Tag: rebate

Save Money With Engineered Products, Then Save More Money With Rebates

Published on by Russ BowmanLeave a comment

One morning last summer, I turned on the water in the shower and waited for it to warm up. And waited…and waited. It was clear something was wrong, so I checked the water heater to find it emptying its contents into the floor drain, through the bottom of the tank, which I found later had rusted away. Between my better-than-average plumbing skills, having a son home from college, and finding out I could keep about $800 in my pocket if I bought a new one and replaced it myself, I woke the boy up (which turned out to be one of the more difficult tasks in the process), drove to my friendly neighborhood home improvement center, and bought myself a new water heater, and we had hot water by the time my wife got home from work that afternoon. Considering the way it started, it turned out to be a pretty good day. Not only was it more efficient (and therefore cheaper to run) than the one I replaced, the water heater I bought also qualified for a rebate, which increased my savings on the project to almost $900. That was some FANTASTIC icing on an already pretty decent cake.

Rewards like this for being energy conscious have been routinely offered by utility companies for years now. One time, I got a box of LED light bulbs, enough weather stripping for TWO houses the size of mine, and water-conserving shower heads, for free, from my electric company as part of a home energy audit. That was a pretty good day too.

Many utility companies across the country have similar programs for residential customers, and commercial ones too. Duke Energy (my free light bulb folks), for example, has a program they call Smart$aver that offers rebates and other incentives to companies for making energy-efficient improvements. Equipment that qualifies for these incentives includes process pumping systems, insulation for injection molding machinery & pellet dryer ducts, low friction v-belts for rotating machinery, and compressed air equipment.

That last one is what I wanted to write about today. It includes improvements to the supply side:

  • Receiver tanks
  • Cycling air dryers
  • Zero-loss condensate drains
  • Compressed air system audits

And the demand side:

EXAIR can help you out with the ones on the demand side. Consider:

Ultrasonic Leak Detector: this handheld device allows you to quickly & easily find leaks in your compressed air system.

EXAIR Model 9207 Ultrasonic Leak Detector filters out audible sound waves and focuses on the ultrasonic sound generated when compressed air finds its way out of a loose fitting, crack, etc. The parabolic disc (left) lets you find the area of the leak(s) and the tube extension (right) directs you to the precise location.
The copper tube used to have a crimped end that was aimed at the part in the chuck. They simply cut it off and used a compression fitting to install the Super Air Nozzle.

Super Air Nozzles: not only will these products get you a rebate, they’ll cost less to operate and will ensure OSHA compliance with regard to your use of compressed air. And they’ll do it quieter, to boot.

Replacing open-ended blow offs with Super Air Nozzles is oftentimes quick and easy. Compression fittings can be used to install them directly onto the ends of existing copper tubing. Stay Set Hoses can replace modular hose, which is great for machine tool coolant delivery but often misapplied for air blowing.

And frankly, I think the engineered products just look better too.

The Duke Energy Smart$aver program is for their customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. If that’s not you, though, North Carolina State University’s NC Clean Energy Technology Center has a comprehensive Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency – DSIRE – that’ll help you find what’s available in your area.

Compressed air isn’t free. Heck, it isn’t even cheap. If you want to find out how much you can save by optimizing your compressed air system in Six Steps, give me a call. And if you want to sweeten the deal with rebates and incentives, contact your local utility company.

Russ Bowman, CCASS

Application Engineer
Visit us on the Web
Follow me on Twitter
Like us on Facebook

1126 1" Flat Super Air Nozzle and 1122 2" Flat Super Air Nozzle

Flat Super Air Nozzles… Safe, Efficient, and Rebates?

