Tag: camp

Erratic Performance And Simple Solutions

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

If that’s not a vague title that would get you to click on the blog, then I’m not sure what is. The image definitely adds some context to what this may be about. Nearly one year ago I wrote a blog about tailored cooling solutions and industrial controls. It’s a fairly simple process that doesn’t require a lot of time and often results in some improved performance for electrical enclosures running cooler. Well, one of the keys to understanding how to do this is the basics of air movement and always starting at the top.

The 2017 Honda Pioneer 1000. Sitting nose in to the closest light we had before, we replaced batteries so we could easily see where to hook up the jumper pack.

This past weekend I took two of my daughters and one of their friends to some other friend’s property near Lake Cumberland, Kentucky. If you have a property like this with equipment like side by side or boat that isn’t used frequently, then you understand how easy it is for equipment to start acting up for no apparent reason. Even if you run a machine shop or company with excellent preventative maintenance, you know that sometimes, stuff happens and machines go offline. This past weekend, we had three of three machines go offline at the property. After some troubleshooting and repairs, we had 3 for three back up and running. The fun part for me is always the troubleshooting and discovery.

The first was the boat. I didn’t get any repair photos. It is a 150 HP out-drive motor that had fuel issues. We traced it to a fueling problem and after fresh fuel, fuel filter, new spark plug, swapping coils between locations, and swapping fuel injectors, we determined there must’ve been a clog in the fuel rail as it cleared up and ran great. That’s when the rain hit. So then we went on to the side by side. This beautiful machine right here was going into limp mode anytime you reached wide open throttle. One of two batteries was fairly weak and required jump-starting, so we started there, then it still did it. When working on the batteries, we did find a nice little mouse nest in the air pre-cleaner. That box has about a 2″ I.D. tube that runs from the front of the vehicle to just behind the front seats where the motor and air filter/box sit. After the battery didn’t solve the issue, we moved to the next basic issue; air and fuel. It had plenty of fresh fuel, so we started with air. When we removed the air filter, we found an entire 44 gallon trash bag that had essentially been vacuum formed into the air filter. We had two guesses. One was the mice, the other was that someone who previously owned it must’ve sat it in that 2″ tube when they were working on the vehicle to prevent anything from falling down it and over time it worked its way back to fully block the filter. Once that was removed, the machine ran tremendously better with no issues. So a simple lack of air movement took this performance machine to its knees.

The culprit… The 44 gallon bag was formed to the pleats of the air filter. Still in usable condition, needless to say, it went into the permanent trash container far away from the air intake.

That’s a lot like an air-to-air heat Exchanger with a filter that hasn’t been changed in a machine or production area full of floating air debris. I’ve seen spindle drives on CNC machines that had heat dissipation fins where you couldn’t see the fins, just a brick of oily soaked chips. This will cause drive failure in no time, just like the side by side, Lack of appropriate air movement took the machine offline and no fun was had.

If you want to look at a solution with no moving parts and that is extremely reliable, much like the fact we left the hood open, so the mice don’t feel so secure in that pre-filter area, contact an Application Engineer today to let us help you size your Cabinet Cooler System. Even if you want to use these as a fail-safe for your equipment.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

A Lot Can Happen In Five Years

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

Five years ago, I wrote a blog about my (then) 11 year old son’s first-ever week away from home at Boy Scout Summer Camp. He’s departing again this weekend, but his troop has decided to venture “out of Council” this year, to Camp Howard W. Wall…it’s on the south coast of the island of St. Croix, in the US Virgin Islands.

They met last week to cover the final (and finer) details of international travel, flight schedules, logistics, etc., and activities…Camp Friedlander has a “blob:”

But Camp Wall has an OCEAN:

Just to put the distance into perspective...
Just to put the distance into perspective…

I’ve been thinking a LOT about the changes I’ve seen in the wide-eyed kid I dropped off at a camp that I drive past twice a day, and the smirking teenager that I’m driving to the airport on Sunday morning. And those changes are providing perspective on not only how fast those five years have passed, but how much can happen in that span.

In 2011, I was a wide-eyed “Dread Newbie” at EXAIR.  One of my very first meetings with the rest of the gang was to be trained on our brand new Atomizing Spray Nozzles…we only had three styles to choose from, but two of them came in four distinct models, and one came in FIVE. They were ALL Internal Mix, because hey, who doesn’t like the maximum range of adjustability that comes with being able to vary your flow rate and spray pattern size by adjusting liquid AND air supply pressures?

OK; it turns out that was just the beginning…within the year, our Engineering Department had developed:

External Mix – three styles, thirteen distinct models, to allow for independent adjustment of flow rate (by liquid pressure) and spray pattern (by air pressure.)

Siphon Fed – two styles, seven distinct models, that could be siphon OR gravity fed, for situations where it’s not practical to pressurize the liquid supply.

And, four years after that, looking back, it seems like THAT was just the beginning…we now have:

*Two sizes – the original 1/4 NPT and the new(er) 1/2 NPT.
*Sixteen styles – each available with our No-Drip option (so technically I guess we have thirty-two)
*Forty-five distinct models – we’ve got a flow rate/spray pattern combination for just about any application

And, like the rest of our catalog products, they’re all in stock, ready to ship today, on time, like we do 99.97% of the time…that’s actually one thing that HASN’T changed in the 17 years that we’ve been keeping track.

If you’d like to talk about Spray Nozzles…or any EXAIR products (old or new,) give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
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Father’s Day Weekend 2013

Published on by Brian Farno2 Comments

Well, we have finally reached it; the weekend every dad has been looking forward to,  Father’s Day Weekend.  I myself have only been able to celebrate as a father for the past three years.  However, this is the first year that I will get to celebrate with both of my daughters.  Instead of waiting until Sunday to celebrate, I am going to start tonight.  The best way I know how,  is camping……  in the backyard.   That’s right, my oldest daughter has been wanting to go camping since the weather turned warm. She’s never been camping, so tonight we will rough it, in the backyard.

Camping under the stars

By roughing it, I do mean we will be having a fire in the fire pit, roasting S’mores,  and setting the futon mattress in the tent so I don’t have to sleep on the ground.  I’ve even picked up a vintage white gas lantern to try and get working for tonight too.  It’s a lantern that I purchased used and, so of course, it doesn’t work.   With any luck we will be camping under the stars with the flicker of an old white gas lantern.

bighat

Other than that, this will be just another weekend at the Farno household.  What are your plans for the upcoming weekend?

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF