Giving Thanks!

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is once again upon us!  It is said by many people at this time of year, but there really are so many things to be thankful for.  As I sit and reflect, I think about how I am truly thankful for many things including good health, my family & friends, a roof over my head and a great place to work! 

Here at APTech Group, I am fortunate to work with a bunch of great people all working hard to get the EnduroSolv line of solid water treatment products in as many facilities as possible.  With so many benefits that come with using the EnduroSolv line of solid water treatment, including no heavy drums to move  (your operators and especially their backs will be Thankful!), eliminating spills, no drum disposal issues or no on site storage issues just to name a few.  (Our website: www.endurosolv.com has more details...)

If any of these benefits appeal to you, now would be a good time to see how EnduroSolv can make your water treatment needs simpler and safer. And if you do choose EnduroSolv products to make your water treatment easier someone might just say to you…..Thanks!

Posted on behalf of Todd Lee

“An Ounce of Prevention is Better Than a Pound of Cure”

Proverb:  It is better to try to keep a bad thing from happening than it is to fix the bad thing once it has happened.

I was raised on proverbs - all learned from my mother.  As a young child I grew to remember them, if not always with full understanding.  As an adult, the proverbs seemed to stay with me and over the years they have taken on more meaning. 

So how do proverbs – and this one particular - correspond to EnduroSolv water treatment and our proprietary technology for producing our solid form products?  

Well, how many times do we read about a wayward tank truck or railcar of some corrosive chemical crashing on our highways and spilling its contents into the watershed and countryside?  Monthly I would guess, if not more often.  Now with the technology available by EnduroSolv, we can entirely eliminate those things from happening in our industry: Solids Can’t Spill!

So getting back to the proverb, above: Using solid water treatment chemicals eliminates the “bad thing from happening” ie: spills during shipment. And oh, by the way, our products are less expensive to ship, and neater and safer to handle. And they work just as well as dangerous liquid chemicals.

Check us out at www.endurosolv.com.

Posted in behalf of Jim Heimert, CEO, APTech Group, Inc.

Before the Snow Flies...

As we transition from Summer into Fall, those facility management teams who use their steam boilers for heating find this a particularly challenging time of the year to maintain proper chemical levels in their boilers. Some days are rainy and cool, then we get an occasional warm spell going from needing to not needing that heat. Similarly we may have cool mornings - requiring heat, and sunny afternoons with no additional heat demand.

The challenge is to keep enough oxygen scavenger in the boiler feedwater as well as in the boilers. Failure to maintain proper chemical levels can lead to costly failures - in the boiler feedwater tank and piping, in the boiler tubes, and in the steam and condensate piping system.

To prevent these failures we strongly encourage you to feed more oxygen scavenger than typically necessary. A common chemical used for this purpose is sulfite (SO₃). Normal maintenance levels are 20-40 ppm of sulfite. During the fall months, you may need to maintain sulfite levels at 80-100 ppm to ensure that there is enough sulfite in the system to prevent oxygen pitting.

The reason for this recommendation is as follows: as the boiler and boiler feedwater cool down when not in use, a partial vacuum can develop in the feedwater tank, drawing air into the feedwater. Similarly this can occur out at condensate receivers throughout the facility. This oxygen becomes very corrosive when heated.

In fact, for every 30^o F increase above 70^o F, that oxygen doubles in its corrosiveness.

True, this process will cost a little more than normal. Also true is that it will add TDS (frequently referred to as conductivity) to the boiler, but these issues are minimal compared to the costs and downtime for pipe and tube replacements.

Posted on behalf of Fred Lattin

Water Prices Go Up, Up, Up

Engineering firm Black & Veatch and Raftelis Financial Consultants provided data for a study of retail water rates released in September 2012 by USA Today.  The research covered 100 municipalities across the US.  The findings won’t surprise you:  rates have increased 70% and more over the past 12 years.  In 25% of the cities, rates doubled; in San Francisco, Atlanta and Wilmington, Delaware they tripled.

 

Fitch Ratings’ water utilities analysts expect water rates to continue growing at 5% per year due to our aging infrastructure and the capital costs required to maintain and upgrade it.  Expect water to take an increasingly larger portion of your budget each year as cost increases outstrip inflation.

