Soil Steam Sterilization - Surface Steaming - Steaming With Hoods

Steaming With Hoods

A steaming hood is a mobile device consisting of corrosion-resistant materials such as aluminum, which is put down onto the area to be steamed. In contrast to sheet steaming, cost-intensive working steps such as laying out and weighting the sheets don’t occur, however the area steamed per working step is smaller in accordance to the size of the hood.

Outdoors, a hood is positioned either manually or via tractor with a special pre-stressed 4 point suspension arm. Steaming time amounts to 30 min for a penetration down to 25 cm depth. Hereby a temperature of 90°C can be reached. In large stable glasshouses, the hoods are attached to tracks. They are lifted and moved by pneumatic cylinders. Small and medium-sized hoods up to 12m² are lifted manually using a tipping lever or moved electrically with special winches.