About FASTT

04 - Parts/Equipment Cleaning

Aircraft Washing/BMP

During cold weather, aircraft are washed inside hangers. Due to inadequate drainage, the aircraft must be washed by hand, with spray bottles and towels. This results in significant labor costs. Two more efficient washing techniques could be used, including: (1) install an enclosure with radiant heat over the existing washrack to provide all weather use of the washrack, (2) use existing floor trenches; procure an air powered diaphragm pump to pump wastewater from the trench to the washrack drain, apply a non-skid surface on the hanger bay floor, and install a movable curtain to protect adjacent bay from overspray. The first alternative would cost about $140,000 for an 85' by 100' enclosure. The second alternative would cost about $15,000.

Recommendations were made on the design of an aircraft washrack to reduce costs, which included consideration of portable, self contained power washing equipment to eliminate the need for water heaters at the washrack, consideration of smaller less expensive oil/water separator to accommodate the lower volume of wastewater, and use of portable HAZMAT lockers for equipment and material storage to eliminate the need to construct an adjacent building.

Aqueous Parts Washer

FASTT has found Aqueous Parts Washers to be useful in several different applications. 30 recommendations were made, 5 examples follow:

Airframes shop cleans a variety of parts on an as-necessary basis. The manual cleaning is labor intensive and uses P-D-680, a hazardous material. Aqueous parts washers are available to the shop but have not been used due to uncertainties about applicability to certain aircraft parts. FASTT Team recommends that the shops begin using the aqueous parts washers to reduce labor requirements and use of P-D-680. NAVAIR 01-1A-509, section 3-5.3.10 delineates requirements for cleaning of aircraft components using aqueous parts washers.

F-18 wheels soaked in 50 gallon P-D-680 dip tank, Type III solvent, and hand scrubbed to remove excess carbon and grease. The tank is currently dumped every 60-90 days. An aqueous parts washer would eliminate a large portion of hazardous materials used and reduce waste stream.

Submarine pumps with bronze or copper alloy components are cleaned manually. This process is exceptionally labor intensive. An aqueous parts washer along with a glass bead box would offer the shop comprehensive alternatives.

Jet engine stator vanes and turbine blades and small engine components cleaned in 30 gallon Safety Kleen solvent dip tank. Tank in use 12 to 16 hours each day. Average time to clean one set of turbine blades and stator vanes is 5 hours with two workers. Workcenter processes 30 engines per month. Aqueous parts washer would negate need for Safety Kleen contract, clean more efficiently and in less time.

Electrical accessory shop cleans various components. Some items are sent away to a steam cleaning shop, other parts are cleaned in the shop in a glovebox type aqueous parts washer. The hand cleaning of parts is labor intensive, sending parts away for cleaning causes some delays. Use of another type of aqueous parts washer would save labor and reduce waste generated. Additionally, a small steam cleaning station would also have application in this shop.

Aqueous Parts Washer/BMP

An aqueous parts washer is used to clean P-3 wheels and bearings. Use of the existing parts washer timer will allow for more parts to be cleaned during the workday. Solutions will be at operating temperature at the beginning of the day, instead of having personnel wait several hours for the solution to heat-up once the shift has begun.

Asbestos Brake Cleaning Unit

Current process of cleaning brakes on light and heavy material vehicles requires personnel to wear appropriate PPE. The PPE must be disposed of as hazardous asbestos-contaminated material. Use of a wet cleaning method would reduce or eliminate the need for PPE. FASTT recommends leasing a Safety Kleen Mobile Brake self-contained cleaning unit (Model 10). Use of this wet cleaning unit would minimize PPE costs, improve cleaning methods, and reduce the quantity of hazardous waste generated.

Best Management Practices

Station squadrons clean their P-3 bomb rack units (BRU) on a regular basis. On average, only one P-3 aircraft per squadron per month actually uses the wing mounted BRUs for qualification purposes. The suggestion was made that the BRUs be removed from eight of the ten squadron aircraft, cleaned and preserved until needed. BRUs would be left on two aircraft to maintain an acceptable level of operational readiness. Action would result in a labor cost savings.

