# Seeking a solution for clogged drain pipes



## printandprint (Sep 24, 2007)

I've been seeking a real solution for our drain pipes for more than a year now. When we reclaim, the plastisol ink, which becomes bubble gummy gets into our plumbing and eventually blocks our drain pipes. 

We recently spent another fortune on a plumber who spent several trips and numerous tricks to get things empty. 

We previously had some sort of particle trap and I can't find a photo of that to show you. When our 1.5" pipes filled solid with plastisol ink after 2 years of use (which subsequently hardened) we switched to a traditional grease trap (like what restaurants use) instead to see what it could do.

I've searched at industry trade shows, through magazines, with ink vendors. Even the supposed spray out booth vendors at the trade shows are clueless when it comes to what happens below the drain. 

While we are catching several pounds of spent ink with our grease trap per 3 month span, there is still enough of it somehow getting through our trap to cause problems in our 4" main drain line after only 6 months in a "new" building. 

We already clean the screens of ink as much as is possible using spatulas before we reclaim. We didn't have this kind of problem years ago, but that was when our volume was much smaller and we were not reclaiming dozens of screens every single day.

Thankfully the emulsion and the reclaiming solution is water soluble and goes on through.

Our plumber has suggested a Gleco trap. I have been studying this model and I am concerned about it because the principle looks very similar to the original trap that we used even though the design is slightly different.

What does everyone else use? 

It's hard to decide whether the ink sinks or floats or is neutral.

I am not convinced that any single trap is going to save us the pain and I am frustrated but have learned not to be surprised that the industry does not offer a solution.


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## neato (Mar 21, 2006)

Why is your plastisol turning to gum? Are you using an ink degradant?


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## printandprint (Sep 24, 2007)

neato said:


> Why is your plastisol turning to gum? Are you using an ink degradant?



We immerse our screens in One Step Clear which is made by FranMar. This is some kind of soy derivative rather than a petroleum base. It allegedly encapsulates plastisol (rather than thinning it) and this is presumably why it turns gummy. 

Our emulsion is Textil PHW Red by SaatiChem.

After the screens soak, we blast them clean with a pressure washer.


Whether the gummy stuff is purely ink or also somewhat emulsion is hard to decide and we are not all in agreement about that here in the shop. When the solution is new, the emulsion liquefies very well in the tank. As it ages, the emulsion is a little bit clumpy.


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## neato (Mar 21, 2006)

Hmmm...

I'd switch to a degredant. Sounds like that might be your problem. A degradant will break the ink down and make it water soluble. . Try the Bean-e-Doo or a similar soy based product. I like Lawsons HD-200.

Also, there shouldn't be but a film of ink on your screens after you scrape them


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## Ken Styles (Mar 16, 2006)

Hi,
I've been using citra paste for about a month now and it works pretty well.

It turns the plastisol ink into a very very thin liquid and washes away. 
watch this video of how it works.


YouTube - Screen printing - Citra paste

The only neg is that it's harsh so wear a mask. Not sure how he can use it without choking.


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## neato (Mar 21, 2006)

Ken Styles said:


> http://www.ryonet.net/downloads/CitraPaste.AVI
> 
> It's harsh so wear a mask.


Ken, try the soy products. They work great and are PLEASANT to work with. In fact, the stuff I'm using now smells like a chinese buffet. Yum!


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## Ken Styles (Mar 16, 2006)

where can I get a bottle?

I wouldn't mind a littel chinese buffet instead of a die lungs smell.


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## printandprint (Sep 24, 2007)

Very interesting comments. 

If I follow correctly, using a degradent involves switching to a two-step process, is this correct? 

One process for ink breakdown and removal, and a 2nd process for emulsion breakdown and removal. 

In contrast, our present system does both of these at the same time. 


As I understand it, some of the reasons we selected our present chemical system (the employee who chose that is no longer here) is because it was non-toxic and biodegradable and there was no problem with us sending it into the sewer system. We also like it because it doesn't cause any skin or breathing problems for our employees. It is also significantly cheaper compared to whatever we used prior to that. 

However, I am not married to any single solution, we are always open to alternatives and seeking to improve. 

