Dry ice blast cleaning applications within the electrical industry include:

• energized, padmounted switchgear up to and including 29 kV;
• generator windings;
• transformer bushings;
• substation and line insulators.

Advantages include:

• contamination-induced power disruptions are eliminated;
• revenur losses due to these disruptions are eliminated;
• eliminates cost of switching out and grounding equipment;
• improved system reliability improves customer satisfaction;
• non-abrasive process preserves the integrity of insulators and terminations;
• permits preventive maintenance rather than crisis maintenance.

Many utilities simply do not regularly clean padmounted switchgear or substations. When contamination buildup causes or contributes to a flashover, an unplanned outage occurs. Only then is maintenance performed. Needles to say, these unplanned outages can be quite costly to utility customers and cause widespread dissatisfaction. Old-fashioned preventive maintenance programs require planned outages. Although planned, these outages still lead to high levels of dissatisfaction. As s result, few utilities have established preventive maintenance programs, preferring to operate in reactive or crisis mode instead.

Dry ice blasting is also environmentally friendly because it virtually eliminates clean up and waste disposal issues and it eliminates the need for solvents.