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Effective Water Restoration Techniques

February 5th, 2013 by admin

The goal of any water restoration effort is to return property to its pre-damaged state as fast as possible. To be fully effective, restoration companies must undo current damage and reverse time. Water has a way of seeping into areas unnoticed until it is too late. For this reason alone, restoration should be left to professionals.

When entering a water damaged area, make sure the structure is sound and the electricity is off. Mold and mildew can occur within 48 to 72 hours and flourishes in temperatures from 68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the area requiring water restoration well ventilated if possible, and wear rubber gloves, eye protection, protective clothing, and an organic vapor respirator. Place a fan in a window and clean toward the fan.

Items such as drywall, carpet, padding, mattresses, pillows, box springs and particle board should be discarded if wet. Remove portions of walls and insulation 15 to 20 inches above the water line. Base molding should also go. Flooring must be removed to expose pockets of saturation underneath.

Walls, studs, joists, subfloor and other damaged areas should be cleaned and sanitized. After a complete pressure wash with detergent solutions, they must dry thoroughly before water restoration continues. Floors, walls and ceilings should not be replaced until measurements ensure moisture content of wood is below 13 percent.

For household items, ultrasonic washing provides a more efficient method of cleaning than hand washing. Insurance companies pay water restoration companies by the box, regardless of the time it takes to clean items. By decreasing the time to clean each box, restoration companies increase their rate of return.

In addition, ultrasonic equipment provides a more thorough cleaning than hand washing, reaching even the smallest and most difficult places. Property owners get their possessions back quicker and cleaner, restoration companies see higher profits, and insurance companies get satisfied clients.

To learn more about ultrasonic cleaners and how they can help with your water restoration cleaning needs, visit our website at www.Omegasonics.com or feel free to contact one of our ultrasonic cleaning experts (888) 420-4445.

Tags: Water Restoration
Posted in Industry Information, Reference, Ultrasonic Education | No Comments »

The Light at the End of the Tunnel IS a Tunnel!

April 17th, 2012 by Frank Pedeflous

The problem? Because the ultrasonic cleaning process was so fast, items began to pile up while waiting to be dried.

The solution? The Omega 6900 tunnel dryer was created to alleviate this bottleneck.

Tunnel Dryers were originally manufactured by Omegasonics for disaster restoration cleaning purposes. However, building upon the initial success found in the restoration market, numerous other industrial applications are continuously being discovered for aiding in parts drying. Countless ways of combining ultrasonic washers and tunnel dryers are being implemented to improve overall cleaning process efficiencies, saving you time, labor, money. And in the highly competitive contents restoration industry, contractors are looking for any edge they can get.

After extensive research, development, and field-testing, Omegasonics has developed a tunnel drying unit that allows for washed parts to be dried instantly without much effort from the operator. As an example, our dryers use guillotine doors, locking in heat and airflow necessary to properly dry parts while maintaining energy efficient protocols.

Alternative drying methods from other manufacturers include separate ovens which have no airflow, centrifugal dryers that can’t be used on sensitive parts due to mechanical damage, or hand held dryers which are extremely slow. Using these other methods can increase your drying times, thus costing you money due to increased production costs.

Tunnel dryers can be applied in both industrial and restoration settings. The key is getting help with the application from a knowledgeable ultrasonic cleaning supplier who can provide advice on maximizing your efficiency so that more green goes into your pocket.

Tags: Contents Restoration Process, omegasonics, Tunnel Dryers, Ultrasonics cleaning
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Improve Contents Processing Efficiency

April 3rd, 2012 by Frank Pedeflous

If you are a contents restoration company not yet using the latest technology in ultrasonic cleaning, then you are potentially missing on countless amounts of clients, jobs and money.

With today’s technology, using an ultrasonic cleaning machine is the ONLY way to reduce cleaning costs, improve cleaning time/effectiveness and reduce the number of cash outs on highly damaged items.

