Tag: Father’s Day

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

What You Can Get Used To

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

In the past, I’ve written about what it takes to create longevity, and I’ve also written about camping…specifically, our Annual Father’s Day Campout. This past weekend was our seventh consecutive one, and it was something else. My eldest, a 2nd-year Boy Scout, missed his Troop’s Summer Survival Campout, so he opted out of the tent, sleeping instead on the ground, next to the fire pit, under a tarp. We were able to borrow a couple of canoes from a friend who lived nearby, and spent Saturday morning learning how to row in a straight line, and Saturday afternoon teaching the boys how to row in a straight line. All the while, we were fighting the wakes of a literal swarm of speedboats – that’s what happens when it’s a great day to be on the lake. We kept the canoes hollow-side-up the whole time, so I consider it a win.

Seven years we’ve been doing this, and no signs of slowing down. I realized on the way to the campground this year that my youngest was four years old when we started this, so he doesn’t even have a clear memory of waking up on Father’s Day anywhere but in a tent. Our 7-year-old tradition is all he’s ever known.

Getting used to something can be good. Fathers and sons becoming accustomed to an annual event that draws them closer is undoubtedly in the “good” column. Same goes for the experience of two 12-year-olds and a 10-year-old younger brother learning how to paddle a canoe on both sides in order to go straight and fast, and weather the wakes of those speedboats. I’m sure there’s a life lesson analogy there if we think about it hard enough.

On the other hand, the very definition of a bad habit is “something detrimental that you’ve gotten used to.” I found a write-up in our Application Database (registration required) where a cable manufacturer had gotten used to the amount of compressed air they were using to blow off their product as it came out of a rinse tank. During an energy audit, they became aware of the amount of compressed air they were using in some open-end pipe blow offs, and decided to try an Air Wipe instead. Once they proved it out on the first line, they installed Super Air Wipes on their other eight lines, which decreased their compressed air demand so much, they were able to shut down a 100HP air compressor.

I think they got used to that pretty quickly. If you’re considering the possibility of getting used to lower compressed air consumption, and the corresponding savings, give us a call. We’re used to helping people save on compressed air…another one for the “good” column.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
Web: www.exair.com
Blog: http://blog.exair.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/exair_rb
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair

A Good Sharpening

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

I’m going camping this weekend. This could be the start of any Russ Bowman Blog, it’s true, but this one’s different. See, for the past six years, my best friend Andrew and I have gone camping with our sons on Father’s Day weekend. We jokingly call it our Mother’s Day present to our wives, but it’s really all about a bit of wisdom that we found in the writings of one of Israel’s ancient kings, Solomon, who said: “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” He and I practice this principle with each other, and hope that we’re imparting it to the young men in our charge as well.

Now, these outings are notoriously low impact – we’re ardent connoisseurs of State Park Campgrounds. The highest adventure we encounter is ignoring the “No Wading or Swimming” signs at the Lower Falls at Hocking Hills, chasing the raccoons away from our coolers at Paint Creek, or racing down the giant inflatable water slide at Maumee Bay.

Occasionally, we’ve been known to visit local tourist attractions as well, like the Creation Museum, when we camped at nearby Big Bone Lick. This year, we’re going to East Fork State Park, which is just outside of Cincinnati. We thought about a day trip to King’s Island, or taking in a Reds game (Saturday’s promotion is a free Mohawk hat), but in the end, we decided to “just go camping.” Nice and easy: regardless of weather, wildlife, or whatever, it’s a simple, reliable plan to achieve our goal of refreshing and invigorating ourselves and each other. I’ve got enough silly hats anyway.

EXAIR has posted an FAQ in our Knowledge Base regarding the comparison of compressed air products to those that rely on blower systems, and the analogies to this weekend just started writing themselves:

*Lower purchase costs: A Blower Air Knife can cost over ten times the purchase price of a similar-sized Super Air Knife. Why would we pay to go to an amusement park when the lake is within bicycling range of our reasonably priced campsite?
*Very little, if any, maintenance: Blower bearings need lubrication, and sooner or later, they’re still going to fail. Inlet filters clog and need replacement on a regular basis. With precious few exceptions (the Reversible Drum Vac’s Overflow Preventer Float comes to mind), EXAIR products have no moving parts, and, when supplied with clean, dry air, will run indefinitely…no special attention required. I wish I could say the same for my nine-year old…
*Lower noise levels, well below OSHA requirements: There’s no way around it: blowers make noise. Our products are specifically engineered to operate below OSHA thresholds for occupational sound level exposure. I’m actually going to take the high road here and not comment on the noise level associated with taking the boys camping. Never was a fan of shooting fish in a barrel.
*Infinitely variable force and flow rates: With a blower, you’re locked in to operation at/near it’s output capacity. Sure, you can throttle it down, but it still consumes same amount of energy, and let’s not forget about those bearing replacements (constant throttling puts this in the “sooner” rather than the “later” column). Conversely, when you regulate the air pressure supplied to an EXAIR product, you actually ARE consuming less energy, in the form of less compressed air produced by your compressor. By not locking ourselves into any specific plans this weekend, we’re, in essence, planning for the “infinitely variable” to happen. And I can’t wait to see what that is.
*Simple, compact installation: EXAIR products, unlike blower-fed units, don’t require cumbersome ductwork or noise containment cabinets. “Just camping” requires a tent, a sleeping bag, and a cooler for our food. The most elaborate that we get is the use of bite-size peanut butter cups for our S’mores. And yes, they’re spectacular.

Even if we just use plain old chocolate bars – and we may – I’ll be sharpened, come Monday. Count on that. I am.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
EXAIR Corporation
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
Web: http://www.exair.com
Blog: http://blog.exair.com/
Twitter: twitter.com/exair_rb
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/exair