Before sinking an enormous amount of capital into a tankless hot-melt system, make sure you know the cons as well as the pros that the adhesive melter company is selling you. Remember, they will tell you only the good side and before you know it, you are writing a big whopping check without knowing the full picture that may affect your type of packaging application.
Why Choose Tankless Hot Melt Systems
Below are the selling points on tankless hot melt systems you will hear and what that truly means:
- Tankless take up less space: In order to set up the temperature controls, feeders and stands, the space used is as much and sometimes more than the conventional hot melt systems. They are referencing the unit only when making this statement.
- Less time in “Warm-up” phase: Since most packaging plants run 24 hours a day, this is not a benefit. The units are already hot from shift to shift. Also, the conventional hot melt units have a timer that can be set to heat before a shift begins.
- Less time used in filling: Since tankless technology involves feeding small quantities of dry pellets into the heat on demand system, there are 2 factors that can come into play that can cause downtime:
- Clog in feeding system
- Unit runs out of glue (you cannot manually fill this system)
- Proven & Dependable conventional melters: Melt rate times on standard melter reservoirs are 40 minutes up to 2 hours, depending on size of unit. Many people use less expensive adhesive feeders that supply these conventional units and only fill the feeders once per shift.
Using Your Current Adhesive with Tankless Systems
Did you know only certain adhesives can be used in the tankless units? You may not be able to keep your current adhesive. Not all packaging grade adhesives will blow properly in the tankless systems. Before you write that big check, make sure your specific adhesive is compatible, otherwise, you may be spending months testing glues that will work with your application.
The tankless system sounds like a great new idea, but practically, it is not for everyone. The benefit to those who are able to meet all the criteria is less char build up in the tank. With periodic preventive maintenance, which is probably already scheduled on your conventional units, control is kept on reducing any char issues in the tank. Hoses and heads have the same char issues in either scenario since they have to remain heated.
Choose Keystone for Your Tankless System Needs
Call us at (800)235-8090 or contact us online today for your melter and melter parts needs.