Published on by John BallLeave a comment
1126 1" Flat Super Air Nozzle and 1122 2" Flat Super Air Nozzle
Left 1122 2″ Flat Super Air Nozzle and Right 1126 1″ Flat Super Air Nozzle

The EXAIR Flat Super Air Nozzles are manufactured to blow a wide, forceful stream of air.  Their engineered design creates a high-velocity, laminar air stream with minimal air consumption and low noise levels.  They come in two widths; 1” (25mm) and 2” (51mm).  EXAIR offers a standard Flat Super Air Nozzle and a High Force Flat Super Air Nozzle in two different materials: zinc-aluminum alloy and 316 stainless steel.  And with a metal construction, breakage is not a concern, and performance is not sacrificed even in the harshest of environments.  The unique patented shims inside the EXAIR Flat Super Air Nozzles will give you three improvements to the design and function.  First, they come in different thicknesses to create a wide range of forces.  In conjunction with a regulator, you can “dial” in the correct amount of force from a breeze to a blast without overusing your compressed air system.  The patented design also allows an even flow across the entire width of the air nozzle.  Lastly, the design helps to entrain the free ambient air, so that less compressed air is required, saving you money.  The EXAIR Flat Super Air Nozzles are effective in uniform blowing with safety and efficiency in mind.

Flat Super Air Nozzles have replaceable shims to vary performance.

To expand more on force adjustments with the Flat Super Air Nozzles, EXAIR has an easy way to change the shim to better suit your application.  You can increase or decrease the force of the nozzle by just removing two screws and changing the thickness of the shim inside.  EXAIR offers a Shim Set to give you a range of forces with the nozzles.  For the standard Flat Super Air Nozzle, they come with a 0.015” (0.38mm) shim for both the 1” and 2” sizes.  The corresponding Shim Sets will include a 0.005” (0.13mm), 0.010” (0.25mm), and 0.020” (0.51mm) shim.  The High Force Flat Super Air Nozzles will come standard with a 0.025” (0.64mm) shim, and the Shim Set will include a 0.020” (0.51mm) and a 0.030” (0.76mm) thick shim.  This is a unique feature, as the competition’s plastic flat nozzles do not have this option.

In addition to the features and benefits, the Flat Super Air Nozzles come with a lip for safety reasons.  Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, has a federal regulation, 29CFR 1910.242(b) to eliminate dead-end pressure.  This states that pressure over 30 PSIG (2 bar) can penetrate the skin and can cause injury or death.  With the safety lip on the Flat Super Air Nozzles, it eliminates that concern, even above 30 PSIG (2 bar) inlet air pressure.  Unlike pipes and copper tubes where the skin can cover and block the exit, the lip on the Flat Super Air Nozzles will allow the air to escape.  So, you cannot block the exit (reference photo above). 

EXAIR Safety Air Nozzles are engineered to be safe, quiet, and very efficient.  They are so efficient that many electrical companies offer rebates for efficient products to help reduce energy consumption.  EXAIR offers ways to calculate ROI (Return on Investment) and energy savings by using our products.  We even offer an Efficiency Lab to measure with calibrated equipment to do comparative analysis.  But if your local energy company has a rebate program, then you can receive even more money back.

EXAIR has partnered with Energy Star, a program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  For statewide programs, The NC Clean Energy Technology Center has created a website that consolidates this information for you on their website: www.dsireusa.org.  “DSIRE is the most comprehensive source of information on incentives and policies that support renewable and energy efficiency in the United States”.  Since EXAIR’s products fall into this category, rebates can be applied to the use of our products. If there is a rebate available, you will find it on this site.

With the EXAIR Flat Super Air Nozzles, you can take advantage of their durability, safety, and efficiency for your blow-off devices.  And depending on the state that you are in, you may be awarded a rebate.  If you need any help with drawings, performance, or setup of our Flat Super Air Nozzles, you can speak with an Application Engineer at EXAIR.  We will be happy to help you.

John Ball                                                                                    

Application Engineer

Email: johnball@exair.com

Twitter: @EXAIR_jb

Engineered, Intelligent Compressed Air® Products: Save Air AND Get a Rebate!

Published on by Brian FarnoLeave a comment

This rebate example results in FREE air nozzles – read on to learn more!