We need to reclaim 12 to 24 screens per day (Avg 18 per day) and our screens are almost 24" by 36" in size. (Various mesh counts but many are 280)

Getting a screen clean involves more than just a dip and a spray, we have to dehaze it too and usually degrease it with simple green, and there is a lot of drying in between in steps. We have one employee to do reclaiming for a portion of their day. 

Without having seen how the process goes in other shops, I am both concerned and also very curious about degradents and how they would influence the speed of our reclaiming process.


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## neato (Mar 21, 2006)

Well, the efficiency of a dip tank is debatable. I don't have one, and I've never used one, but a lot of people who have cleaned screens with and without one prefer without.

I reclaim 8-16screens a day. I can do 8 screens in about 1/2 hour. No big deal for me. 

And yes, it's two steps.


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## Gregsdad (Sep 10, 2007)

I'm just a noob here, but my day job, when I'm not helping my son press shirts, is as a chemist. Plastisol ink contains unpolymerized vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen implicated in brain, liver, kidney, lung, and leukemia and other blood cancers.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts20.html

http://www.atlasscreensupply.com/download/MSDSICCINKS.pdf

If you can find any way to do so, I'd sure recommend not allowing it to go down the drain. Cleaners just emulsify it. The vinyl chloride is still there. Once it's polymerized (cured), it becomes polyvinylchloride, PVC, the same stuff that sprinkler pipes are made from, and you can drink out of them. Only way to safely dispose of plastisol and its residue is first to cure it by baking it in an oven at about 350 F.


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## majkthreads (Mar 29, 2006)

Gregsdad said:


> I'm just a noob here, but my day job, when I'm not helping my son press shirts, is as a chemist. Plastisol ink contains unpolymerized vinyl chloride, a known carcinogen implicated in brain, liver, kidney, lung, and leukemia and other blood cancers.
> 
> ATSDR - ToxFAQs™: Vinyl Chloride
> 
> ...



So as a chemist, what other remedies are there other than baking my waste water?


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## Gregsdad (Sep 10, 2007)

That's the problem. There are no alternatives except handling all your wash water and sludge in the dip tank as hazardous waste and having a company come and pick it up, at huge expense. I know that's no help, but that's the way it is. 

So as long as plastisol is the ink of choice, there's going to be a disposal problem.


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## mk162 (Sep 24, 2007)

That is what I have heard, they are 2 separate chemicals, one is water based, the other is solvent/oil based. Oil & water don't mix, there isn't a lot you can do to make them mix. Look at salad dressing, sure it will emulsify if you run it through the food processor, but let it sit for a while and you'll get a nice separation again.

I personally would clean my screens in a washout tank and then reclaim them. It will also help you reclaimer last longer. We take the sediment out of the washout sink and cure it. Problem solved. We used to use Safety Kleen, but at $1300 a year, it got too expensive. That and if the truck rolled over after it left our facility, we were still responsible for our chemicals. What a bargain.


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## Gregsdad (Sep 10, 2007)

That's the problem. With cleaners, all you're doing is breaking the oil-soluble materials down into small enough particles that they can be emulsified, or made partially soluble, or suspended, so they can be flushed down the drain. Problem is municipal sewers use biology to degrade sewage, and bacteria know nothing about vinyl chloride, fomaldehyde and mineral oils. So it passes on through the wastewater stream and ends up in a river somewhere. And then you read about frogs with 3 hind legs and wonder what's going on with the environment. 

In the pharmaceutical industry where I work, coatings were once all solvent-based. Because of increasingly strict EPA regs, the whole industry began to phase in water-based coatings which were about as well accepted industry-wide as are water based inks in screenprinting today. At first everyone screamed that the water based coatings weren't going to work, that quality will suffer, etc., and costs will go through the roof. But as time went on, the coating manufacturers got their act together and came up with products that were safer and less polluting. And the quality is just fine. 

The same thing can happen in the screenprinting industry, too, if the need arises. All it will take is for the EPA to target a component of plastisol and say that, for example, vinyl chloride will be restricted within 5 years and watch how fast the ink manufacturers adopt water-based alternatives.

Unless there is a compelling need to make the change, nothing will be done. Plastisol will continue to be predominant, and water-based inks will remain on the sideline because of lack of sales.


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