Steam is commonly used in medical environments for sanitation procedures. Steam sanitation uses saturated steam under pressure to kill microbial contaminants on reusable medical equipment, surgical instruments, and other items. However, the uses of steam in healthcare settings extend far beyond simple sanitation.
While healthcare professionals and life-saving medical devices are obviously critical to a hospital’s ability to function properly, steam generators play an important behind-the-scenes role in making sure essential medical procedures can be performed safely and effectively.
How Are Steam Generators Used in the Medical Industry?
Steam generators support a variety of critical functions across the medical sector.
Humidity
Hospital settings often have specific humidity requirements for different spaces throughout the building. Operating rooms and other critical areas require precise humidity control to optimize air quality and provide a comfortable working environment for staff. And more…
Sterilization/Autoclaves
Autoclave sterilizers, which are typically located in laboratory spaces and surgical areas, require steam produced by generators to function. The high-temperature steam sterilizes medical tools by killing harmful microorganisms that may be present on their surfaces. And more…
Electro-Steam carries a line of steam generators that are ideal for steam sterilization, including our popular V-block model. These units can be used in hospitals, surgery centers, laboratories, pharmaceutical processes, and other custom applications. Whether you need a generator for a new autoclave or a replacement generator for an existing autoclave, we can help you identify the perfect unit to meet your spatial limitations and functional requirements.
To see all of the critical functions of steam generators in the medical industry, check out our eBook: The Use of Steam Generators in Medical Industry
Steam Sterilization Principles for the Medical Industry
Steam sterilization for medical equipment is indispensable for preventing infections and unsanitary, unsafe conditions within healthcare settings like ambulatory surgery facilities and hospitals. Cleaning medical devices and components with direct steam contact in an autoclave’s chamber helps ensure they remain free of contaminants and harmful microorganisms. The conditions within the controlled environment of the autoclave play an important role in the sterilization process and its efficacy, including:
- Steam: Steam is the primary sterilization agent. Dry, saturated steam and entrained water possessing a dryness fraction of no less than 97% is ideal for autoclave operations. The quality of the steam is vital to guarantee process success.
- Pressure: By pressurizing the environment within an autoclave, it can achieve the high degree of heat that’s required to effectively eliminate bacteria and related microorganisms.
- Temperature: Temperature is also key for the death of pathogens. The sterilization process commonly employs temperatures of 250° F (121° C) or 270° F (132° C) within a gravity displacement sterilizer or a pre-vacuum sterilizer, respectively.
- Time: Time refers to the duration for which you expose items to these necessary conditions to ensure they are fully sterilized. This time period varies depending on factors we’ll detail in the next section, but using wrapped medical components as an example, it would take a minimum of 30 minutes in a gravity displacement sterilizer or 4 minutes in a pre-vacuum sterilizer at the above temperatures to successfully sterilize equipment.
Steam Sterilization Process
To achieve effective steam sterilization of medical devices, there’s a three-step process:
- Conditioning: Conditioning is the preparatory stage during which a steam sterilizer like an autoclave purges air from within its chamber. The steam sterilizer will use either dynamic air removal or gravity displacement techniques to accomplish this before heating the load to the optimal temperature for sterilization.
- Exposure: Upon reaching the sterilization temperature, the exposure stage begins, which involves subjecting the medical components or devices in the load to steam at a constant temperature for a specific duration. Proper exposure temperatures and times vary based on the sterilization equipment you’re using, the types of items you’re sterilizing, their material construction, whether they’re wrapped or unwrapped, and related factors. It’s important to follow not only industry standards to determine the optimal settings but also refer to recommendations within the operator manual from the sterilizer’s manufacturer before processing a load.
- Exhaust: Exhaust is the concluding phase in which the steam evacuates from the chamber through a vacuum, normalizing the internal pressure. This initiates the cooling and drying of the sterilized items. This stage is important to the overall process as it prevents recontamination, maintaining the integrity of the sterilization and ensuring that items emerge clean and dry.
Several factors are essential to the process’ success, including sufficient preparation of medical instrumentation, using the correct wrapping and loading methods, utilizing high-quality water and clean steam for the process, and properly handling devices after their sterilization so as not to reintroduce contaminants. It’s also important to use well-designed and -constructed equipment and properly maintain your steam system to support optimal performance.
Why Choose Steam Generators for Healthcare Settings?
While there may be alternatives to steam generators for many medical applications, steam is often the superior choice. The reasons for this are:
Energy efficiency
While purchasing a cheap steam boiler might save money initially, most hospitals will find it more cost-effective in the long run to invest in a high-quality, long-lasting steam generator. One major advantage of electric steam generators is that they consume no energy while idle, only cycling steam when required. In contrast, fuel-fired boilers need considerably more energy to operate at full strength.
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The Use of Steam Generators in Medical Industry
Safety
When it comes to steam generation in hospital settings, safety should always be a primary concern. Most modern steam generators are substantially safer than steam boilers manufactured decades ago—particularly those that are fuel-fired. Fuel-fired boilers are inherently dangerous and prone to failure from inadequate water treatment, improper warm-up, low water conditions, flame impingement, over-firing, and even explosions. Electric steam generators are significantly safer since they do not require combustible fuel to operate.
Other reasons on why electric steam generators are the definitive choice:
- Portability
- Cost
- And more!
Partnering With a Steam Generator Supplier for Medical Steam
Choosing the right steam generator from a quality manufacturer is critical to ensuring your Sterile Processing Department (SPD) can maintain patient safety and operational compliance. When purchasing a generator to produce high-quality medical steam, be sure to consider what price fits your budget, if the equipment’s capacity meets your needs, the reputation of the manufacturer, the level of service support the supplier offers, and the environmental impact of the equipment. Researching your various equipment and supplier options will help you make sure that your chosen steam generator fully meets your needs.
Contact Electro-Steam for Medical Steam Generators
Electro-Steam Generator Corp. is an OEM manufacturing company offering products that blend quality, efficiency, and reliability. Since 1952, our team has been providing high-performance electric clean steam generators to diverse industries.
Made from the highest-quality parts available, we proudly craft all our generators in the USA. Our cUL- and CRN-compliant products come standard with stainless steel cabinets and electrical boxes/panels, and they feature automatic low-water cutoffs, safety valves, and adjustable pressure controls. Typical production times for most of our units are two to four weeks.
We have multiple series available, and Electro-Steam offers the most reliable miniature electro-steam generator on the market today. Our equipment achieves a 98% efficiency rate without requiring feed water preheating. We stand behind our products with a five-year warranty on generator chambers and a one-year warranty on all other components.
To learn more about our high-quality steam generators and how they can support applications in the medical industry, please contact us today or download our eBook for free.