BACKGROUND
This company restores and recertifies close to 1,000,000 propane tanks a year. Most of these tanks are the 20 pounders (12" dia. x 18" h) used on gas grills. These expired tanks come in from substations "looking beat up and filthy...we have to make them look new". In the weeks leading up to memorial day, when people all over the land are getting ready to fire up the grill, this company needs to output as many as 500 tanks per hour.
PROBLEM
Of the major steps in the customer's process – cleaning, blasting, testing, and painting – cleaning is by far the most time consuming step. Removing the heavy grease build-up and the old labels required a team of workers armed with razor blade knives, scrapers, and brushes. There had to be a better way!
 SOLUTION
Design a heavy duty, in-line washer that can output 10 tanks per min. or 600 tanks per hour. The system has a 36" wide conveyor belt so that 2 lines of tanks can run through the system at the same time. As the tanks move through the wash zone they are blasted with 400 GPM of hot solution from a 1,000 gal. holding tank. Special chemistry removes the animal fat without foaming and does not tarnish the brass and aluminum fittings.
SYSTEM
A custom built C-36 Cyber-Jet system. All stainless steel, 36" wide belt with lane dividers, two(2) 15 HP pumps for the wash stage, gas heat, 1000 gal. tank, in-line filtration, and more special features.
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