How do you ship items back to us?

How do you ship items back to us?

We’re often asked how we send items back to a customer once they’ve been cleaned by us…

How we ship your item back depends on the size, weight, and how it is packaged. We generally ship items back in the same packaging they came in (unless the box is damaged/dirty) but we can add extra packaging should you require it.

We do not aim to make any money from shipping. We recharge our customers at cost price rounded to the nearest pound for convenience.

For smaller items – DHL Next day

For smaller items that come to us in a box. Once we have completed the clean we would ship back to you using DHL next day delivery. The standard cost of this is £15, although it can be more if there is more than 1 item, the box is very large, or the item is very heavy.

For pallets – Wilbys or Tap Freight

If we receive your item on a pallet, we will ship it back on one. We always make sure to cover the item for it to not get dirty in transit back to your site as well as keep it free from damage. For pallets, we either use James Wilby transport or Tap freight. They are both fairly local to us and we have used both many times over the years. We will usually get a quote from both and find you the best price for getting your item back to you.

As long as you have the dimensions of your box/pallet, we can get you a quote for shipping before you send the item so you aren’t hit with any unexpected costs at the end.

To book a Free Trial Clean or discuss your requirements with one of our expert staff. Call us today on 01924 495 975 or email hello@sonicsolutionsltd.com

When Ultrasonic Cleaning is not right for you what do you do ?!

We are ultrasonic cleaning experts, but we are very familiar with other cleaning methodologies, and even use some of them in house as an alternative to ultrasonic cleaner.

So we have our own jet washer and vapour blaster. We’re also pretty friendly with a lot of the companies that make the equipment for these alternative cleaning methodologies.

So when we get asked to resolve a cleaning issue we don’t just propose ultrasonics where we think an alternative cleaning method is better.

For example, we recently visited a bakery making roles that had issues of;

1. A contaminated conveyor belt from a glaze spray on their buns, and
2. Contaminated baking pans from residue of the buns after coming out of the ovens

Because they wanted to clean the conveyor in process without interfering or contaminating ongoing production, ultrasonics would be a cumbersome and complex option. We, therefore, suggested a bespoke high-pressure steam spray to remove and simultaneously extract the glaze residue whilst simultaneously leaving a perfectly clean and dry conveyor was far preferable.

Likewise, while ultrasonics scan clean carbon and grease residue from baking trays the quantities they required were really more suited to a tunnel type jet wash and dry operation.

So we have put the bakery in touch with our professional colleagues in the jet wash and steam cleaning sectors to help solve these specific problems they have.

Why would we do this? Because our philosophy is that we help ourselves as well as the prospect by offering the best possible solutions to their problems. When we add value it enhances our reputation as well as helping others. Of course, I love it when we can solve the problem with our own ultrasonic cleaning solution, but failing our solution someone else’s is the next best thing. The worst outcome is offering an inferior solution.

So if you have a cleaning issue but you’re not sure what cleaning method would be best suited we are more than happy to take a look and give you our honest opinion. We’re here to help solve your cleaning issues.

If you would like greater insight into alternative cleaning methods, their descriptions, pros and cons, we have another blog post that you might find useful Alternative Cleaning Methods compared.

To book a Free Trial Clean or for any questions you may have please get in touch with one of our friendly staff who can advise you on the best practice. Call us on 01924 495975 or email Sales@sonicsolutionsltd.com

Where does Ultrasonic Cleaning not work?

While ultrasonics can remove virtually any contaminant from any material they are particularly best suited to the following general situations:

1. Removal of limited quantities of contaminant from hard surfaces;
2. Removal of contaminant from hard to access openings and chambers;
3. Removal of contaminants from finely made items where it is not possible to apply abrasive or stronger chemical cleaning methods;

Conversely, ultrasonics are less well, or even not suited at all, in the following situations:

1. Where there are large levels of contamination on the items being cleaned jet spray, media blasting or heat treatment are usually more effective (although a simple pre-cleaning process may well make it suitable for economic and effective ultrasonic cleaning);
2. Where contaminants are effectively bonded to the item, as opposed to simply adhering to it. Heat or abrasive based cleaning methods usually make more sense in these situations;
3. Where items cannot be safely submerged in the solution, or drying is particularly difficult;
4. Where items are soft, therefore absorbing ultrasonics rather than allowing it to remove the contaminant from it.

Sometimes a dual process is needed, for example with the photo above. Ultrasonics alone wouldn’t remove the melted plastic from the holes. We decided our best course of action would be to burn it out using pyrolysis which got rid of all the plastic. We were then left with bare metal which was covered in surface rust which ultrasonic cleaning is perfectly suited for. This left the item looking like new.

