Giving Thanks!

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is once again upon us!  It is said by many people at this time of year, but there really are so many things to be thankful for.  As I sit and reflect, I think about how I am truly thankful for many things including good health, my family & friends, a roof over my head and a great place to work! 

Here at APTech Group, I am fortunate to work with a bunch of great people all working hard to get the EnduroSolv line of solid water treatment products in as many facilities as possible.  With so many benefits that come with using the EnduroSolv line of solid water treatment, including no heavy drums to move  (your operators and especially their backs will be Thankful!), eliminating spills, no drum disposal issues or no on site storage issues just to name a few.  (Our website: www.endurosolv.com has more details...)

If any of these benefits appeal to you, now would be a good time to see how EnduroSolv can make your water treatment needs simpler and safer. And if you do choose EnduroSolv products to make your water treatment easier someone might just say to you…..Thanks!

Posted on behalf of Todd Lee

“An Ounce of Prevention is Better Than a Pound of Cure”

Proverb:  It is better to try to keep a bad thing from happening than it is to fix the bad thing once it has happened.

I was raised on proverbs - all learned from my mother.  As a young child I grew to remember them, if not always with full understanding.  As an adult, the proverbs seemed to stay with me and over the years they have taken on more meaning. 

So how do proverbs – and this one particular - correspond to EnduroSolv water treatment and our proprietary technology for producing our solid form products?  

Well, how many times do we read about a wayward tank truck or railcar of some corrosive chemical crashing on our highways and spilling its contents into the watershed and countryside?  Monthly I would guess, if not more often.  Now with the technology available by EnduroSolv, we can entirely eliminate those things from happening in our industry: Solids Can’t Spill!

So getting back to the proverb, above: Using solid water treatment chemicals eliminates the “bad thing from happening” ie: spills during shipment. And oh, by the way, our products are less expensive to ship, and neater and safer to handle. And they work just as well as dangerous liquid chemicals.

Check us out at www.endurosolv.com.

Posted in behalf of Jim Heimert, CEO, APTech Group, Inc.

Before the Snow Flies...

As we transition from Summer into Fall, those facility management teams who use their steam boilers for heating find this a particularly challenging time of the year to maintain proper chemical levels in their boilers. Some days are rainy and cool, then we get an occasional warm spell going from needing to not needing that heat. Similarly we may have cool mornings - requiring heat, and sunny afternoons with no additional heat demand.

The challenge is to keep enough oxygen scavenger in the boiler feedwater as well as in the boilers. Failure to maintain proper chemical levels can lead to costly failures - in the boiler feedwater tank and piping, in the boiler tubes, and in the steam and condensate piping system.

To prevent these failures we strongly encourage you to feed more oxygen scavenger than typically necessary. A common chemical used for this purpose is sulfite (SO₃). Normal maintenance levels are 20-40 ppm of sulfite. During the fall months, you may need to maintain sulfite levels at 80-100 ppm to ensure that there is enough sulfite in the system to prevent oxygen pitting.

The reason for this recommendation is as follows: as the boiler and boiler feedwater cool down when not in use, a partial vacuum can develop in the feedwater tank, drawing air into the feedwater. Similarly this can occur out at condensate receivers throughout the facility. This oxygen becomes very corrosive when heated.

In fact, for every 30^o F increase above 70^o F, that oxygen doubles in its corrosiveness.

True, this process will cost a little more than normal. Also true is that it will add TDS (frequently referred to as conductivity) to the boiler, but these issues are minimal compared to the costs and downtime for pipe and tube replacements.

Posted on behalf of Fred Lattin

Water Prices Go Up, Up, Up

Engineering firm Black & Veatch and Raftelis Financial Consultants provided data for a study of retail water rates released in September 2012 by USA Today.  The research covered 100 municipalities across the US.  The findings won’t surprise you:  rates have increased 70% and more over the past 12 years.  In 25% of the cities, rates doubled; in San Francisco, Atlanta and Wilmington, Delaware they tripled.

 

Fitch Ratings’ water utilities analysts expect water rates to continue growing at 5% per year due to our aging infrastructure and the capital costs required to maintain and upgrade it.  Expect water to take an increasingly larger portion of your budget each year as cost increases outstrip inflation.

Water for heating – and especially cooling – accounts for 15% to 30% of a building’s overall water consumption.  An effective water treatment regimen for this equipment is the most effective means to reduce that use.  The US Green Building Council’s LEED for Existing Buildings recognizes this by offering a credit for utilizing chemical water treatment in cooling towers.  Contact us here at APTech Group for hands-on help from our field and factory water treatment experts to keep your enterprise ahead of the ever-steeper water cost curve.  For starters, you can download a useful tip sheet at by clicking here .

