Time moves too fast-

I don't know if you have been in the same boat as us over the last couple weeks.   We have been trying to keep pushing with the new ideas, but all the work is getting in the way.   We have had a large number of testing on new filters, and have also been struggling to keep all the equipment up and running.  I am anxiously awaiting the holiday.    All the new innovation has turned into more of a hobby than a job.  Inventing new stuff is a BLAST!

Lots of Dog Treats

I guess they had a leak in the dust collector.  We are cleaning filters for a pet food company. The filters are full of dog treats.  Not pieces but, whole ones.  I have no idea how a whole dog treat gets inside a dust collector cartridge.
Not just one piece.  Lets put it this way: Roxie, and Dutchess are very happy pets.  Each filter had 25 pounds of product inside. I have enough dog treats to start a packaging line, and sell product.

It is interesting.......Pet food manufacturers have more stringent regulations and requirements than human food manufacturing.    Makes you think.

Life is changing.

As all of the older guys (me included) are retiring and getting out of the way the methods we are using to business are changing.  It used to be that it was all relationship based.  You developed a professional trust with some one, and you became their expert.   More recently with the young graduates moving into the marketplace are changing the landscape.   They want to use a computer.  they want to chat or IM.  The personal touch is leaving the business world.  It is getting tougher to build brand loyalty.  It is intresting to watch this change and to see how companies adapt..  Being old, I still want to know the person I am dealing with.

Makes you Think

I had the chance to sit in the woods Saturday looking for the 10 point white tail.   No, no luck.   It sure gives you a chance to think. A clear head brings on a whole new sense of direction.  I enjoy thinking about the difference we are making by cleaning filters.  Maybe we can keep the woods unpolluted a little longer

holiday thoughts

Here it is again...Time for shut down.  Many of you will be crawling into dust collectors.  Gettin' dirty again.  Be safe............. Have a good holiday.

It is that ime of year

I am sure you have seen the pictures of all the filters sitting outside "Ready to ship".  Cleaned  boxes of cartridges lining the drive waiting on truckers   Winter brings us some interesting challenges, mainly storage. We are designed to flow in and out.  We do not have room for storage unless items are taken to another building.  The filter cleaning orders, and the filter sizes we clean seem to be getting bigger and bigger.
I was just sitting here trying to plan for a change of season. Trying to not miss a detail.    I guess I best get out of the seat and start preparing for winter.  I am transferring to the plant in Porto Rico.  I wish, instead just another cold winter ahead.

Bless all those on the East Coast

I find it difficult to post anything this week.  All We can think about is all the pain and suffering due to the flooding.  Bless all of you.

Chemistry In Use

I can not tell you how important chemistry is in our day to day filter cleaning operation.   I try to tell young people not to take the easy way out.  Study hard.  Work hard. Play Hard.

Others in filtration look down their nose at people that clean filters.  Yes it is a very dirty job. 
Nothing bad, Just dirty.
It take a well educated person to clean a filter.  One must know what dust or dirt is trying to be removed from a filter (chemical make up).   Also a filter cleaner must understand, and have the knowledge to understand how the solvent works to remove the dust, and concentrations required to do a good job.
One method or type of  filter cleaning can be used to get all the different types of dirt out of a filter.

You have to use chemistry to figure out what is in the filter, what the filter is made of,  and what will give you the best results.
We also use physics to understand the timing, and the methodology, and the effects, and bio-science to understand the destroy  mold, mildew, and viruses to the DNA level.

We urge our people to continue their education to post secondary.  Close to 30% are in advanced course level work, and half of this is post graduate work

I would like to challenge those in new filter manufacturing.  When is the last time you had  an employee who studied physics, and chemistry as a emphasis.  Next time you meet a guy that cleans filter maybe you should consider that he quite possibly could be brighter that you.

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Just because we do a dirty job does not equate to our people being "stuuupid", As my father in law used to say.

Innovation

We are very lucky to have a very innovative person on our team.  Playing around this week with a small tool a brand new technology is found.  This is what sets us ahead.

Carbon Impregnated Filters

Carbon Impregnated filters are used to dissipate static discharge.  Huh?
When static electricity builds up  across a filter (because if the partials passing by the filter) there is a chance that a spark may occur from the fabric of the filter to the nearest steel ground.  This happens much as wearing socks on the carpet and touching metal.  The spark can cause disastrous results in and explosive environment.  A dust as simple as wood can explode into a huge fire.
There are various methods to prevent this.  Screen printing a carbon film on the filter media, weaving in stainless, or carbon wires into the media, or spraying a conductive material on the filter.  The the theory is that the discharge will travel up the filter which is grounded through a separate ground wire or tail.

