Backyard bar-b-que, don’t forget the clean-up crew!

Summer is right around the corner and with summer comes the smell of a backyard bar-b-que. I may not be allowed near the grill, for various reasons I don’t want to talk about, but as much as my husband talks about the grilling techniques he uses, I feel like an expert from a distance. As a consolation "prize" for not letting me grill, my husband lets me weigh in on the cleaning of the grill, imagine that! Now before we get those yummy smells from summer grilling, we need to make sure our grills are clean and ready to go. Can you imagine what a grill endures throughout the summer and how much “stuff” gets left behind from our cooking? And, I've heard horror stories of rodents and larger animals making your grill a cozy, warm winter home. GROSS!! Now that you've gone from hungry to appetite loss, I can’t help but think about the similarities between clean, ready-to-go grills and belt conveyors running bulk materials daily. Are the belts really clean and ready to carry the next load with no gross leftovers causing major problems within your operation?

Unclean Surfaces Cost Time & Money

Just as we want our cooking surface to be clean, it’s important our conveyor belts remain clean as well. Carrying bulk materials on a belt can lead to layered material separation: 

• Wet fines resting on the belt
• Coarser, dry material sitting above the fines
• Largest lumps on the top of the load
  
  

The larger layers (lumps and coarse material) discharge as they should. But what happens to the fines without a proper conveyor belt cleaning system? Just like our grilled food that gets left behind on the grates, these fines get left behind on the belt. This is known as carryback, the residual material is carried back on the belt as it returns to the tail pulley.

As the particles eventually dry, losing their cohesive and adhesive strength, they are dislodged by the return rollers and bend pulleys and most of the material will fall from the belt. This loose material will accumulate in piles under the belt, build up on return idlers, pulleys, and conveyor structure, or become airborne dust.

Sounds problematic, right?

It is! This costs money, extra time spent cleaning, loss of material, etc., Wouldn’t it be easier to just clean your belt properly, like your grill? A few tips I will share with you...make sure you invest in a quality grill brush/conveyor belt cleaner and regularly inspect the condition of your grill brush/belt cleaner. Sometimes when you focus on the purchase price over performance, you will incur more expense in the long run. I just saw a recent headline the other day about a toddler ingesting wire brush bristles at a bar-b-que, resulting in severe pain, an ER visit, and surgery. Make sure to choose the right tool for the job!

In order to control the damage and expense caused by carryback, belt-cleaning systems are installed. These systems typically consist of one or more belt cleaners mounted at or near the head pulley to remove residual fines that adhere to the belt during material handling. When it comes to our grills, we use brushes and scrapers to remove the leftover food to prevent future problems like bacteria, charred food, dinner coated/glazed with old food remnants, excess grease lingering around as a potential fire hazard, and the list goes on.

If we properly maintain and clean our grills, they will last longer, function better, and ensure delicious food (depending on the chef…hey, some people just can’t cook). Carryback, just like what’s left on the grill after a bar-b-que, is typically the belt’s cargo in its worst state. You can’t have a properly working belt conveyor system without a proper belt cleaning system.

Clean belt = less carryback! Clean grill = better food!