating, which is FDA acceptable, was originally designed exclusively for use on cookware and cutting blades. However, DECC knew this particular resin system not only had the release properties desired, but an abrasion resistant quality that would hold up to the constant cycling of damp linens, as well.
The Result: Once a test panel was placed in a dryer next to clean, uncoated panels, it was clear almost immediately that DECC had hit a home run with their application recommendation. While plastics were sticking to the uncoated panels, the coated panel was virtually free of any build up after weeks of run time. The very small amounts of melted plastic that did stick were easily knocked off in a matter of seconds as opposed the hours it originally took. Based on the outstanding performance of the coating application, the laundry service budgeted to have all of the panels in their 14 industrial dryers coated. The laundry service also presented the amazing performance characteristics to the German manufacturer of the dryer panels themselves. As a result of performance, quality and pricing, DECC now applies the coating to brand new panels as an add-on option for the dryer manufacturer’s new customers.
Read more about the process we use to coat dryer panels here and contact DECC today for more information.