Maintaining A Healthy Lawn

Maintaining A Healthy Lawn

Keeping Your Commercial-Grade Air Compressors Clean: Three Reasons Why Maintenance Is So Important

by Katrina Evans

Working in the food industry, you see a lot of your processing and packaging machines utilizing compressed air. These machines do everything from "air-clean" empty cans to inflating bread bags before sealing the bread inside them. Since this compressed air makes contact directly or indirectly with food, it is vital that your plant keep these machines clean and keep them free of contaminants. Here are three more reasons why the maintenance of commercial-grade, industrial air compressors is so important.

Problems with Moisture and Water Vapor

Moisture and water vapor can actually cause the growth of bacteria and mold in food products. If your air compressors are not closely monitored and the compressed air is not "dried" properly, the food products coming out of your plant are already on their way to becoming unhealthy for consumers. Your maintenance crew needs to check all compressor lines and make sure the hoses are free of any water vapor/moisture on a regular basis. If any water vapor or moisture is noticed, you may need to pull and/or recall products that passed by this particular air compressor in order to keep consumers safe.

Problems with Pressurized Filling Applications 

Many machines in food industries use air compressors to force-fill packages. The fill ends of these machines come into direct contact with drink liquids and soft edibles such as yogurt, cheese and ice cream. When these compressors are not vigilantly kept clean, some of the ingredients in these products (e.g., cultures in yogurt) can start a slow growth process of very unpleasant contaminants, which the compressors then continue to inject into the oncoming line of food substances and containers. Frequent wipe-downs of these machines along with more in-depth, weekly and/or monthly cleanings is necessary to prevent health concerns.

Problems with Oil Aerosols

Compressors that are connected to food processing and packaging machines frequently have components that require a little oiling to keep them going. Over time, these oils break down and can enter the compressor and pass through the hoses to the food or the packaging. This too is a contaminant that is easily prevented with maintenance. The machines should have connected filters through which the air can pass but any oil-encased dust particles or grease cannot. Your maintenance crew needs to make regular rounds to check the filtration on all of your commercial-grade food processors and clean or replace the filters as needed (or as required by the FDA/health and safety inspectors).

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Maintaining A Healthy Lawn

Gone are the days when you had to use a water hose to water your lawn. Today you have the advantage of using a lawn sprinkler system. Manufacturers are continually making new improvements in their irrigation systems. In addition to timers, automatic watering and weather monitors, you can now control your sprinkler system with your smartphone. Hello, my name is Robbie Weston and because I live in an area that doesn't get much rain, I have to continually water my lawn. I've tried out various methods throughout the years and through trial and error, I now have a beautiful green lawn. If you want to have a healthy lawn, this blog is for you. Throughout my blog, you'll learn tips and tricks for maintaining a lush lawn, plus helpful landscaping advice. I hope that you'll learn a lot from my blog because it's important to have a healthy lawn.