SmartSkim™
Frequently Asked Questions
SmartSkim™
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1. Why SmartSkim® is important- SmartSkim® is the only treatment system designed specifically for HT parts washers. Every other system being sold as a solution for heat treating was designed for other markets. If you want something that works in HT, choose a system designed specifically for our industry.
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2. Why keep washers clean- If you let oil accumulate in your heat treat washers you generate many expensive problems, including difficult and costly quality control failures. If you keep oil out of your washers you create many instant benefits. Benefits include much lower operating costs, cleaner parts and elimination of smoke.
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3. Save money- You can reduce furnace downtime. You can cut your cleaner use in half. You can greatly extend your bath life. This cuts your treatment cost or hauling cost as well as all the labor and downtime associated with bath dumps. You can eliminate smoke from your draw furnaces. You can eliminate wastewater generated by dragout devices. You can eliminate labor costs needed to transfer and manage oily wastewater. You can eliminate labor costs required to manage and repair current treatment systems. You can recycle your quench oil or resell it. You can eliminate worker health and safety liabilities. You can reduce shotblasting due to poor cleaning. Want more? Click here to get a payback calculation worksheet.
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4.How do SmartSkim® Systems work- Award winning SmartSkim® Systems are two part devices. Our patented Suction Skimmer is installed inside the wash tank. We continuously remove the topmost layer of fluids from the tank using the very best skimmer in the world. Skimmed fluids are pumped through the SmartSkim® gravity separator where oil is removed and clean fluids gravity drain back to the washer. We make 2 models of SmartSkim® gravity separators. The separators can be installed at ground level or mounted above your washer to preserve floor space. There are no consumables. There are no moving parts. The only wear parts in the system are in the transfer pump. We use the best pump in the world for this application, and most customers need only a 5 minute preventative maintenance step every 18 to 24 months.
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5. Recycle or Resell quench oil- The oil that is captured by your SmartSkim® is ’dry’. Third party firms will buy your captured oil or recycle it on site if it has less than 5% water content. SmartSkim® Systems typically deliver less than 1% water content.
Quench oil can now be recycled on site. All the quench oil that is now dragged out of your quench tanks into your washers can be recapturerd at half the cost of new oil. This includes 3rd party certifications for water content and additives. On site recycling insures that you always get your own oil back and that it has not been contaminated with lead or other additives at the reprocessor. You also eliminate the insurance and environmental liabilities that your firm incurs allowing 3rd parties to transport your oil. It’s your oil and your liability. SmartSkim® gives you the tools to recycle it on site. Call and we’ll get you more info. There will soon be a more complete discussion of this further down the FAQ list.
If you have a number of different quench oils in use, SmartSkim® can help in several ways. SmartSkim® captures oils so you can segregate them for recycling. If mixed sources of quench go into the same washer then you can resell the oil captured by your SmartSkim® with no further labor such as decanting. In fact, our systems often eliminate the need for large decant tanks. You can use your floor space for more productive applications.
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6. What doesn't work- These are collectively known as dragout devices. They are supposed to attract oil then drag it uphill where it can be scraped off. These are made for small benchtop washers, not heat treating. No matter how many you put on or how big you make them, dragouts can not remove the volume of oil in HT washers. Dragouts break frequently, requiring a lot of cost and labor. Dragouts also remove solution that is about half oil and half cleaners. This creates an unnecessary and costly wastewater stream. It also removes costly cleaners. SmartSkim® Systems typically cut cleaner use in half while eliminating a wastewater stream.
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