waterjetting for asbestos a water jet. photo courtesy of...

44 • July 2005 • CleanerTimes

sbestos-containing products appear in

many forms. Indoors they may take the form of insula-

tion on hot water piping or heating ducts, fireproof-

ing, mastic, transite panels, or sealing compounds

used with flue pipes. Asbestos may also be found in

floor tiles, sheet flooring, popcorn ceiling, linoleum,

texture coat, drywall, ceiling tiles, acoustical finishes,

or as wall and attic insulation. Exterior uses include

shingles, siding materials, and asbestos cement pipes.

Until the 1970s, asbestos was specified extensive-

ly for building and industrial applications. Today, it

is a widely known fact that human exposure to

asbestos fibers can, over time, be hazardous if not

lethal. For this reason, asbestos is rarely utilized in

modern products and processes.

Asbestos abatement and removal procedures must

conform to strict regulatory guidelines due to the

hazardous nature of airborne asbestos fibers. Rigorous

safety measures have been enacted by municipal,

state, and federal agencies and law makers to ensure

that asbestos materials are removed without risk to

human health and safety.

The Scare Period

During the time that the “asbestos scare” was

going on, a contractor stripped asbestos in down-

town San Francisco using ultra-high water pressure

Figure 1—This sprayed-on asbestos is being cut and lifted bya water jet. Photo courtesy of Yankee Fiber Control.

Figure 2—The loosened asbestos falls off. Photo courtesy ofYankee Fiber Control.

Figure 3—Asbestos coating removal from a vertical surface.Photo courtesy of Yankee Fiber Control.

Figure 4—Asbestos coating being removed from silos.Photo courtesy of HydroChem Industrial Services.

VIEWPOINT

Waterjetting

for Asbestos

Abatementby Lydia Frenzel, Ph.D.

A

For information circle 211


equipment provided by Frank Moll

at HydroChem. Articles about work-

ers removing asbestos without ade-

quate protection and consequently

having health problems and expos-

ing the public appeared daily. Yet

this stripping was routine and with-

out a lot of fuss. People went past

the building without realizing what

was happening. Air monitoring

showed exposure below limits.

Frank Moll’s comments at the

time included: “We provide indus-

trial cleaning services. We are not an

asbestos abatement company or a

hazardous waste management com-

pany. We work with the abatement

companies. We monitor our peo-

ple and procedures very carefully.”

A Business Opportunity?

Cleaner Times ran an article,

“Asbestos Abatement: A Business

Opportunity?” in July 2003. I asked

Frank Moll what he thought about

the business opportunity now—

had the time come and passed where

asbestos removal is a growing busi-

ness? Asbestos abatement is highly

competitive. Most jobs will not pay

to have one more subcontractor

who rents equipment. It gets diffi-

cult setting your company up for

asbestos abatement unless you are

committing to get into it full-time.

Finally, it is very common for com-

petitors to use low pressure (1500-

3000 psi) for removal and cleanup of

sprayed-on insulation. He believes

that the opportunity is for abate-

ment contractors to start getting

into the hydroblasting market rather

than hydroblasters getting into the

asbestos market.

On the other hand, James Hutzler

of Yankee Fiber Control in Rhode

Island says asbestos removal is their

specialty, and they have been doing

it for about 21 years. Yankee Fiber

was the first contractor in Rhode

Island to receive a license. Hutzler

emphasizes, “Asbestos removal

with pressurized water is not a job

for the weak.”

Removing asbestos materials is

a serious undertaking, and it is ex-

tremely tedious, requiring a method-

ical approach. Yankee Fiber uses

diesel-powered HEPA-filtered vac-

uums to collect up to 18 tons of as-

bestos waste per hour. The jetting

and collection process is performed

in a fully-contained negative-pres-

sure environment that releases no

asbestos fibers into the outside air.

Federal Regulations

By law, you normally have to

remove asbestos wet. But that means

you literally can use a garden hose

to keep the asbestos wet. If you

don’t know what you are doing,

you can get into trouble quickly.

Both OSHA and EPA requirements

and regulations must be followed,

as well as any state and local regu-

lations. OSHA regulations require

engineering controls for exposure.

In CFR 1926.1101, OSHA regulates

asbestos exposure in all work as

defined in 29 CFR 1910.12(b). OSHA

1926, “Safety and Health Regulations

for Construction” also applies. EPA

regulations cover the handling and

disposal of hazardous materials.For information circle 66

CleanerTimes • July 2005 • 47

Doing the Work

Asbestos removal via pressur-

ized water is especially effective

where a layer of asbestos has been

sprayed onto structural steel to pro-

tect it from the heat of a fire. Yankee

Fiber started out using a 2000–3000

psi power washer. They got a lot of

asbestos off, but they found that

the water spray tended to simply re-

arrange the asbestos. The result was

a wet pulp of asbestos and water.

