Cleaning a Bulk Vending Toy Rack After being exposed to smoke from a fire

[vendingfora cause]

  I just went 2 days ago to service a Bulk Vending location. This place has been closed for a year.  Today I got a call from owner to inform me the restaurant was in a fire a  year ago  May 2020 and I need to replace or clean the machines. I left some plastic 2 inch balls and just filled to top and made that into a Treasure Chest, owner says he sees smoke residue on plastic balls. I appreciate all suggestions as these are old Acron machines sitting on a wood structure that is very heavy to take out. How should I proceed? What can I use I use to clean? Should I replace all  new product? Should I clean?  leave empty and then replace a few days later with product? Help Please.

thank you

[gumball guy]

26 minutes ago, vendingfora cause said:

  I just went 2 days ago to service a Bulk Vending location. This place has been closed for a year.  Today I got a call from owner to inform me the restaurant was in a fire a  year ago  May 2020 and I need to replace or clean the machines. I left some plastic 2 inch balls and just filled to top and made that into a Treasure Chest, owner says he sees smoke residue on plastic balls. I appreciate all suggestions as these are old Acron machines sitting on a wood structure that is very heavy to take out. How should I proceed? What can I use I use to clean? Should I replace all  new product? Should I clean?  leave empty and then replace a few days later with product? Help Please.

thank you

I always pull and replace equipment after a fire. There are always a lot of chemicals, smoke and debris in the air during a fire and it will all end up on/in your machine....especially if it has been sitting in that environment for over a year. You absolutely need to pull all the existing product out (especially candy) and replace with new product (into a new or thoroughly cleaned machine). I know you don't want to replace the machines but moving equipment is just part of the vending business and you owe it to your customers to have clean and sanitary equipment in their businesses. You can bet that if you don't clean it or replace it you'll be moving it when he shows you the door. If you absolutely are not willing to swap the equipment out then, depending on how badly they are damaged, dissemble and clean it on site. If you have other machines in storage just swap out the cabinets with clean ones and take the fire damaged ones home to clean. I would completely disassemble and clean them using Dawn detergent and warm water. If the only thing you are vending are 2 inch capsules and you want to clean it on site just use 409 spray cleaner or anything like that. If you are vending candy you can look for a food grade cleaner and finish off with Purell Food Grade Surface Spray Sanitizer. You will still need to disassemble and clean each part thoroughly if you are cleaning on site.  I'm telling you all of this but I really don't know how bad the machines have been damaged so realize that they maybe too damaged to even clean up. The professional approach would be to remove the machines and replace with other equipment. Either way, good luck. 

[vendingfora cause]

Thank you