Water for heating – and especially cooling – accounts for 15% to 30% of a building’s overall water consumption.  An effective water treatment regimen for this equipment is the most effective means to reduce that use.  The US Green Building Council’s LEED for Existing Buildings recognizes this by offering a credit for utilizing chemical water treatment in cooling towers.  Contact us here at APTech Group for hands-on help from our field and factory water treatment experts to keep your enterprise ahead of the ever-steeper water cost curve.  For starters, you can download a useful tip sheet at by clicking here .

Posted on behalf Lew Bonadies, LEED AP, Sustainability Director, APTech Group

“That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

On September 25, 2012 we lost one of our greatest of American heroes of all time. Neil Armstrong was a jet fighter pilot who narrowly escaped death on one of his 78 combat missions in Korea; a test pilot who piloted the X-15, an experimental rocket plane; and the Apollo 11 commander who guided the lunar module Eagle past boulders and craters before landing on the moon with only 20 seconds of fuel to spare.

He was born in Ohio, went to school in Indiana, taught at University of Cincinnati and lived not too far from our manufacturing plant here in Cincinnati during his final years. We will miss this quiet hero and national icon who was the first person to set foot on the moon.

 Our growth and success at APTech Group is due to all the people who had the vision to be first to market with sustainable solid water treatment chemistry. A recent manifestation of that success: APTech Group has earned a ranking on the 2012 Inc. Magazine 500/5000 list for the second consecutive year. The Inc. 500|5000 ranks the top private companies in the U.S. in terms of three year revenue growth.

On the Inc. list, among ranking companies in the manufacturing sector, APTech Group ranked 8th in the state of Ohio and 2nd in the greater Cincinnati area. Not only have APTech Group solid water treatment chemicals helped to open lots of doors for our distributors, they also have been a great tool to retain business for these water treatment professionals. The facilities who use our products have reduced their carbon footprint, reduced the risk and liability to employees and made their systems easier to operate and maintain. They do not want to go back to the old, dangerous liquid way.

APTech Group solid water treatment chemicals are the right stuff to protect your people, your planet and your profits. Click here for more information about how our products can work for your firm.

Posted on behalf of Marc Beller

Back to School

Across the country, back packs, school supplies and school clothes have been purchased in preparation for the big day. Since we have “children” who are now young adults, my wife and I were spared the trauma of sending the kiddies off for the first day of school. But I know there are many parents who were wiping tears away this week as they watched their youngsters climb aboard that big yellow school bus.

This time of year is exciting for students embarking on a new year of learning and growth. For school administrators and faculty, it’s the end of the summer vacation (or second job…) and for school facility managers, it is a stressful time of ensuring that everything at the school is in working order.

Given the “precious cargo” that is attending our nations’ schools, it is not surprising that more and more K-12 school facility managers are embracing a new safer method for maintaining their comfort cooling and heating equipment. 

EnduroSolv® solid chemical water treatment from APTech Group provides all the system protection of traditional (but dangerous) liquid chemicals. But without the added caustic that allows the ingredients in liquid chemicals to remain in solution, solid products from APTech Group are safer to ship, store and use on site.

Additionally, the use of EnduroSolv® solids is a more sustainable water treatment solution. In fact, if all liquid water treatment was replaced with EnduroSolv® solid products from APTech Group the carbon footprint effect would be the equivalent of removing 52,000 automobiles each year from U.S. roadways.

So here’s to a new school year filled with learning and growth for the students and to safer, sustainable maintenance of the equipment that keeps them comfortable throughout the school year.

For more information on EnduroSolv® solid water treatment products, check out www.endurosolv.com.

Our Beautiful Earth

This week in history: 53 years ago on August 7^th, 1959, the first photograph of the earth from a U.S. satellite was taken (see image at right). Although grainy and somewhat indecipherable by today’s standards, you still get a feel for the complexity, massiveness and beauty of the planet we call home.

Fast forward to today’s images from space and Earth’s beauty really begins to show – the bright white clouds against the deep blue sea, the intricate designs of the different land masses, and the light of the sun all can be seen in the pictures from today.  Getting a clearer picture of something tends to bring the obvious to light.

What about in your mechanical room? Do you have a clear picture of what you can do here to make it safer, cleaner and more sustainable? The EnduroSolv line of solid water treatment products can provide that clear picture. Take a look at the EnduroSolv benefits here: http://endurosolv.com/why_solids and what is so obvious begins to come to light.

Posted on behalf of Kathleen Collier