After a disaster has struck, such as a residential home fire, the insurance company and homeowner work together to find a suitable restoration company. Insurance professionals are now only choosing restoration companies that use modern ultrasonic equipment because of their ability to quickly clean fire damaged contents and restore them to pre-loss condition.

Some of these items may be impossible to restore by hand. Cleaning a box of contents by hand would normally take about hour for an experienced contents cleaner. Inside a typical box, you may find everyday items such as statues, fine china, a T.V. remote, etc… The cleaning technician would use specialized brushes and sponges to reach every crack in and around the item. This process is often long, tedious, and expensive.

In one hour, a team of workers single worker can clean an average of 10-12 of these boxes using ultrasonic equipment. Ultrasound reaches those hard to get nooks and crannies in a fraction of the time, allowing a worker to use their time more effectively on other projects. Because of the extreme difference in cleaning time, insurance companies now pay a lot less to restore a home filled with damaged items. If you are a restoration company not using the latest in ultrasonic technology, you simply cannot afford to stay in the dark ages of inefficiency and hand cleaning.

Tags: contents restoration, omegasonics, ultrasonic restoration, Ultrasonics cleaning
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What is Ultrasonic Cleaning Really?

March 20th, 2012 by Frank Pedeflous

Picture sound waves being pumped through water, generating cavitation bubbles that implode and remove dirt.

When technical folks try to explain what ultrasonic cleaning is, you get some really technical explanations that no one outside of the industry frankly understands.

The smart engineering types talk about a cavitation bubble. They talk about rarefactions and defractions of bubbles in water created by waveform patterns. They talk about frequency of the waveform affecting cavitation sizes. They might talk about the tensile strength of fluid and the need for more surfactants. They might even get sidetracked with different frequencies and their affect on cleaning. Scientific types love to talk about implosions versus explosions. It can all be pretty complicated and not really that necessary to understand.

Some will give you a simple explanation that it is a jewelry cleaner and most of us have either had jewelry or watches cleaned or heard of it. Most don’t know how it really works, but at least we have seen an ultrasonic unit in miniature form or seen its brilliant effect on a diamond ring.

The bottom line: ultrasound is analogous to putting a stereo system in water. You pump sound waves through water and magical things happen. Sound waves do create cavitation bubbles that clean. The bubbles hit the surfaces to be cleaned and implode (which is the opposite of explode). When the bubble implodes, there is a vacuum pressure release that sucks the dirt right off your parts.

What more do you really need to know or care about? Do you have any questions about ultrasonic cleaning?

Tags: ultrasonic cleaning, Ultrasonics cleaning
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Omegasonics Announces New and Improved Site

September 13th, 2011 by Frank Pedeflous

We proud to announce that the newly redesigned website for Omegasonics went live yesterday! After a five-month process, we are very excited with the way everything turned out. Our goal with the new site was to extend the functionality of the navigation for the user. It features modified content, streaming videos, new pictures and incorporates bold colors and graphics.

Let us know what you think of our new and improved website.

Here are my top 5 favorite elements about the new site:

1) Tightened Navigation: Our website is pretty deep and we don’t want anyone to get lost! That’s why we implemented a new breadcrumb system to allow our users to trace past pages leading up to the current page. You can see your breadcrumbs right under the main navigation bar… but please don’t eat them.

2) Modified Content: Don’t you hate it when you want to read about a product but you have to sort through all the fluff to find the right information? Well we do too… you will notice our Table Tops, Industrial Washers, Restoration Systems and Industry Specialty pages have all been re-written to help you find specific product information easier and faster.

3) New Photos: To follow up on our modified content, we let our pictures do the talking. Throughout the site, you will notice a wide array new photos that compliment the product pages and areas that they serve.

4) Social Media Icons: Are you following us on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In or YouTube? If you aren’t already, add us to receive all the latest news and information about everything ultrasound. We just finished up a Facebook Contest where we gave away a FREE table top unit. *Hint: We are doing another contest soon!

5) Search Bar: Can’t find what you are looking for within our site? No problem… just locate the search bar in the upper left corner. A list of Omegasonics sub pages will come up.