Filter Systems/BMP

Safety Kleen "Green Machine" stations are used to clean small parts across the site. Only one-half of the existing stations are equipped with particulate filters to extend the life of the cleaning solvent. FASTT recommends reviewing the contract with Safety Kleen to determine if particulate filters could be installed at all stations. In doing so, the life of solvent would be extended and the stations would not have to be cleaned as frequently. The contract change would result in little to no savings, but the cost of the filters will be off-set by the decreased frequency of fluid changeout. Additionally, the waste from the stations where filters are installed would decrease by approximately 480 pounds.

Workshop maintains a 350 gallon parts cleaning tank. Upon inspection, the filters on the recirculation pumps were completely clogged. FASTT recommends frequently checking the filters and replacing or cleaning them as necessary to extend the life of the cleaning solution. Spent solution must be disposed of as hazardous waste.

HOTSY Equipment

FASTT recommended HOTSY equipment to 6 activity workshops. An example application follows:

Each aircraft on-site is washed by hand approximately 20 times per year. The process can use up to 10,000 gallons of water and require 36 man-hours per aircraft. A Lockheed-developed "HOTSY" washing unit for P-3 and C-130 aircraft could greatly reduce the manpower, water, and detergent used to wash aircraft. Literature on the HOTSY unit indicates that water usage can be reduced up to 90% and detergent usage can be reduced 75%. Interviews with on-site personnel and personnel from other activities where Hotsy units have been used indicates man-hours could be reduced from 36 hours to 12 hours. Overall annual savings is estimated to be $322,460, with pay-back achieved in less than 6 months. Water use and wastewater could be reduced by 6,480,000 gallons per year. Approval of this unit has been suspended due to concerns about the pressure applied to aircraft paint and various parts. The FASTT team will sponsor further investigations by the CFA to determine the extent of risk, and whether this issue can be resolved.

Mini-Max Steam Cleaner

FASTT found 31 opportunities for this technology. Four example applications follow:

Marine Security maintains and cleans 3000 weapons per month. A Mini-Max would reduce cleaning time from 3 hours per weapon to 1 hour and would reduce/eliminate need for CLP.

Public Works maintains various sensors on base, including those in secured areas, which take two hours to enter and exit. Bringing a miniature steam cleaner to the sensor instead of taking the sensor to the work shop would cut evolution time in half.

Station squadrons clean the bomb rack units (BRUs) on a regular basis (on 28 and 224 day schedules using pads, flux brushes and aircraft cleaning compound). FASTT team recommends use of a Mini-Max steam cleaner which will reduce manual labor requirements.

Electronic repairs, refurbishment and cleaning (shipboard electronics, PC's, VCRs, etc) done with a variety of sprays and cleaners. A miniature steam cleaner is already in use by other government facilities and could be put to use here. Man-hours could be cut by as much as 70%.

Process Change/BMP

The marine maintenance shop has a P-D-680 parts washer tank that they do not use. The golf shop is currently in need of a small parts washer to clean and degrease golf cart motors. FASTT recommends transferring the parts washer to the golf shop.

Substitute/Isopropyl alcohol

Electronics shop cleans solder flux residue from circuit boards. Has been using isopropyl alcohol. FASTT Team recommended use of a miniature steam cleaner. Follow-up information from the site POC indicates the current process is working acceptably well. Unless the workload increases significantly, procurement of a miniature steam cleaner will not be necessary.

Shop is using Isopropyl alcohol for cleaning flux residue from circuit boards after soldering. Isopropyl alcohol can dissolve the protective sealer on the circuit boards. FASTT to research alternative cleaners and forward the information to the SIMA.

Wash Rack

Shops currently have no properly designed area for washing vehicles and engine cleaning/washing. Installation of a wash rack should be incorporated to ensure proper control of wash/rinse waste water. Estimated savings from washing vehicles on-site, instead of off-base, is $74,000, with pay-back achieved in two years.