Tag: Fishing

Downtime: It Isn’t Always BAD

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

When you say Downtime in an industrial or manufacturing setting, it may easily carry a negative connotation. This means that the output of production is not happening and input to production has halted as well. If this is not planned, it is absolutely a worst-case scenario. In our personal lives, though, downtime generally doesn’t have a negative meaning behind it. That’s the time to disconnect and recharge to maximize your output after you return to production and that is exactly what I had the luxury to do recently. This is also a message I received from a person I look up to and trust in their experiences. Vacation time can be looked at similar to a preventative and planned downtime of equipment. Without it we just wear down and eventually productivity grinds to a halt. While hanging out at a lake with my daughters this past week, I helped them hone their fishing skills. They each baited their own hooks with worms and chose their spots. We completely slayed some bluegills, and released every single one of them.

The calm of a storm rolling in when you have nothing to do is serene.

Prescribed maintenance, preventative maintenance, vacations all help to build back into the production of whatever good or service the company provides. The entire production of a facility all starts with the utilities, energy, water, compressed air, steam, other compressed gases, and the personnel. If your power input isn’t maintained, monitoring connections and disconnects, you can find yourself with a lack of service, resulting in dangerous situations. City water is often required for processes or for the facility to function properly, even an office building needs it for plumbing, fire suppression, and drinking. Steam, compressed gases and compressed air may all be required by the processes.

Servicing the compressed air where it starts is one of the most critical steps in operating a compressed air system. Making sure that your compressor has the minimum downtime, all starts with the preventative and prescriptive maintenance. One of the first tasks should always be changing and monitoring the intake air filter. Like Russ Bowman said a while back in his blog, take a deep breath, if you sneeze or smell something that is from the intake air your nose just took in from the surrounding area. That’s even after your nose hair has already partially filtered air intake. Your compressor is no different. If you let it suck up debris, dust, and pollen, then it is eventually going to have a failure. Instead of sneezing, it may burn up a vane, valve, scroll or screw. That is going to be a considerably higher cost and longer downtime than just performing the manufacturer’s listed items to maintain optimal performance.

The compressor shown above according to the caretaker receives a regular change on the airfilter every month. This is just before the cleaning and changeover. Not only do they change the filter, they make sure to clean the entire housing inside and out. That’s one of the ways this compressor has lasted with minimal downtime over the past 20 years.

If you want to learn more about other key maintenance items in your compressed air system, please contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno, MBA – CCASS Application Engineer

BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

EXAIR at the Beach

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

By the time you are reading this, I will be on a week-long venture to the East Coast. My family and I will be venturing off to South Carolina and spending some time on a beach soaking up the sun, trying to keep sand out of places it shouldn’t be, like your sandwich, and generally just spending some much-needed time together. While I was preparing my blog for the week I was trying to think of a topic and came up with; where all could EXAIR Products be used on a beach and what have customers used our products for over the years at or near the beach.

The first thought was for fishing. Surf fishing has seen many advances in the past several years in ways to get your bait out further and further. While EXAIR doesn’t offer drones, we do offer an EXAIR Line Vac which could be coupled with a storage tank and several fittings to literally launch your bait out of a rigid tube. Much like a spud gun would. I might suggest trying to keep a tighter-packed bait as any kind of projectile is going to have a good amount of force hitting it when using compressed air. If it is too loose, you may end up looking like the Cincinnati Style Three Way Prof. Penurious launched.

This got me thinking about how we actually do sell products to a deep sea fishing vessel, and we have blogged about it before and how the Sanitary Flange Line Vacs were used in a de-boning operation as John Ball mentioned in his recent blog.

Yeah, we really don’t have an “Al Borland” character on the EXAIR team. A..2″ Heavy Duty Line Vac (left;) the new 3″ model (right.)

I’ve also helped a construction company in the past that was trying to remove sand from around a home’s foundation to do some quick excavation in an area where heavy equipment could not go. This was achieved by using a tow-behind air compressor and a 2″ Heavy Duty Line Vac to suck the sand up and relocate it to another location around 25 feet away. The contractor was then able to complete his work and go to where the sand had been dispersed and move it back with the same setup.

We’ve even helped with sucking up oil and other viscous fluids floating on top of the water when needed. As long as you have compressed air available or the ability to get compressed air to the site, EXAIR can help even at the beach. If you want to discuss any of the applications mentioned, contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

Let’s Go Fishing with EXAIR Sanitary Flange Line Vacs™

Published on by John BallLeave a comment

A group of us went to the northern part of Ohio to do some fishing.  We had a great time.  We caught a variety of fish; even some small ones like above.  We had one person that could fillet fish; and, we definitely let him do the work.  I enjoy eating fish, but I do not enjoy the fish bones.  If the fish is filleted correctly, finding a bone is rare.  Now, traveling from a small boat in Ohio to an international commercial fishing company, it is also important to keep the bones at a minimum.  A salmon processing plant contacted EXAIR about our Line Vacs for removing fish bones.

