Cleaning Hard to Reach Places
Hi guys
We have a packing machine that gathers crumbs and such inside it and we are finding it quite hard to clean. Un-assembling is no problem, but these places are impossible to reach even with a cloth or brush!! Does anyone use any specific vacuum/steam cleaner that can get into these crevices? I'm stressing about it as it is the perfect breeding ground for moth larvae - i've had them before in this machine and I'm sick of spending 3 days cleaning these tiny spaces with my finger lol
Is this a dry clean or wet clean?
If conducting a wet clean, there's several areas that we have that aren't reachable by tools, so we'll use an Alkaline foam, allow appropriate contact time, water rinse the follow with a no-rinse sanitiser.
Otherwise if following a dry clean (Not something we do) I would think air to blow out the area, or if you're wanting a specific brush to clean the area, have a chat with an area representative from a company like WRDwells, Foodcare ect...
I would say a dry clean because there is electrical wiring around. I have been heat steaming around it and it has been ok so far, just the hard to reach places are a nuisance
What about a tinier brush. I've seen small bristle brushes made for baby items such as baby bottles. I also have one to clean out a metal straw.
I'll echo mentions of compressed air guns to blow out crumbs from hard to reach areas. If you follow that up with your heat steaming method you may be able to clean things easier. An air gun with a long and thin nozzle may be just the thing to get into small crevasses.
This is part of why GFSI schemes are concerned with the sanitary filtration of compressed air, they know it gets used to clean a lot of primary and secondary surfaces in equipment.
Ease of cleaning should really have been considered before the machine was installed. Maybe engineering can do something to allow access or fill in these crevices by welding over to create smooth surfaces? I would caution compressed air as it can blow foreign bodies all over the place and if you are using allergens/producing allergen free products you need to consider what is being blown around and where these things will end up.