Maintenance of outdoor sculpture

Sandra Lougheed <slougheed [at] city__toronto__on__ca> writes

>I am responsible for maintaining an outdoor art and monument
>collection in the City of Toronto. I would like to be able to bring
>warm water on site as an option for carrying out routine annual
>maintenance on our collection. The logistics of this seem
>overwhelming. Cold water and steam are relatively easy. Has anyone
>had any  experience with this?. I do not like to use commercial
>firms, but am looking for equipment that could be purchased and is
>relatively portable and easy to use.

You might look into purchasing a hot water pressure washer.  We use
these often in NYC for removal of previous wax coating on bronzes.
If you remove the constrictor nozzles on the wands (which produce
the narrow pressurized spray) you can also use them as sources of
warm water.  The higher volume of water that will flow through the
pumps without the constriction of the nozzle will reduce the amount
of time that the water is exposed to heat within the coils and lower
its temperature below the rated values.  You have to be attentive to
the machine when not in use as the water can overheat between
applications but with management it is feasible.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:54
                  Distributed: Friday, April 13, 2001
                       Message Id: cdl-14-54-005
                                  ***