We hope that you enjoy your visit to the new and improved Omegasonics.com. We think your visit experience will be greatly enhanced as you search for valuable news, information, and products related to ultrasonic cleaning and disaster restoration.

Let us know what you think of the site redesign by posting in the comment section below.

Tags: omegasonics
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Made in the USA

June 6th, 2011 by Frank Pedeflous

Manufacturing products in other countries is vastly different from manufacturing products in the United States. While manufacturing overseas may offer cost savings in terms of reduced overall labor rates, U.S. manufacturers are having to be increasingly leary of intellectual property theft. This, combined with higher overseas shipping costs and ever-increasing offshore labor rates due to the progressive sophistication of the economies of third world countries, has U.S. manufacturers bringing more production back home. Many developing nations are also seeing political and labor unrest as workers are beginning to demand higher income and better working conditions.

Purchasing raw materials and components from American companies helps ensure better quality control in all aspects of a manufacturing operation. Raw materials coming from overseas do not meet manufacturer’s specifications on occasion.

At Omegasonics, all floor model ultrasonic cleaning and restoration systems, including bench top systems, are proudly designed, created and manufactured in Simi Valley, CA. This ensures that we can maintain better quality control and process control in comparison to many the ultrasonic cleaners brought to the marketplace by our competitors. “Made in the USA” is more than just a good marketing slogan, it is a commitment we have made, and it is an investment in our country that will pay future dividends in many ways.

Tags: made in the USA, omegasonics, ultrasonic cleaners
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The Evolution of Ultrasonic Cleaning

April 19th, 2011 by Frank Pedeflous

ultrasonic cleaners clean parts on naval ships

Currently, there are Omegasonics’ machines on almost every ship in the United States Naval Fleet.

Unlike today’s fast paced world economy, ultrasonic units were not always used on American Navy vessels for cleaning engine components and tools. Fire restoration companies were not commonly using ultrasound everyday to restore memories and magically bring household objects back to life…

Currently, there are Omegasonics’ machines on almost every ship in the United States Naval Fleet. These machines are used rigorously everyday by the men and woman serving on aircraft carriers, battleships and submarines. Restoration companies are now saving previously un-recoverable contents in addition to cutting costs and increasing profits!

I have seen the world of ultrasonic cleaning grow leaps and bounds from when I arrived at Omegasonics in 1996. During this time, we were only focusing our efforts in the blind cleaning industry. Blinds would accumulate massive amounts of dust and bacteria from sitting for long periods of time. If they sat untouched for too long they could become a health hazard if inhaled by a sensitive nose. Look around your office or house and notice the wide range of shapes, lengths and widths of your mini blinds. Imagine trying to clean each type slat with a towel and some spray. Doesn’t that seem like a long, tedious task?

However, we came to realize, like blinds, other items and objects could benefit from ultrasonic cleaning. Other companies were already proficient and were constantly in the industrial side of ultrasonic cleaning. Soon enough, Omegasonics evolved our marketing approach and began shifting our focus to industrial application cleaning.

Ultrasound is still used to clean mini blinds just as it was before. However, the wide range of applications for ultrasonic cleaning has greatly increased over the years as well as the benefits and rewards. For that matter, ultrasound is a technology that has made an environmentally beneficial impact on many different industries. Our ultrasonic manufacturing business has evolved from cleaning simple window blinds, to automobile restoration, cleaning medical supplies, power sports, aerospace technology, disaster restoration and will continue to evolve for years to come!

For more information, see us at www.omegasonics.com

Tags: industrial cleaning, omegasonics, ultrasonic cleaners, ultrasonic cleaning
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Industrial Ultrasonic Cleaning Test Lab = “CSI: Simi Valley”

February 22nd, 2011 by Frank Pedeflous

At Omegasonics, we refer to ourselves as “chemistry detectives”!