Posted on behalf Lew Bonadies, LEED AP, Sustainability Director, APTech Group

“That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

On September 25, 2012 we lost one of our greatest of American heroes of all time. Neil Armstrong was a jet fighter pilot who narrowly escaped death on one of his 78 combat missions in Korea; a test pilot who piloted the X-15, an experimental rocket plane; and the Apollo 11 commander who guided the lunar module Eagle past boulders and craters before landing on the moon with only 20 seconds of fuel to spare.

He was born in Ohio, went to school in Indiana, taught at University of Cincinnati and lived not too far from our manufacturing plant here in Cincinnati during his final years. We will miss this quiet hero and national icon who was the first person to set foot on the moon.

 Our growth and success at APTech Group is due to all the people who had the vision to be first to market with sustainable solid water treatment chemistry. A recent manifestation of that success: APTech Group has earned a ranking on the 2012 Inc. Magazine 500/5000 list for the second consecutive year. The Inc. 500|5000 ranks the top private companies in the U.S. in terms of three year revenue growth.

On the Inc. list, among ranking companies in the manufacturing sector, APTech Group ranked 8th in the state of Ohio and 2nd in the greater Cincinnati area. Not only have APTech Group solid water treatment chemicals helped to open lots of doors for our distributors, they also have been a great tool to retain business for these water treatment professionals. The facilities who use our products have reduced their carbon footprint, reduced the risk and liability to employees and made their systems easier to operate and maintain. They do not want to go back to the old, dangerous liquid way.

APTech Group solid water treatment chemicals are the right stuff to protect your people, your planet and your profits. Click here for more information about how our products can work for your firm.

Posted on behalf of Marc Beller

Back to School

Across the country, back packs, school supplies and school clothes have been purchased in preparation for the big day. Since we have “children” who are now young adults, my wife and I were spared the trauma of sending the kiddies off for the first day of school. But I know there are many parents who were wiping tears away this week as they watched their youngsters climb aboard that big yellow school bus.

This time of year is exciting for students embarking on a new year of learning and growth. For school administrators and faculty, it’s the end of the summer vacation (or second job…) and for school facility managers, it is a stressful time of ensuring that everything at the school is in working order.

Given the “precious cargo” that is attending our nations’ schools, it is not surprising that more and more K-12 school facility managers are embracing a new safer method for maintaining their comfort cooling and heating equipment. 

EnduroSolv® solid chemical water treatment from APTech Group provides all the system protection of traditional (but dangerous) liquid chemicals. But without the added caustic that allows the ingredients in liquid chemicals to remain in solution, solid products from APTech Group are safer to ship, store and use on site.

Additionally, the use of EnduroSolv® solids is a more sustainable water treatment solution. In fact, if all liquid water treatment was replaced with EnduroSolv® solid products from APTech Group the carbon footprint effect would be the equivalent of removing 52,000 automobiles each year from U.S. roadways.

So here’s to a new school year filled with learning and growth for the students and to safer, sustainable maintenance of the equipment that keeps them comfortable throughout the school year.

For more information on EnduroSolv® solid water treatment products, check out www.endurosolv.com.

Our Beautiful Earth

This week in history: 53 years ago on August 7^th, 1959, the first photograph of the earth from a U.S. satellite was taken (see image at right). Although grainy and somewhat indecipherable by today’s standards, you still get a feel for the complexity, massiveness and beauty of the planet we call home.

Fast forward to today’s images from space and Earth’s beauty really begins to show – the bright white clouds against the deep blue sea, the intricate designs of the different land masses, and the light of the sun all can be seen in the pictures from today.  Getting a clearer picture of something tends to bring the obvious to light.

What about in your mechanical room? Do you have a clear picture of what you can do here to make it safer, cleaner and more sustainable? The EnduroSolv line of solid water treatment products can provide that clear picture. Take a look at the EnduroSolv benefits here: http://endurosolv.com/why_solids and what is so obvious begins to come to light.

Posted on behalf of Kathleen Collier

Making a Difference with Your Career

There’s something special about believing in what you do every day. 

In a previous life, I was a union auto worker.  I spent seven years as a cog in the production lines of a “Big Three” automotive manufacturing plant.  It was a good enough job.  We were well compensated, and the job was not overly difficult.  At the end of the day, I clocked out and didn’t think about the job until the start of my next shift.  I thought I’d spend 30 to 40 years of my life in that routine.  Everything was fine.  Unfortunately, my bubble of contentment finally burst when vehicle sales slowed, and the overtime dwindled.  I realized that I was there for the pay check and not much else.  Suddenly, 30 to 40 years of the same old routine didn’t seem so appealing. 

