Many people do not appreciate how much value cremation services provide. In the United States alone, this industry is worth more than $2 billion. There are more than 13,000 American companies that provide cremation.
Of course, most people do not know very much about cremation. Some people are curious about how to prepare a body for cremation and what exactly cremation services do.
Read on to learn all about the most important things to understand about how cremation works.
Cremation Services Carefully Confirm Identity
Before anything else, it is essential that cremation services confirm the identity of the body. This is almost never a serious issue, but it is important to do for the minority of cases in which it is.
To confirm the identity of the body, cremation services collect a variety of personal information about the body. They need to know the cause of death as well as important facts like names, date of birth, date of death, and so on.
Cremation services have to manage many bodies. As a result, they use extremely careful tagging processes to make sure to keep exact track of every body.
That way, cremation services are guaranteed to associate each body with the correct identity and family. That is important when they later return the ashes to the family.
One important part of this process is the use of a metal tag. This metal tag is resistant to fire, so it survives the cremation process. That way, there is no confusion about the identity of the body or the ashes that result from it.
Cremation Services Prepare a Body for Cremation by Removing Items From the Body
Other objects can also survive the cremation process. As a result, it is important to remove them before proceeding. At the very least, this will include obvious items like jewelry, which would survive the cremation process, but suffer significant damage at the same time.
Many people acquire surgical implants of some kind in the course of their life. These might include a pacemaker among other things. All such implants must also be removed before proceeding with the cremation process.
The Body Is Placed in a Special Container
The cremation container holds the body before it is placed in the cremation chamber. In most cases, this container will be made of cardboard. It is designed to store the body and hold it in place, as well as to burn off during the cremation process.
In most cases, you will see that the fees for cremation services will include a specific item for the cremation container. Sometimes, you will not find out about this cost until later on.
That can mean that it is often useful to ask in advance about whether the prices a cremation service tells you about include the cost of the cremation container or not.
This can help you avoid unexpected extra costs. You should also ask if there are any other fees not included in the amount that a cremation service has shared with you.
Cremation Services Place the Container in a Cremation Chamber
The body and the cremation container will then be placed in the cremation chamber. The cremation chamber needs to be heated before the container is placed inside.
That way, instead of gradually heating the contents, the container chamber should be hot so as to quickly heat the body and container. Modern cremation chambers often take about three hours to finish breaking the body down into ash.
Many people do not realize that the process of cremation does not actually directly expose bodies to flame. Instead, the body is shielded from flame and is broken down only by pure heat.
Cremation Services Refine Ashes
At this point, cremation services will remove the ashes from the container. It is important to wait until they are fully cool before removing them for processing.
At this point, the ashes will be placed in a cremulator. Cremulators process ashes into a fine powder, breaking up any naturally occurring chunks.
Cremation Services Return the Ashes to the Family
At this point, cremation services will transfer the refined ashes into a container of some kind. Unlike the temporary container from before, this container will often have a special meaning. In general, people who hire cremation services will carefully consider what kind of container they want the cremation services to place the ashes in.
Many cremation services also provide people with the choice of storing ashes in a temporary container. Some people choose this option to save money. Other people choose it because they wish to transfer the ashes into a permanent container that they provide themselves.
Lastly, some people consider a temporary container the right choice if they intend to scatter the ashes. Otherwise, cremation services will move the ashes into a permanent urn that will keep them safe.
The more that you understand what is cremation and how preparing a body for cremation works, the more you might be interested in finding quality cremation services. Finding the right cremation provider can help you make the most of possible cremation benefits.
Understand How to Prepare a Body for Cremation
We hope learning about how to prepare a body for cremation has been helpful for you. Many people consider cremation but do not know very much about the process. Understanding it a little more can allow them to make the right choice for their situation.
Since this is a decision that everyone will have to make at some point, it makes sense to learn about the available options. To learn more about the latest information in lifestyle, technology, and more, check out our other articles.