Salt is a particular problem for the U.S. Navy. The Naval Facilities Command (NAVFAC), with responsibility for the Navy’s land-based assets -- including fuel tanks, towers, water tanks, and pipelines -- uses Chlor*Rid salt removal and Chlor*Test salt detection kits for surface preparation to apply coatings to U.S. Navy ships (including SPECWAR counterterrorism ships), the U.S. Coast Guard, and NAVFAC fuel tanks, towers, water tanks, and pipelines. The soluble salt testing and removal products have been used since the mid-1990s.
“Prior to 1995, it is estimated that at least 3 out of 4 contractors suffered major failures during projects or shortly thereafter. Most coatings did not survive more than 5 to 7 years,” according to Daniel Zarate, NAVFAC Paintings & Coatings, SME. “Now with changes, including Chlor*Rid, we have an approximately 70 to 90% reduction in lifecycle costs, have reduced premature coating failures, and increased service life.”
No Need for Repeated Surface Blasting
American Stripping also uses Chlor*Rid to remove salts from Navy ships and vessels. In the past, to comply with NAVSEA Standard Items FY-00 Specification for chloride cleanliness, the company had to repeatedly wash and blast steel surfaces. But since switching to Chlor*Rid, standards can be met without the need to constantly wash and blast, and hundreds of military projects have been completed at lower cost. Chlor*Rid has been successfully used for salt removal on surfaces of U.S. Navy ships and vessels, including the USS Roosevelt, USS Washington, and USS Reagan.
“The United States taxpayer is benefiting from our use of Chlor*Rid’s great products,” says Todd Randall, president, American Stripping.
Reducing Corrosion, Improving Adhesion
Office of Naval Research-funded studies concluded that Chlor*Rid is an effective salt mitigator using a cold wash at 65ºF and 2,000 psi pressure washing, in comparison with other surface cleaning methods tested. Washing with Chlor*Rid was shown to result in a 20 to 25% increase in coating adhesion strength relative to DI water washing.
And it is effective in the removal of surface oils (test surfaces had been brushed with 10W oil during the screening of various processes for surface preparation).
Chlor*Rid products are also used by state highways, bridges, railroads, aircraft, ships, dams, tanks and microbiology labs to protect and remove dangerous salt contamination and corrosion from the world’s most crucial infrastructure systems.