Five years ago, I made the decision to leave the relatively safe haven of the UAW and look for something new.  I had no idea what it was, but I believed in the existence of a better alternative.  Almost immediately, I was able to begin my employment with APTech Group. (Commercial break – APTech is leading manufacturer of solid form water treatment chemicals used to treat the water in cooling towers and boilers. Check us out at www.endurosolv.com.)

Initially, I was a part-time employee while I took classes.  For the first year, it wasn’t much different than my previous jobs.  Then I started to pay attention to what was happening here.  The more I learned, the more I wanted to be a part of this organization.  Oddly, the job wasn’t that much different than the one I had left.  It was still manufacturing.  However, the message was different.  

Producing components of a vehicle that I could see on the street was good and I still remain loyal to that brand.  Manufacturing a quality product like EnduroSolv® solid water treatment chemicals that is more environmentally responsible than the dangerous liquid alternatives is even better.  It has also made for a more interesting and fulfilling career path.

When it comes to your water treatment solutions, don’t settle for just good enough; give us a chance to be better. Like I was able to do with my career.

Posted on behalf of Andy Kinnett

Buildings Drink Deeply

According to the US Green Building Council (USGBC), commercial buildings use 13.6% of our nation’s potable water, about 15 trillion gallons per year.  Saving water has become a priority and will graduate to a necessity in the next decade.

Boilers and cooling towers are big building water users and good targets for conservation strategies, starting with professional water analysis and treatment.  Heating and cooling water reduction is a double bonus, because not only is water saved, but the energy to heat, cool and pump it, too.  In fact, the USGBC’s LEED 2009 for Existing Buildings provides a credit for implementing chemical water treatment for cooling towers.

More ambitious owners and facility management professionals are taking it a step further, utilizing non-potable water sources, like condensate and roof runoff rainwater, as makeup water.  Properly treated, both are excellent substitutes for municipal or well water.  Added infrastructure costs are a factor, but the investment can have a reasonable payback, especially when the rising cost of water and sewage is projected out over five plus years.

Check your local building codes for compliance, but more and more communities – and not just in southwest states – are encouraging rainwater harvesting and other non-potable water strategies.  Your APTech Group distributor’s water experts and our factory resources are at your service, too.  Start evaluating conservation strategies today before water issues escalate.

Posted on behalf Lew Bonadies, LEED AP, Sustainability Director, APTech Group

Too Busy to Talk to You Now!!

Remember the old cartoon about the machine gun salesman trying to sell Custer a machine gun, as the Indians circled his troops at Little Bighorn. Custer says – “I’m too busy to talk you now”.

We all know how that ended up.

Sometimes we just get in ruts and keep doing the same things without looking for a better solution. A case in point – the shipping, use, handling, storing and disposing of liquid water treatment chemical drums.

Are you the Custer who’s too busy?

Or are you the Custer who can look at new ways to solve old problems?

Yep, each case of these solid water treatment chemicals contains the same amount of proven, active chemicals as a 55 gallon drum! Plus,when you’ve used up the solid product, the case is recyclable, as are the containers.

Isn’t it time to look at better solutions?

Give us a call at 1-866-489-9831; or drop us a line and we’ll answer your questions and help you – so you can avoid being a 21^st century Custer!

Posted on behalf Fred Lattin

Let The Summer Begin

As we head into Memorial Day Weekend, the unofficial start to summer, it looks like we are going to see some hot weather here in the Cincinnati area. And I'm sure that weather will spread around many parts of the country. I would venture to guess that many kids will be quite happy as their local swimming pools will be opening and this year the still cold water will feel really good to get into. I know everyone remembers those opening weekends at the pool when you forced yourself into that cold water just because you were so excited to swim.

While people are enjoying the pools and swimming during this hot spell, many cooling towers will also see an increase in load due to the hot weather. The summer historically represents a very busy time for us as these increased load demands also mean increased chemical consumption to properly treat a cooling tower. With the increase in chemical consumption on the horizon and as someone in charge of an HVAC system, it becomes critical to properly manage and maintain the proper chemical inventories to ensure that your HVAC system runs properly and as expected all season long. The EnduroSOLV solid water treatment products offer an easy and convenient method for holding and managing your cooling tower chemical inventory. These products are packaged in easy to manage cases containing four one gallon bottles. The EnduroSOLV line contains both the inhibitors and biocides that you will need all summer long.

So, as you are enjoying the swimming pool this weekend and enjoying the water, make sure to remember the water treatment needs of your HVAC system ... Happy Memorial Day!!

Sustainability. How much is enough?

Have I taken my employment at APTech Group and Sustainability too far?   I know Mother’s Day was last Sunday but all week I thought about this question.  I guess a blog is a great place to have a reality check.  

My daughters and I celebrated a Green Mother’s Day, Sustainable Mothers Day, Eco Friendly Mother’s Day whatever you would like to call it.  We wrapped up 20 LED light bulbs in recycled newspaper and gave them to my wife first thing in the morning on Sunday.  Of course I am kidding.  But kids -- if you are reading this that would be a great Father’s Day gift.