In 2014, this processing plant purchased two 1 ½” 316SS Line Vacs, model 6063-316, to remove bones from salmon fillets.  The Line Vacs were positioned after the “bone removal” rollers.  Cups that spanned across the salmon fillets were attached to the vacuum end of the Line Vacs.  They loved how the product worked without any moving parts, and how compact and reliable they were since they were in operation for over 6 years.  But they needed to increase fish production rates; so, they needed a higher conveyance rate to remove the bones.  They sent me a photo of their current process (reference below).

Deboning Process

The interesting thing was that they welded sanitary flanges to the ends of each Line Vac.  Sanitary flanges are great for mandatory and frequent cleaning.  And believe it or not, EXAIR introduced Sanitary Flange Line Vacs™ in yr2017.  At EXAIR, we are always progressing with new products to solve different issues in a variety of industries.  The Sanitary Flange Line Vacs were designed for food and pharmaceutical industries.  For this customer above, they were surprised and amazed that we added the Sanitary Flange Line Vacs to our product line.

So, now they would not have to weld flanges.  This would save them time from welding and buffering to remove any “catches” inside where bacteria could grow.  They wished to replace their current Line Vacs with 2” size Line Vacs to increase the throat diameter and conveyance rate.  Since they requested the 2” size, I recommend the model 161200-316.

Sanitary Line Vac Family

The Sanitary Flange Line Vacs can fit within sanitary piping systems to convert pipes into a useful conveyor for bulk material and waste removal.  They use an ISO2852 flange for easy disassembly and cleaning to reduce bacterial entrapment.  They ae made from 316 stainless steel material for superior corrosion resistance.  EXAIR manufactures four different sizes from 1 ½” up to 3” flanges.  If we were three years earlier in production at EXAIR, it would have been an easy choice for this fish processing plant.

EXAIR Line Vacs use a small amount of compressed air to generate a powerful vacuum by a Venturi effect.  The unique design of the generators creates a high velocity of air to create a low pressure on one side and a powerful thrust on the other.  You can watch a video of the operation of a Line Vac HERE.  Compared to other vacuum or conveying systems, the EXAIR Line Vacs are very quiet, rugged, and powerful.  For sensitive applications where cleanliness is a major need, the Sanitary Flange Line Vac are designed for these conditions.

If you need to convey solid materials in a quick and easy way, an EXAIR Line Vac could be a solution for you.  We have them in a variety of formats, materials, and sizes to easily match your application.  For the salmon processing plant, it improved their operations in removing fish bones.  EXAIR Line Vacs can save back-wrenching labor of picking up bags, climbing stairs, and dumping material into hoppers.  If you want to know if the EXAIR Line Vac could work for you, please fill out the Line Vac Data Sheet (click HERE).  An Application Engineer at EXAIR will help to recommend the best unit for you.  But, if you want to catch fish, you may want to ask a professional 😊.

John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Getting Better All The Time

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that the week following the third Sunday in June is when I write about my annual Father’s Day Weekend Camp out…this week is no exception. My best friend and I treated our wives to a guy-free weekend at home while we and our sons:

*Watched the full moon rise from a hilltop near Malabar Farm on Friday night.
*Kayaked the Clear Fork River.
*Fished a couple of ponds at the farm (to no avail.)
*Gigged for frogs at a couple of other ponds (results below.)
*Had frog legs & scrambled eggs for breakfast.
*Hiked and climbed to the top of Big Lyons Falls at Mohican State Park.

With the exception of watching the full moon rise (and maybe the unsuccessful fishing expedition), NONE of this would ever have happened when we started this tradition nine years ago with two six-year olds and a four-year old. It’s hard to believe that, now that our whole party pretty much passes the height/weight requirements, we’re looking for a campground with zip lining nearby for our 10th annual camp out next year. It looks like my fear of heights is going to be confronted by my fear of being ridiculed by my teenage sons. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on which one wins out.

As time passes, we all have to “step up our game”…I’ve heard it said that if you’re not constantly improving on what you do, you’re actually getting worse, because it’s a given that others ARE improving on what they do, and it’s going to leave you in the dust, even if you are just as good as you were yesterday.

cc optionsEXAIR Cabinet Cooler Systems are a prime example…over the years, we’ve gone from two sizes (1,700 and 2,000 BTU/hr) to nine (from 550 to 5,600 BTU/hr). To the original NEMA 12 (oil tight/dust tight, indoor duty) rated systems, we’ve added NEMA 4 (splash resistant, indoor/outdoor) and NEMA 4X (corrosion resistant, indoor/outdoor), so our Cabinet Cooler Systems are suitable for installation just about anywhere your enclosures might be.

High Temperature options are available for installation in areas with ambient temperatures up to 200°F (93°C). Non-Hazardous Purge systems maintain a slight positive air pressure to prevent internal contamination of enclosures located in particularly dirty surroundings. 316SS construction systems are available when the higher alloy is specified for food service, pharmaceutical, or particularly harsh/corrosive environments.

Oh, and all of these multiple-award-winning products are in stock and ready to ship today.  If you’d like to see if an EXAIR Cabinet Cooler System is the solution to your electric/electronic enclosure heat problems, give us a call.  We’ll even throw in a free AC Sensor if you order before the end of July.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
www.exair.com
twitter.com/exair_rb
facebook.com/exair