If you have any questions about whether ultrasonic cleaning is right for your job or to book a Free Trial Clean, please get in touch and talk to one of our friendly cleaning experts who can give you guidance on the best cleaning method for your needs. Call us on 01924 495975 or email hello@sonicsolutionsltd.com

How long does ultrasonic cleaning take?

How long is a piece of string!? This blog post looks at the six variables that can determine how long ultrasonic cleaning takes.  These variables include:

1. How dirty the item is to start with. Clearly the dirtier it starts the longer it will take to clean;
2. How many parts are being cleaned together, particularly in relation to the size of the ultrasonic cleaning bath? The more crowded a tank the less effective and therefore the longer the clean will take;
3. The power of the ultrasonics. Weak ultrasonics will tend to result in a longer clean time, but care must be taken with the power level to ensure it doesn’t damage the items being cleaned themselves.
4. How effective the cleaning chemistry is. Good cleaning chemistry speeds up the ultrasonic cleaning cycle tremendously.
5. How clean you want the items themselves. Obviously the cleaner you want them, the longer the cleaning process will take. For particularly demanding cleaning specifications it is common to use a series of ultrasonic wash tanks getting progressively cleaner;
6. How sensitive the material being cleaned is to potential damage from overexposure to ultrasonic activity. Whilst not particularly common care must be taken with lighter metals such as aluminium particularly with polished surfaces, to not overexpose to ultrasonic activity.

However given all the above, our experience is that 5 to 30 minutes ultrasonic wash cycles are typical for a controlled and established cleaning process. However, this may not include pre-clean, rinsing, drying and packaging processes which would also add to the overall cleaning cycle time.

To book a Free Trial Clean or to discuss any other ultrasonic cleaning requirements with one of our expert staff. Call us today on 01924 495 975 or email hello@sonicsolutionsltd.com

6 Reasons to use Ultrasonic Cleaning

1. It is non-destructive and non-damaging to the item being cleaned unlike many purely physical cleaning methods;
2. Its ability to clean items with variable geometry including uneven, remote, small and internal surfaces. Ultrasonic activity accesses all parts of the item in contact with the solution, including small holes and internal chambers which no other cleaning method can guarantee.
3. Because it is usually using water based products it presents fewer health, safety and environmental issues.
4.  It is extremely versatile in the contaminants it can remove since the chemistry can be altered depending upon the contaminant. Ultrasonics are far more universally successful than other methods relying on purely physical or chemical activity. Ultrasonics can successfully remove scale, grease, inks, rusts and particulate;
5. Using a mixture of chemistry and physics to remove contaminants it requires less potent chemistry and less physical force than alternative methods such as solvents and blasting;
6. With ultrasonic bubbles typically ranging from 20 to 150 microns it is also able to achieve levels of cleanliness few alternatives can match and even destroys bacteria and organic contaminants.

How Does Ultrasonic Cleaning Work?

Ultrasonic waves are sound waves with frequencies greater than 20kHz. Their wavelength and wavespeed vary depending on the medium, or cleaning solution, they are formed in. Inaudible to humans, ultrasound waves are longitudinal waves that vibrate in the direction they are travelling, forming areas of high pressure (compressions) and low pressure (rarefactions) as shown in the image below.

Ultrasound waves create microscopic bubbles as they pass through certain fluids. This occurs as the areas of low pressure in the longitudinal waves drop below the vapour pressure of the cleaning solution forming a ‘hole’ or vacuum bubble. Vapour pressure is the pressure that a vaporised fluid exerts on the surface of the same fluid in liquid form, when they are both at thermal equilibrium. These bubbles oscillate due to an acoustic field then implode, forming shock waves as the surrounding fluid flows to fill the void left by the bubble. This process of bubble formation and implosion is called non-inertial cavitation. These cavitation bubbles are microscopic and exist for an extremely short period of time, thus they cannot be seen with the naked human eye.

Cavitation bubbles can produce local pressures of up to 20,000 psi and local temperatures of up to 5,000°C (approximately the temperature of the surface of the Sun). Shock waves formed by cavitation at the boundary between a fluid and a solid can dislodge contaminants and dirt from the surface of the solid. In this way, a variety of solid objects can be efficiently cleaned to a high standard.

The size and life cycle of the cavitation bubble will depend primarily on the frequency. Lower frequencies produce larger, longer lasting bubbles with more powerful implosion forces, whilst higher frequencies produce smaller, shorter duration bubbles with weaker implosion forces. Typically, the diameter of cavitation bubbles varies from 40 microns at higher frequencies (like 80kHz) to 150 microns at lower frequencies (like 20kHz).

To book a Free Trial Clean or to discuss any other ultrasonic cleaning requirements with one of our expert staff. Call us today on 01924 495 975 or email hello@sonicsolutionsltd.com