Here at EXAIR we are continuously trying to share the basic facts that engineered air nozzles save compressed air. We then connect that with the amount of money that it saves, this is generally backed with formulas, this isn’t a new concept, we blog, tweet and even have easily accessed calculators for it. The final part that we like to share is that, on top of saving throughout the life of the nozzle, there are also many energy providers and municipalities that extend a rebate program as well! That means this lowers the ROI on implementing engineered nozzles into your system.

https://www.hollandbpw.com/en/customer-service/business/business-rebates#air   
https://www.hollandbpw.com/en/customer-service/business/business-rebates#air   

For instance, if your facility is located in Holland, Michigan, the Holland Board of Public Works wants to offer a rather simple rebate that requires the engineered nozzle and application be installed and submitted by December 31, 2022. The program is offering up to $100 per engineered nozzle installed on an open pipe or tube. (The incentive cannot exceed 100% of customer cost.) Not sure if you have open pipes in your facility? I’m sure you will hear them if you walk near the production lines where air is used. Or, better yet, get in touch with your production maintenance team and have them go throughout the facility and perform an open tube/pipe tagging event. Then report back and contact an Application Engineer here at EXAIR. We will all be able to help you with selecting the appropriately sized engineered nozzle to convert that open pipe/tube blowoff to an efficient and safe blowoff.

The Holland program is focused on open pipe/tube blowoffs while there are countless other programs out there which focus on replacing any blowoff with an engineered nozzle that also fits certain flow criteria for select pipe sizes. These programs can be searched by using the site Dsireusa.org This is a site that is maintained by NC State University and NC Clean Energy Technology. You can easily navigate to your state and scan the list for a rebate program which will then even take you to the application and stipulations for the selected incentive.

https://www.dsireusa.org/

No matter where you are located in the world, you don’t have to use a rebate to save money by installing engineered nozzles. The savings and ROI all starts as soon as they are installed. The rebates available in various parts of the US are just ways to expedite the ROI. If you want to discuss any engineered nozzle application, contact an Application Engineer today.

Brian Farno
Application Engineer
BrianFarno@EXAIR.com
@EXAIR_BF

EXAIR Products Qualify for Energy Rebates

Published on by Jordan T ShouseLeave a comment

The use of compressed air can be found in almost any industry and is often referred to as a “fourth utility” next to water, gas and electric. The generation of compressed air accounts for approximately 1/3 of all energy costs in an industrial facility, in many cases, it’s the largest energy user in an industrial plant. With an average cost of $ 0.25 per every 1,000 SCF used, compressed air can be expensive to produce so it is very important to use this utility as efficiently as possible.

Many utility companies recognize the benefit of using engineered products to reduce compressed air usage, like the ones manufactured by EXAIR, and offers rebate incentives for making a switch. Duke Energy, who supplies power to sections of North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Florida offers several “Smart $aver Rebates” that focus around the generation and use of compressed air. (State and Location Dependent)

Duke Energy’s Smart Saver Program

However the best place to look at your states available programs is the DSIRE database. DSIRE is the most comprehensive source of information on incentives and policies that support renewable energy and energy efficiency in the United States. Established in 1995, DSIRE is operated by the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center at N.C. State University. Follow the link above to read about the history of DSIRE, the partners on the project, and the research staff that maintains the policy and incentive data in DSIRE.

The Process is pretty easy! Visit https://www.dsireusa.org/ and type in your Zip Code!

https://www.dsireusa.org/

After you get your results, search some key words, Like “Industrial” “Energy” “Commercial” “Energy Efficiency” “Compressed air”

https://www.dsireusa.org/

Here you can see the two Programs that came up for 46077, you can then click the program name and it will take you a information page with the programs website and information!

Here at EXAIR, much of our focus is to improve the overall efficiency of industrial compressed air operating processes and point of use compressed air operated products. If you’d like to contact one of our application engineers, we can help recommend the proper engineered solution to not only save on your compressed air usage but also assist with possible energy rebates available in your area.

Jordan Shouse
Application Engineer

Send me an Email
Find us on the Web 
Like us on Facebook
Twitter: @EXAIR_JS

Money Seed Creative Commons Images from Pictures of Money, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)