HOW MUCH DOES A VACUUM VAPOR DEGREASER COST?

The simple answer is that the capital cost is generally 2 to 2.5 times the cost of an Open Top Vapor Degreaser (OTVD). The more complete question is “What is the life cycle cost of a Vacuum Vapor Degreaser (VVD)”? The answer is: “That mainly depends on the solvent required.” Most industries like to look at life-cycle costs over 20 years, which is the standard. Indeed, most of our equipment installed in the 1990s is still operating. Another analysis is the payback time. The standard here is generally 3 to 5 years, which roughly corresponds to a 15 to 25% compounded annual rate of return. Let’s take a look at a 15% rate of return for 5 years.

As an example, we’ll use an 8-foot-long X 2.5-foot-wide degreaser costing $100,000. The equivalent Vacuum Vapor Degreaser (VVD) for the same basket size would cost $250 K to $300K. The question is, will the VVD save me from $150 to $200K over 5 years? Everyone wants to look at energy, waste, and labor costs. In truth, these are relatively small compared to the cost of the chemistry, so for simplicity, let’s look at the money saved on just the solvent recovered.

The EPA has accumulated sufficient data to predict the amount of solvent an OTVD will emit based on size, control equipment used, and hours of operation (working hours, idling hours, and hours the machine is turned off). For the above OTVD, let’s assume the machine has parts in it for 6 hours a day, is idling with no parts for 2 hours, and is shut off for 16 hours a day. Let’s also assume the OTVD has a freeboard ratio of 1,  a working cover (that closes during degreasing), a good hoist speed, and freeboard refrigeration. This unit should use roughly 15,000 lbs of solvent for a 250-day year. The VVD would use roughly 300 lbs. for the same time period. The solvent saved is 14,700 lbs per year. Now we have a simple cost to compare.

If you have an OTVD now, you can do your own calculation. The savings can safely be assumed to be 98% of the total solvent cost. Multiply that number by 5. If you don’t have data, contact us and we can supply you with the numbers. See PERFORMANCE for additional savings.