HOW CLEAN IS YOUR PAINTBOOTH?

HOW CLEAN IS YOUR PAINT BOOTH?

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU DID A DEEP-CLEAN?

Les Heshka, the manager of Manitoba’s Eastside Collision Repairs knows dirt is a painter’s worst enemy. Rod Katchuck, the head painter at Bergen’s Auto Repair in Saskatchewan, says you can only rely on a clean booth to put out a clean vehicle.

By Bianca Mazziotti

IT’S NOT SOMETHING THAT IS GLAMOROUS, BUT IT NEEDS TO BE DONE.” — ROB ARMSTRONG, OPERATIONS MANAGER, TRINITY COLLISION CENTRE

Paint booths are an essential part of any collision repair shop—but what does it take to deliver exceptional service every time?

Rod Katchuck, the head painter at Bergen’s Auto Repair in Saskatchewan, says you can only rely on a clean booth to put out a clean vehicle.

“I do a full clean once a month,” said Katchuck, who knows that even though it is time-consuming, it is worth cleaning their downdraft paint booth regularly. “Between removing the filters, washing the walls, reboot coating, and replacing all the filters, you’re looking at about three hours.”

The importance of cleaning goes beyond the vehicle, as paint booths that haven’t been cleaned regularly can become a safety risk.

“You want to keep a log on it as well— Fire Marshals can ask for that. If the exhaust isn’t clean it can become a fire hazard,” said Katchuck.

At Eastside Collision Repairs in Manitoba the bodyshop holds two paint booths: one is a JBI downdraft that is 60 feet long, and the other is a GFS downdraft.

Les Heshka, general manager at Eastside, says that they also highly prioritize cleaning when it comes to their paint booths.

“I guess you could say they are cleaned daily, but it depends on what kind of cleaning you’re talking about,” said Heshka. “Filter changes go anywhere from three months to a year. For the downdraft filters, the floor filters are changed out weekly.”

Of course, Heshka says dirt is a painter’s worst enemy, so his business ensures regular shop maintenance themselves and once a year they have a company come in and do a thorough cleaning of their paint booths.

Rob Armstrong, the operations manager of Trinity Collision Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick, says the floor filters get cleaned every 14 days when it comes to their two Garmat paint booths. The shop schedules the cleanings during down production times, which is typically a Monday morning.

“Most of the vehicles that would require paintwork to be done are usually completed by Friday,” said Armstrong. “Then on Monday, it’s a little bit of a quiet time during startup. So, it makes it an easy transition as the vehicles are getting repaired and sent over to the refinish department.”

Armstrong says cleaning the paint booths is more of a tedious job than it is a highly skilled job.

“It’s not something that is glamorous, but it needs to be done,” said Armstrong. “And the staff knows that because it directly affects the kind of quality that we produce at the end of the day.”

CLEAN UP THAT ACT

CUSTOMER COMFORT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER

In 2020, health and safety procedures suddenly became the difference between success and closure for many collision industry businesses. Two years later, little has changed.

As the pandemic tore through the globe, businesses that prioritized good working conditions for their staff were thanked in a way that nobody would have ever expected. As the public became wary of crowded places, businesses that had taken industrial health and safety seriously for employees found it easy to mitigate risks for their customers.

According to countless studies, collision facilities that emphasized disinfection procedures and contact-free services in their marketing material during the social isolation era saw less dramatic reductions in business than their competitors.

While the world will—with any luck—not see another major viral pandemic for a few decades, now is not the time to back off on the approach to health and safety that your business adopted at the beginning of 2020. In fact, it is time to double down. Why? Because—whether or not we live through another global pandemic, a business’s ability to provide contact-free service will still remain important to consumers, and your employees. In fact, since the end of the pandemic, drivers still appear to favour businesses

While the world will—with any luck—not see another major viral pandemic for a few decades, now is not the time to back off on the approach to health and safety.

that offer contact-free services—just ask Daniel Williams, a digital strategy, implementation, and analytics specialist working with Pariveda Solutions.

“The touchless economy is not coming, it’s here,” said Williams during a presentation to Guild 21. “Regardless of whether the coronavirus hit our world or not, we were already moving toward a touchless, frictionless economy. Look at Alexa. Look at mobile devices that let you order food. It was all about moving toward touchless.”

Read on to discover products that will help your business go above and beyond in the very important land of health and safety. Future you will thank you.

Eurovac II Pneumatic Portable

EUROVAC

eurovac.com

e Eurovac II—Pneumatic Portable is a vacuum system designed with safety and effi ciency in mind. Along with the ability to collect explosive dust, fi ne debris and powders from any work site this system also has the power to handle two technicians sanding simultaneously all while doing so quietly with its insulated housing. Using compressed air, static and static hoses for grounding helps to eliminate the chance of explosion by removing the sparking motor element. With these components the Eurovac II meets the National Fire Association Protection codes and helps to create safe working environments.

SATA Filter 500 series

SATA

sata.com/filter

The new SATA filter 500 series, 100% technically clean air. Clean air is where it all begins. In paint application, this applies particularly to compressed air quality. Even the tiniest quantities of oil or dirt and increased levels of moisture can cause coating flaws leading to time-consuming, costly rework. The SATA filter series 500 is available either as a one-stage sintered filter with water and oil separator, as a two-stage combination filter with sintered and fine filter, or as a three-stage filter unit with additional sintered activated charcoal filter. Every six months, all filter stages are maintained together in a procedure that takes just a few minutes without the need for tools, thanks to the bayonet lock and defined position of the filter cartridges, which are replaced simply by inserting them. Furthermore, a flow-optimised cyclone separator minimises pressure drop in the filter system and ensures a constant air flow of approx. 3.800 Nl/min (with four connections). Purexall 5

REXALL LABORATORIES

rexalllabs.com

Purexall 5 is a ready to use one step disinfectant, cleaner and deodorant suitable for hard, non porous surfaces. It is included on the Health Canada Disinfectants for use against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). Compatible with any sprayer and fogger, Purexall 5 is able to disinfect car interiors in less than 15 seconds.

The leader in Dustless Sanding Systems

Central Vacuum Systems Portable Vacuum Systems

✓ OEM certified systems ✓ The most powerful pumps and filtration systems on the market ✓ Complete line of vacuum-ready hand tools ✓ Properly engineered systems

1-800-265-3878

info@eurovac.com