Compressed scheduling is the only performance standard that will define the 2026 turnaround season in the industry today. The traditional window of opportunity for facilities in the United States to recover full production capacity and return to profitability while servicing facilities’ maintenance needs has all but dissipated in an unpredictable marketplace. The pressure managers face today is no longer limited to the pipelines; it has now entered the corporate boardroom, where every maintenance dollar adds up to the overall Return on Investment (ROI) that has been placed under a microscope.
Hydroblasting in industry has gone from being a heavy-duty option and has now become a strategic financial tool. By switching from traditional slower processes (manual or chemical) to high-velocity water jetting, plants are beginning to see a major change in their net profit. Below are reasons you should prioritize this technology in your 2026 turnaround.
1. Drastic Reduction in Critical Path Downtime
The most expensive hour in any facility is the one where the plant is offline but not being actively worked on. Traditional cleaning methods—such as manual scraping, mechanical drilling, or chemical soaking—are notorious for “schedule creep.” Chemicals require significant dwell time to be effective, and manual labor is inherently limited by human fatigue, heat stress, and the need for frequent safety breaks.
Industrial hydroblasting flips this script entirely. Operating at pressures typically between 10,000 and 40,000 PSI, this method is documented to be up to six times faster than traditional mechanical cleaning. Because water jetting can be targeted with surgical precision using automated lances, it often allows for “parallel pathing.” In many cases, hydroblasting can begin while other maintenance tasks are occurring in the immediate vicinity—something that is impossible with abrasive sandblasting due to the massive containment zones and dust clouds it creates. By shaving even 48 hours off a critical path, a facility can return to profitable production days ahead of schedule, often paying for the cost of the cleaning service several times over.
2. Superior Surface Preparation for Long-Term Asset Integrity
The rate at which you complete a turnaround does not determine whether you have achieved Return on Investment (ROI). The duration at which your equipment operates post-turnaround defines your ROI. When pertaining to premature Coating Failure (PCF) and corrosion, substrate surface preparation plays a significant role in their occurrence in industrial coatings environments.With industrial surface cleaning & hydroblasting, you achieve far more than simply removing visible dirt, as hydroblasting will clean to the depths of the substrate.
Hydroblasting can effectively provide you with sufficient cleanliness to remove the invisible contaminants that could otherwise lead to corrosion, such as chlorides, nitrates, and soluble salts. Furthermore, traditional methods such as sandblasting may compress these types of contaminants into the surface of the substrate, forming what could be called “corrosion cells.” In so doing, you would be creating a corrosion cell under the new or repaired coating that could result in rust. Conversely, by using ultra-high-pressure water to clean the contamination from an industrial substrate prior to installation of an industrial coating, you are ensuring that your new industrial coating creates a better bond to the substrate and has a longer service life. This will ultimately lead to an increase in the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) for your Capital Expenditures (CapEx), such as heat exchangers, pressure vessels, and storage tanks.
3. Elimination of Secondary Waste Streams and Disposal Costs
A hidden “ROI killer” in many turnarounds is the astronomical cost of waste management and environmental remediation. Abrasive blasting, for example, generates tons of spent grit. Once that grit is mixed with the material being removed—often lead-based paints, heavy oils, or hazardous chemicals—it must be collected, contained, and disposed of as hazardous waste at a high cost per ton.
Hydroblasting uses a single, non-toxic medium: water. This significantly simplifies the logistics and the ledger of a turnaround:
- No Abrasive Media to Purchase: You eliminate the massive upfront cost of purchasing, transporting, and storing bags of grit or sand.
- Minimal Cleanup: Many modern hydroblasting units come equipped with high-efficiency vacuum recovery systems that capture water and debris at the source, preventing site-wide contamination.
- Lower Disposal Fees: The volume of solid waste is reduced strictly to the material being removed from the equipment. In many sophisticated operations, the water can be filtered, treated, and recycled on-site, further driving down utility costs and environmental footprints.
4. Enhanced Safety Metrics and Reduced Liability
Safety is a crucial element of being safe. Just as there is a financial metric associated with the moral aspect of Safety, each “Recordable” incident that occurs during a turnaround has the ability to dramatically increase a company’s insurance premiums, negatively impact the company’s safety history (EMR), and subject the company to a long and often costly OSHA investigation that halts work for days.
The application of industrial hydroblasting, coupled with the advancements in automation technology, provides the safest means of performing heavy-duty, industrial cleaning in the modern day.
Through the use of automated lances, robotic crawlers, and 3-dimensional tool heads, contractors can eliminate technicians from being at risk of being within the “line of fire”, and also remove them from working in dangerous confined spaces. By removing these additional “man-in-the-can” hours, contractors can lower the risk associated with workers’ compensation claims and build a more stable and confident workforce. Further, as a dust-free process, industrial hydroblasting will also eliminate the risk associated with respiratory damage as a result of silica and heavy metal particulate exposure to the operators, as well as other personnel working near the operator.
Having a clean safety record during a turnaround project is one of the most significant contributing factors to improving the project’s ROI.
While the hourly rate for automated equipment may be higher than a manual crew, the total project ROI is usually greater. Automation allows for multi-lance systems that clean 2–3 times faster and with far more consistency than a human operator, meaning you pay for fewer total man-hours and achieve a superior result.
5. Versatility Across the Entire Facility
The ROI of hydroblasting is further amplified by its versatility. A single professional contractor can move from descaling heat exchanger tubes to stripping a tank lining, and then to cleaning a concrete floor—all with the same primary equipment. This “one-stop-shop” capability reduces the administrative burden of managing multiple vendors and the mobilization costs associated with bringing different types of machinery onto the site. Whether it is removing hard calcium scales or thick polymers, the ability to adjust pressure and flow rates on the fly makes water the most adaptable tool in your maintenance arsenal.
Responsible Use and Compliance
The ROI is obvious; however, the safety and efficiency of it all rely on a Waterjet Technology Association (WJTA) qualified contractor. If you manage a facility within a highly regulated market, ask your partner to provide a detailed wastewater containment plan to maintain compliance with local and federal environmental regulations. You may confirm these federal industrial safety and protection standards through either the OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Safety & Health Topics pages or.
Conclusion
As you finalize your plans for the 2026 turnaround season, the goal is to find the intersection of speed, safety, and long-term quality. Industrial hydroblasting sits firmly at that crossroads. By reducing critical path downtime, eliminating expensive secondary waste streams, and extending the operational life of your assets, this technology doesn’t just “clean” your facility—it protects your budget. When every minute of production counts, high-pressure water jetting is the investment that pays for itself before the turnaround is even complete.
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