AquaPhoenix employees and family members participated in the 2019 Relay for Life in Hanover, Pennsylvania this past weekend.

This annual fundraiser raises money for the American Cancer Society. This year, our goal was to raise $5,000 as a team and we were able to donate $6,869. Our team walked a grand total of 1,110 laps during the 24 hour relay or 277.5 miles!

The community exhibited a huge amount of camaraderie and dedication with the hope of making a difference, however small, to ensure life-saving cancer research gets funded and everyone gets the critical help they need when they need it. Together we were able to raise $217,792.63. To learn more about Relay for Life, visit www.relayforlife.org.

We are already looking forward to next year’s Relay!

On Friday, May 17^th, Fisher Science Education hosted the Pennsylvania State 2019 STEM Design Challenge Finals at Harrisburg University.

A group from AquaPhoenix joined Fisher and volunteered as judges for the event. Awards were given to the top three teams in grades 4-5 and grades 6-8. A total of 49 teams competed in the state finals.

Each team of four students was tasked with creating a machine that will move three objects at least six inches across a table. In addition, the teams had to keep a journal of their journey from start to finish, draw up blueprints, inventory pieces, and give a 2-minute presentation to the judges. Middle school students also present their inventory and cost.

Judging Criteria:

• Creativity
• Teamwork
• Challenge Success
• Design
• Presentation

“Fisher Science Education’s support of this program is a great example of their commitment to promote STEM education in today’s schools.” says Brandon Taylor, Director of Education.

The competition certainly was fierce. Of the 1,199 teams who competed, only 49 advanced to the state finals. It is estimated that 1,678,600 pieces of K’Nex were used for this challenge.

Congratulations to all of the students who competed!

What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?

The 2019 What’s So Cool About Manufacturing? contest for South Central PA is produced by MANTEC and features 21 teams from Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, and York counties. The teams of students and teacher coaches received camera equipment, software, and professional guidance as they learned to script, record, and edit their video stories.

The contest’s objective is to change students’ perceptions about manufacturing careers.

South Western School District took home the Outstanding Career Pathway award for their video submission featuring AquaPhoenix! Way to go Colts!

We were honored to be a featured manufacturer and amazed by what this group of middle schoolers was able to achieve.

Be sure to check out https://mantec.org/winners-of-the-coolest-manufacturing-video-contest/ to see all of the winning entries from this event.

Going above and beyond to provide outstanding service to our customers has always been part of the AquaPhoenix culture. We are pleased to announce that our team has received the 2018 Award of Excellence for “Best Supply Chain Management” by Fisher Science Education. This is the fourth consecutive year (5th overall) that our team has received this award.

We have worked hard to establish a corporate culture in which each employee is committed to safety, quality control and customer service. With these priorities driving our business, we are confident we will remain an industry leader, dedicated to building long-term relationships with our customers. To maintain our high standards of service and customer support, continuous improvement is at the core of our daily operations. Through lean manufacturing initiatives, we are always looking for ways to reduce waste and improve efficiency.

If you’re interested in learning how we can help your business, please contact us. You can see more awards or read some of our customer testimonials as well.

The Association of Water Technologies (AWT) Convention was once again a great time for our team to meet and connect with others in the industry. We are proud to serve as an exhibitor and sponsor for this event and hope everyone enjoyed their time visiting, connecting and learning with others in the industry.

Our team is always looking for innovative products and developing technology solutions to make testing easier for you. If you didn’t get the chance to see us during the show, be sure to check out some of the newest products we featured.

Panel Builder
The H2 Panel Builder lets you effortlessly design and build your custom panel online. Easily navigate your way through each step to pick the components and get a real-time quote with visual drawing and product manuals and data sheets.

Testing Products & Supplies
As always, we showcased some of the best testing products the industry has to offer, including our new custom backpack test kits.

eServiceReport Upgrades
Learn all about the latest updates to eServiceReport, our cloud-based application used to input, analyze, and store data. The new version Corral includes major updates to inventory management, more options for data entry, enhancements to customer review report and much more!

Custom eCommerce Websites
We completely redesigned and upgraded our custom eCommerce website platform for improved functionality and enhanced user experience. Demo the new platform and see how you can make buying and selling easier for you team.

9 Cooling Water Tests in 60 seconds
Fast and simple, the innovative WaterLink Spin Touch Photometer from LaMotte does your cooling water testing for you. Learn more about this innovative new technology.

Interested in learning more? Please contact us!

Water testing measures key parts of a water system quality and chemistry to make sure the water treatment program is working properly. It is important when taking water samples that the sample represents the whole system and not a smaller, non-representative portion of the system. If a sample isn’t representative of the whole system, or if it is handled improperly, it can “lie to you”. By this we mean the test results will be true of the sample, but not the entire system and could lead to decisions affecting the water treatment program. Improper handling can consume certain chemicals or introduce contaminants which affect tests and your response to the result. An important key to a representative sample, is flushing the sample line before you take your sample. This will clear out impurities or chemical concentrations at the sample point.

You can learn a lot from your sample. By looking for clues in your samples, you can get a head start on understanding what is going on in the system. Look for things like color, smell and quality (cloudiness or suspended solids). Was the sample line clogged? These observations can help direct your testing.

Finally, in certain situations a chain of custody – that is, a record of who took or handled a sample, and when, is important for regulatory or legal reasons. In these cases, proper sampling and records are critical.

