At a Glance
- Portable automatic steam cleaner designed for wire mesh conveyor belts
- Uses dry steam cleaning system — chemical-free, food-safe, and leaves belts dry
- Replaces water or brush cleaners with a powerful industrial steam cleaner approach
- Fits existing spiral and straight-line conveyors — no dismantling, no drainage, minimal downtime
- A proven steam CIP solution for bakeries and food factories across the industry
Why Wire Mesh Belts Are Difficult to Clean
Wire mesh conveyor belts are widely used in food factories across the food industry because they are durable, heat-resistant, and allow excellent airflow and drainage. However, their open stainless-steel structure makes cleaning challenging. The woven design creates numerous joints, contact points, and gaps where fine food particles, grease, and residues can lodge firmly. These deposits are often difficult to remove with traditional wash-down methods or a brush cleaner, especially after repeated heating and cooling cycles during production.
Cleaning usually requires high mechanical action or full belt removal, which is time-consuming, labour-intensive, and risks mechanical wear or breakages. As a result, cleaning intervals are often extended, allowing residues to accumulate — which can increase the risk of belt slippage, hygiene non-compliance, and unexpected downtime.
Why Steam CIP Works on Wire Mesh Belts
Wire mesh conveyor belts are unusual because their gap size varies widely between installations. Larger open-area mesh belts tend to let less product debris build up between the wires, but they also allow more steam cleaning energy to pass straight through without contacting the belt surface, which can reduce cleaning efficiency if approached head-on.
Tighter mesh wire belts hold more food particles, grease, fats, or sugars, but also present more stainless-steel surface area for a steam cleaning machine to impact, helping to dislodge contaminants. This variation in mesh design is why angled vapour steam cleaning is so effective. The Jet System 5 automated clean in place steam solution uses a rotating jet manifold that constantly changes its attack angle, ensuring thorough dry steam cleaning system coverage across all types of wire mesh conveyor belts used in food industry and food factory environments.
Automated Clean-In-Place (CIP) Cleaning
The KHD Jet System 5 is a portable automatic steam cleaner designed as a full steam cleaning system for wire mesh conveyor belts. It penetrates deep between the wires, breaking down debris, grease, sugar, fats, and other residues while the line remains assembled. It also kills bacteria and destroys proteins, drastically reducing ATP counts and improving hygiene compliance.
- Fully automated clean in place steam cleaning system for wire mesh belts
- Dry steam cleaner – chemical-free, food-safe, and leaves belts dry
- Portable — the same industrial steam cleaner can be used on multiple conveyor lines in a food factory
- No dismantling, no drainage, minimal downtime
- Compact design fits into existing conveyor systems
- Reduces labour intensity — simply start the automatic cleaner cycle and walk away to perform other tasks
Because this steam CIP cleaning system is quick to set up and requires no manual labour during operation, it allows food factories to clean their wire mesh belts more frequently. This prevents build-up, which can otherwise make wire mesh conveyor belts almost impossible to clean with conventional brush cleaners or water spray.
Most wire mesh belts are far easier to maintain — and with regular dry steam cleaning using the portable clip-on CIP system, debris build-up never reaches this stage.
Handheld Spinner for Manual Wire Mesh Cleaning
For smaller belts or targeted hygiene work, KHD also offers a handheld dry steam cleaner spinner. It uses the same high-velocity industrial steamer technology as the Jet System 5 but gives hygiene teams manual control to spot-clean difficult deposits or clean belts where a full automatic cleaner cycle is unnecessary.
Key Benefits for Food Industry Applications
- Deep cleans wire mesh conveyor belts without dismantling
- Removes residue, sugars, fats, grease and other food debris
- Kills bacteria and destroys proteins, reducing ATP counts and improving hygiene compliance
- Reduces labour intensity — automatic steam cleaner operation frees hygiene teams for other tasks
- Cuts water usage and eliminates chemical cleaning, lowering drainage and wastewater costs
- Prevents belt slippage and motor overload, extending conveyor belt and drive component life
- Reduces downtime, engineering hours and maintenance costs across industrial cleaning operations
Bring Wire Mesh Belt Cleaning Into the Future
Wire mesh belts are widely used across the food industry — from bakery and chocolate to crisp, cheese, doughnuts, biscuits and pizza production — but cleaning them has always been difficult. The Jet System 5 solves this with automated steam CIP technology, while the handheld steam cleaning machine gives hygiene teams the flexibility to spot-clean without dismantling the line.
Contact KHD today to arrange a demonstration of the Jet System 5 or handheld spinner, and see how easy wire mesh belt cleaning can be with a modern industrial steam cleaner.