Smooth running machines don’t have to mean a major investment. Simple but regular parts washing is one of the most effective and overlooked ways to extend machine life, cut costs, and operate more sustainably.
In this article, we’ll explore how clean parts washing can keep your machines in service longer, prevent breakdowns, and support your sustainability goals.
Why Clean Machines Last Longer
Machines are only as reliable as their components. Over time, dirt, grease, and metal debris build up on parts, causing premature wear and affecting performance.
- Friction and Wear: Dirty parts increase friction, leading to faster degradation of bearings, gears, and seals.
- Overheating: Heat dissipation is reduced when parts are coated in grime, pushing systems beyond their intended temperature range.
- Corrosion Risk: Residue traps moisture and contaminants, accelerating rust and corrosion.
- Shortened Lifespan: The overall stress on the machine increases, reducing the life of both individual parts and entire systems.
Cleaning keeps your equipment running closer to its design specification for longer, meaning fewer breakdowns and a better return on your investment.
The Hidden Cost of Skipping Parts Washing
While skipping regular cleaning might seem like a time- or cost-saver in the short term, the negative impacts are soon felt:
- Unplanned Downtime: Machine failure due to dirt or contamination can halt production with little warning.
- Higher Maintenance Bills: Worn or misaligned parts are more likely to need early replacement or lead to cascading damage.
- Premature Replacement: Poorly maintained parts can significantly reduce the lifespan of the machine they belong to, meaning the whole machine needs replacing sooner.
- Lower Output Quality: Dirt affects tolerance, cooling, and operation leading to more rejects and rework.
How Regular Parts Washing Avoids Bigger Problems
Routine cleaning allows for early detection of issues like worn seals, cracked housings, or minor leaks. By spotting problems early, you can fix them before they escalate. Clean machines also run more predictably, reducing stress on other parts of your operation, like production scheduling and quality assurance.
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More Sustainable Machines Start with Clean Parts
Extending machine life isn’t just good for your budget, it’s good for the planet because cleaner machines support more sustainable production.
- Less Waste: Every part you save from early replacement avoids waste and reduces demand for new raw materials.
- Lower Energy Consumption: Clean parts reduce mechanical drag, so motors and systems use less energy to do the same job.
- Fewer Carbon Emissions: Fewer breakdowns and replacements mean less transport, less packaging, and fewer manufacturing inputs.
- Improved Compliance: Clean, well-maintained equipment is less likely to leak or fail inspections under tightening environmental regulations.
How Safetykleen Can Help
Full-Service Support
Our end-to-end support keeps machines and parts performing at their best, reducing wear, preventing breakdowns, and extending lifespan through regular maintenance, expert repairs, and optimised cleaning.
On-site Maintenance for Circular Efficiency
Our dedicated repair team helps keep your machines running and prevents breakdowns—extending equipment life, reducing waste, and supporting a circular economy.
Machine Refurbishment Ensures a More Sustainable Supply Chain
While our machines achieve 99% uptime, they sometimes need repair or replacement.
We extend their lifespan by repairing and refurbishing them. This significantly reduces environmental impact by cutting waste, conserving resources, and lowering emissions. This win for customers, business and the planet often goes overlooked because our refurbished machines are indistinguishable from new ones.
How sustainable is parts cleaning?
The rags and other cleaning tools used when cleaning by hand are often not reusable, or quickly wear out and are not recyclable. And while used solvents can be recycled it requires special equipment and sufficient volume to be cost-effective. But, if you use well-insulated, automatic, programmable parts cleaning machines with aqueous cleaning chemicals instead of solvents, it is possible to develop a process that minimises wastage in terms of energy use, water use and the volume of cleaning waste that has to be handled in a compliant fashion.
What does parts cleaning cost?
How much you have to pay for parts cleaning will depend on lots of things: what items you want to clean, what contaminant is on them and how much, what they are made of, how complex their shapes are, how many there are, how often you need to clean them, and how clean you need them to end up.
Beyond that, however, there are hidden costs to consider. Manual cleaning requires the complete attention of a person or team, and can end up taking a lot of time and energy to achieve the right result. Rags, tools and regular supplies of solvents and other cleaning fluids need to be sourced, purchased and kept in stock. Waste resulting from cleaning has to be stored and disposed of in line with regulations, and all the associated compliance documentation has to be kept up to date.
What can you clean with a parts washer?
Modern parts washers can be used on much more than just metal parts. As well as screws and bolts, engine blocks and carburettors, a parts washer can also clean items made of ceramics, glass, plastics and even rubber effectively without damage. And, while the most common contaminants remain grease, dirty oil, dust and other particles, with the right combination of machine and parts cleaning solution it is possible to remove waxes, coolants, and even paints, inks, limescale and rust. This flexibility means that parts washers can provide inter-operational cleaning for a range of manufacturing, maintenance and repair processes from surface treatment and passivation to sanitisation, product testing and quality control.
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