Collecting your sample

Once you have selected your sampling point, follow flushing guidelines and grab a sample. Doing this properly helps you prepare it for testing. If testing boiler water, be sure to cool the sample to room temperature before testing. You can use a sample cooler or cold-water bath to achieve this. Mistakes happen when testing, so be sure to collect a large enough sample to allow for repeat testing if needed.

• Use a clean, non-reactive bottle. Also, make sure you have a cap so you can properly seal the container.
• Clear contaminates in the bottle by rinsing at least three times with the water sample to be tested. This will ensure the sample bottle is clean.
• Fill the bottle to the brim and overflowing to remove any air from the bottle and cap it. This keeps the sample fresh and removes air that can change the sample over time.
• Label your bottle with sample location and application

Now that you’ve collected your sample (and cooled it if necessary), it’s important to test immediately! This is particularly important when testing sulfite. Following these sample collection fundamentals will ensure you get your testing started on the right track.

If you’re looking for more training, check out AquaPhoenix Academy, our online training classes to help grow and develop your team as well as a library of testing videos to help reinforce testing fundamentals.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes^® asks men to literally walk one mile in women’s high-heeled shoes. It’s not easy walking in these shoes, but it’s fun and it gets the community to talk about something that’s really difficult to talk about: gender relations and men’s sexual violence against women. By wearing women’s shoes, participating, gentlemen symbolically put themselves in the place of women for the purpose of raising awareness about the dire effects of sexual and domestic assault in our community.

This year, the brave men of AquaPhoenix strapped on their best high-heels and walked to help raise over $1,600 for our local YWCA. The money raised will support YWCA programs and services for survivors of domestic violence and family assault.

Visit YWCA Hanover to learn more and to see how you can get involved https://www.ywcahanover.org/get-involved/donate/    

Walk A Mile in Her Shoes Photos

Selecting the right filtration technology for all applications becomes easy when you perform a Particle Distribution Analysis (PDA). Laser counters are the most commonly used and are accurate and affordable.

Considerations must be given to determine if the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) illustrate a majority of total counts less than 10.0 microns. The microscopic particles between 0.45 and 5.0 microns are responsible for biofilm buildup and increased energy and operational costs.

Synergies through combined treatment technologies allow for:

• Enhanced filtration and chemical treatment programs in a sustainable manner.
• Cleaner heat exchange surfaces that reduce or maintain design performance criteria.
• Saves Energy, Water, Labor, and Downtime.
• Reduced erosion of piping, valves, seals, impellers.
• Better cooling water heat rejection.
• Reduced MIC, Anaerobic and harboring of higher life forms.
• Less frictional drag of pumped water caused by biofilm.

Biofilm has a thermal conductivity of just 0.6 and is four times as resistant to heat transfer as compared to calcium carbonate scale.  Years of research have proven that biofilm starts with TSS around 5.0 micron size range and smaller particles attached to the base layer later on.  Selecting the right technology that can reduce TSS between 0.45 – 5.0 microns is of the utmost importance.

Consider a 200 ton chiller operating at 50% load with a $ 0.05/kwh rate, the energy cost to operate that chiller would be $ 26,280.00/yr.  A 0.045 inch of biofilm on the condenser would increase the energy cost by $9,198.00.

Buying a product that only fits a specific budgeted amount of money could be a bad investment.  Understand your options with specific goals and objectives in mind to achieve a real ROI.

by Keith Karl, Filtration Product Manager

References

• Hans Muller-Steinhagen. Advances in Heat Transfer, Volume 33
• Cooling Technology Institute. CTI Paper Legionella-WTP-148. 2008
• Bruce D. Bowen & Norman Epstein, Fine Particle Deposition in Smooth Parallel-Plate Channels. 1979
• US Department of Energy. Heat Exchange as related to Fouling. ESL-IE-88-09-30. 1988
  • Wilfred J. Rebello, PAR Enterprises Inc.
  • Scott L Richlen, US Dept. of Energy
  • Frank Childs, Idaho National Engineering Laboratory

It was one year ago today when Aliquot, the mobile data entry companion for eServiceReport, was first available to download in the Google and Apple app store. Over the last year, we have continued to enhance how Aliquot redefines mobile data entry.

In addition to turn-key eServiceReport integration, Aliquot has gained features for GPS-based routing and additional data entry options. With new functionality in development such as sales prospecting and enhanced map views, the best is yet to come.

On behalf of all of us at H2trOnics and AquaPhoenix, we would like to thank all of our users who have helped make Aliquot a success by adopting it as part of their company’s data management solutions.

From left to right: Sabrina Krebs, Steve Snavely, Harland Pond, Frank Lecrone, III, and George Cramer.

Congratulations to Andy McGill who recently passed the Certified Water Technologist (CWT) exam. Andy joined AquaPhoenix in 2017 as Technical Sales Manager. 

The CWT exam is offered through the Association of Water Technologies. This certification represents the highest professional credential in the industrial and commercial water treatment field. It provides expert recognition for individuals involved in water treatment and technology to indicate to the general public, co-workers, employers, and others that an individual has achieved a high level of experience, knowledge, and education in the industry.

Individuals who pass the exam are able to provide thorough understanding on boilers and coolers and offer the highest standards of service and understanding towards the needs of the water treatment industry.

The CWT exam is organized into five sections relating to industrial/commercial water treatment as follows:

• General Water Treatment Knowledge
• External Treatment
• Boiler Water Treatment
• Cooling Water and Closed System Treatment
• Health, Safety & Environmental Regulations

To learn more about the exam and qualifications visit www.awt.org/certification.