In previous posts we’ve talked about finding the right balance between ultrasonic chemistry, frequency, time, and process to maximize industrial ultrasonic cleaning efficiency. To uncover how to optimize these elements, we use our state-of-the-art testing lab located in Simi Valley, California. We think of our testing lab sort of like a “CSI crime scene lab” and even refer to ourselves as “chemistry detectives”.

Omegasonics has a large library of ultrasonic cleaning protocols for a variety of parts. However, if we get a call regarding an item that we have never tested before, we will have the client send us their dirty and contaminated parts. That will enable us to test different batches in different chemistries to find the most effective combinations. Time, temperature and orientation are all experimented with and varied. This information is cross-examined by an ultrasonic cleaning process sheet. A process sheet is a detailed series of instructions regarding temperature, time, etc… on how to clean an item along with a cleaning recipe.

After extensive research is conducted, Omegasonics isolates the best ultrasonic cleaning protocol, document the method, and send the items back to our customers along with the correct ultrasonic cleaning process. We can even put the testing on camera and upload it onto YouTube for real time observation.

If you or anyone else knows of an industrial tool or part with an unidentified cleaning process, contact us immediately! We love using our top notch test lab to uncover more ultrasonic cleaning mysteries. It’s elementary, my dear Watson it’s the smarter choice!

Tags: industrial ultrasonic cleaning, omegasonics, processing parts cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning process
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The Father of Modern Ultrasonic Technology

February 14th, 2011 by Frank Pedeflous

John Wild, Father of Modern Ultrasonics

In a previous blog, I mentioned the name “John Wild”. John Wild is considered to be the father of modern ultrasonic technology. He invented ultrasonic imaging techniques used to view live soft tissue inside a human. His discovery would eventually become the standard for medical screening and diagnosis.

John’s field of expertise did not stop with the medical world. At the early age of 14, he was awarded his first patent for an automatic valve that distributed hot and cold bathwater evenly. Later, he became a surgeon specializing in venereal diseases. In 1944, Wild joined the Royal Army and reached the rank of major.

While with the British army, he contributed to other parts of the war efforts as well. During WWII, when petroleum was low, John discovered a way to convert Harley Davidson motorcycles with side-cars to run on fuel produced from charcoal.

His work as a surgeon led him to discover that pulse-echo ultrasound, or sonic energy, could be reflected as it echoes from soft biological tissue. This discovery in the 1950’s pioneered the production of ultrasonic images of living tissue in real time.

Wild would go on to establish the Medical Technological Research Department at St. Barbabas Hospital in Minneapolis. He received many prestigious awards for his contributions to the field of technology and medicine. He passed away in 2009 at the age of 95, but his legacy to the world of ultrasonic technology will never die.

Tags: history of ultrasonics, omegasonics, ultrasonic technology
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Ultrasonic Cleaning: The Choice for Food and Drug Companies

January 24th, 2011 by Frank Pedeflous

The medical, food, and drug industries must meet extreme standards when it comes to the cleanliness for processing equipment. Bacteria, germs, dirt, oils, and food particles are all prone to make cleaning a difficult and time intensive task.

However, the good news is that even the most stringent guidelines in these industries can be met with less time and lower costs using ultrasonic cleaning technology. The key is to use mild solutions including citric acid and/or water instead of harsh soaps when cleaning parts used to process or dispense food, supplements and pharmaceuticals.

Ultrasound technology safely cleans and disposes all dirt, minerals, grime, oil, and other residues from any surface. Companies such as Pepsi, Coca Cola, Anheuser-Busch, Miller Brewing and Natural Alternatives are all using ultrasonic cleaning machines inside their plants across the nation. These machines are being used on parts such as:

• Vitamin and supplement processing equipment;

• Soft drink filler valves (which often become clogged with syrup);

• Food and beverage containers and dispensers;

• Baking pans; and;

• Cannery vent hoods .

Using ultrasound will please even your most vigorous inspectors, all while reducing labor and cleaning costs, thus and improving your bottom line.

For more information, go to www.omegasonics.com/industries/food_drug.shtml

Tags: cleaning food and drug industry, omegasonics, processing parts cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning
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