Don't take a chance.

Cool new toys

Yesterday we installed a new Doppler radar system that controls our waste system.  It will monitor and  help us and collect information on what our usages are.  This is the first step for us to begin developing a water recycling system.  Recycling some of our water is one of our goals for next year.  Lots of challenges with this however, as cross contamination can be a big problem in our industry.

This device will also tell us in gallons the actual usages, and monitor flow rates.  Pretty cool.

Pasturization System Update

Our newly installed pasteurization process is reducing the risk of contamination for food filters.  "The project has performed better than I had ever expected", according to Walker who designed the system.  We are getting results that have been verified by Graduate Students at Washburn University.  "There is nothing alive left." according to one reseacher.

The Pasteurization process will superheat the filters to a set temperature, for a specific time under vacuum conditions to effectively kill all yeast, and mold spores. The entire process is computer controlled, and graphed for documentation.   This combined with the distainer process previously implemented gives double protection to the manufacturer.

This is unheard of in the filtration industry.  Not even a new filter is subjected to this type of sanitation.

Cellouse, or Paper Filters.

Sometimes it is difficult to understand decisions.   We have been cleaning filters for a particular company for about 6 months.  We have been trying to educate them on the polyspun media verses the cellulose filters.  There were two rejects last week when we cleaned their filters. We called them to visit on how much longer a polyspun filter will last in their system, and how much stronger they are.  They still want to purchase the paper.
I really thin this is penny wise,  This would be a perfect opportunity to try out a couple polyspun filters.  Click the link below (youtube) to see the difference yourself.

Vist the youtube visit our website

Dry Pasturization to clean a filter?

Visit our web siteWe made some huge steps this week.   Our dry pasteurization system went on line.  Dry pasteurization at a filter cleaning company?   YES, this is yet another part of our food filter cleaning program.  After the filters are cleaned the filters are inserted into a special chamber that heats them.  Why heat?  Well in a controlled environment dry pasteurization will kill mold, fungus, and yeast spores.  Keeping consistent and controlling the process is the key to success.  The system we installed uses computer controlled and will monitor and adjust the temperature and humidity, and cycle times.  Not only is this accomplished but, all the variables are graphed and documented so our "cleaned food filters" offer yet another  level of safe sanitation.

$6

To much product.

This was dumped out of a filter sent in for cleaning.   Change out your filters prior to them getting this bad.   If you put maintenance off then dust distributes on the clean air side and can be quite a mess to clean up.  Save yourself some money by not shipping dirt to us.

FilterPro web site:

Filters from a bokk making plant

I guess that they sand the edges of books when they make them.  You learn something new every day.  We received in six skids of filters from a book binding facility.  They were pretty packed.  our solids separator looked like paper gunk. this is a picture of a dirty filter and the skid of cleaned filters behind it.  When you are ready to do your part in the sustainable movement try cleaning your filters.  If we can ever be of help  Giv us a shout, or visit our site at www.fpfilters.comFilterPro web site

Newly designed CArttidge filter for dust collector

We recently had a customer that had 50% of their filters failing. After working with them for months we have rolled out our one piece design. The cartridge filter is designed as one piece with three components. The inner core , media and caps are all molded together. No failure points on the filter, and no place for bacteria to hide.
I did a small powerpoint on why there filters were failing and it circulated so fast, and I got calls from several positions with in the company asking what I could do.

Just a dumb filter guy.....I don't proclaim to be smart, just a dumb filter bag guy. Common sense goes a long way. The development engineer kept saying it could not be done and I just kept asking Why not?
The bottom line is that we have a beautiful new design that "could not be built". Preliminary testing of the design was very positive with no modifications required.
Now we have a filter that can be cleaned multiple times with no failures. I am happy, and they are happy.

Are these filter new or cleaned?

Wow, we just finished cleaning this filter. It is a 12" X 26" filter. In the past this guy has used a paper filter and it was stained. Even though it was clean, and functional it did not look very good. I am very excited to see how nice this filter looks after our cleaning process. I just wanted to share this with you. I bet we can clean this filter another 10 or 15 times.

Sustainability

Our company cleans industrial filters. It is strange to me that there are a lot of consumers that are intrested in cleaning their filters, but many corporations are simply "greenwashing". They will put up their big slogans on how they are a "green" company, bt when it comes down to the plant level people are not following the corporate directives. This bugs me. I really do not understand why the directive is not followed, and if the company officers are aware.

Do what you say, and say what you do.

Do what you can. even a small part. Open yoiur minds to new technologies that are designed to help our enviroment.