They were using 5 gpm and could-

n’t handle the volume of water, so

they went back to the manual “ice

scraper” method.

In the late 1980s, when people

started to experiment with 10,000 psi

water jets, Yankee Fiber began to

use 10,000 psi cleaning, and it worked

tremendously. Water jetting is about

10 times as efficient as manual meth-

ods. Currently, Yankee Fiber has

gone to 36,000–40,000 psi waterjet

cleaning. Ultra-high pressure water-

jet cleaning yields even greater pro-

ductivity because you don’t have so

much splatter and you have focused

energy at low flows. (Figure 1) You

don’t have to control so much water,

and the sprayed-on asbestos just

falls off. (Figure 2)

Pressurized water is also used

to remove the mastic that holds

vinyl tiles down, competing against

a method that uses recyclable steel

shot. Using the 40,000 psi floor

machines, the mastic comes right

up. There are also equipment con-

figurations for cleaning walls.

(Figures 3 and 4)

When you get rid of the asbestos,

you have to bag it up wet. Hence the

reduction in waste when there is

less water. You keep the asbestos

wet all the way through. At 10,000 psi,

Yankee Fiber had to control the waste-

water because they had more water

than they could handle. Using 40,000

psi waterjet cleaning at 2 gpm, they

have to add water to the waste.

Currently Yankee Fiber is decon-

taminating a nuclear power plant by

removing the asbestos mastic from

the foundation. The radiation is

very low-level, but the amount of

waste is critical. If they were to

sandblast the foundation, they would

end up with tons upon tons of a

highly regulated waste. With water,

Yankee Fiber can remove the asbestos

with very, very little blast media

(water), resulting in pollution pre-

vention and waste reduction.

Implications for Wannabes

The typical pressure washer con-

tractor should realize that there are

several things going on. Historically

the cleaning industries, and the

paint industry, have not done a lot

of training except as required by

state and federal law. The use of a

40K machine is very sophisticated

and requires good pump mainte-

nance. A lot of the asbestos removal

contractors are geared towards

extensive use of labor where the

labor force is not necessarily mechan-

ically inclined. The guys can’t just

walk in and run the machine or use

the guns. There are some very well

trained asbestos removal person-

nel who, if given a 40K pressurized


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water gun, would be able to run it

for maybe an hour at best.

On the other hand, the pressure

washer contractors are skilled in

the use of equipment. However,

when a contractor goes in and

sees what is required to get an as-

bestos removal license, he is just

knocked over by all the regulatory

requirements. The opportunity lies

in renting equipment with daily

maintenance.

How does HydroChem manage

their health and safety programs

over diverse types of jobs so that they

can remove asbestos safely and effi-

ciently, but not be a primary haz-

ardous abatement contractor? They

rent the equipment to a licensed

abatement contractor and provide the

maintenance. During each job, they

conduct tailgate safety meetings to

review the previous day’s progress

and to discuss the coming day’s

work so that employees are fully

aware of their responsibilities and

safety precautions.

The Bottom Line

Is there an opportunity for contract

cleaners and high-pressure water-

jet contractors to get into asbestos

abatement? Definitely yes. As in all

businesses, you need to know the

ground rules. You must be willing to

be methodical, and learn both the

equipment and the regulatory sides.

Both Hutzler and Moll agree that

the opportunity is for the industrial

service contractor to provide the

machine to the abatement contractor

and do daily on-site maintenance.

Unless you plan to do asbestos abate-

ment every day, you don’t want to

take on becoming a licensed abate-

ment contractor with all the training

and paperwork it entails.

Lydia Frenzel, Ph.D. is executive

director of the Advisory Council. She

is an industry resource and works as

a proactive advocate for emerging

technology. She shares her knowledge

and experience through custom

courses, educational modules, and

presentations. Photos courtesy of

Lydia Frenzel. CT

Best by Test - Kränzle

In tests by an independent laboratory, Kränzle

electric pressure washers were ranked #1 and #2

8 0 0 - 5 4 4 - 1 1 8 8

w w w . d i r t k i l l e r . c o m

• Cleaning • Cyclic endurance • Ease of assembly

• Power consumption and input voltage • Self-priming

• Ability to run-dry and in by-pass

Dirt Killer Pressure Washers is an ISO 9001 certified company.

Tests conducted by MET Laboratories. Tests included:



waterjetting for asbestos a water jet. photo courtesy of...

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