Here is what we actually did for Mother’s Day:

• We gave Mom a live plant from a local nursery that she could plant.
• The girls made a memo pad from leftover birthday wrapping paper that had a thought on each piece of paper that made them smile about their Mom.
• We took some pictures but did not print them out. We just sent them to her work computer as screen savers.
• The girls made several homemade gift cards: 20 minute massage; Help plant new flowers; Free car wash -- and my least favorite gift that was slipped in without my approval:  Will make Dad clean the bathroom for a month.
• My daughter who researched the “Green” event said we could not travel anywhere or turn on an electronic device for the day.
• The traditional Mother’s Day gift -- breakfast in bed.  No paper products were used except for a homemade card. 

Although, the lack of computer and other electronics was very hard on my wife and I, we both agreed it was a very rewarding Mother’s Day 2012.  In fact, both kids have become “Greener” through this process. They turn off lights and are aware that Dad saying he does not want to air condition the neighborhood really means something now.

Again, I will ask: Do I take sustainability too far?   A worse condition would be to suffer from a “Green Fatigue" – which would result in tuning out the Green messages due to their ubiquity. The truth is that every single thing we do every day has an impact on the planet -- good or bad. The good news is that as an individual you have the power to control most of your choices and, therefore, the impact you create: from where you live to what you buy, eat, and use to light your home to where and how you celebrate Mother’s Day, to how you shop and how you run your business, you can have global impact.

The good news is: I do not suffer from Green Fatigue. In fact, I want to spread the word to the water treatment world that APTech Group has the technology and products to help companies and organizations reach Sustainability goals that will only get tougher. If you are using Solids water treatment products now, go to the carbon footprint reduction calculator on our EnduroSolv website and enter the required information then go tell someone! Post it on your company website, tell your sustainability office or Environmental person. 

For example, a 1000 ton system can generate this kind of Carbon Dioxide savings:

Transport fuel savings:  826 lbs of CO2 per year

Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) savings: 1,776 lbs of CO2 per year

Plastic used reduced: 1,084 lbs of CO2 per year

Total Savings: 3,686 lbs of CO2 per year

These savings are comparable to leaving your car in the garage for 173 days and walking or taking public transportation. 

Too much sustainability? Too much is never enough!

Posted on behalf of Marc Beller

     

Water Treatment Products from APTech Group – Good for Government Facilities, Too

I’m heading to San Antonio next week with an APTech Group colleague to attend the 2012 GSA Conference and Expo. Many of our distributors work with and provide APTech Group solid water treatment products and services to government facilities served by the GSA.

As the manufacturer of these proven, sustainable solid chemical products, we are looking forward to meeting folks from the GSA as well facility management firms who could benefit from our wide line of products for cooling towers, boilers and closed loop systems.

The GSA is committed to having a zero environment footprint. Fortunately, this commitment aligns with many of the benefits of our solid water treatment products:

• Significantly lighter than liquids, so reduced amount of fuel is required to ship
• Products manufactured with eco-friendly ingredients
• No triple rinsing of container required
• Product containers are fully recyclable
• APTech Group products address potential LEED points
• Containers enable plastic reduction, when compared to liquid chemical containers
• Solid form process allows for significant reduction in the use of dangerous caustic chemicals (NaOH)

If you would like to learn more about APTech Group’s solid water treatment products, visit our website for much more information and to be connected to a distributor in near you.

Sustainability in Higher Education

Are you familiar with AASHE? It stands for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. This group is helping to further sustainability at their institutions by engaging students, staff, faculty and interested businesses in knowledge sharing and discussions about sustainability. Because of this type of forum, sustainability initiatives are being agreed upon and implemented at universities and colleges across the country.

As in many other arenas, colleges and universities play a vital role in advancing understanding of the ecological challenges our world faces. By bringing together passionate students, facilitators and sustainable businesses, AASHE is leading the fight to preserve our natural resources and beauty of our world.

APTech Group, along with our EnduroSolv^® line of solid water treatment products, is proud to be a member of AASHE and we support their vision.

Is your school a member of AASHE? To find out and learn more about AASHE endeavors, go to www.aashe.org.  And learn more about our EnduroSolv^® solid water treatment product for boilers and cooling towers at www.endurosolv.com.

Posted on behalf of Kathleen Collier

Earth Day

Sunday was Earth Day. Earth Day is an annual day in which events are held all over the world to help increase awareness and appreciate the environment. The first Earth Day was held in 1970 and is held on April 22 of each year. These days it is not hard to find people trying to make the Earth a better place.

In fact, my 2nd Grade daughter came home from school last week with many things she wanted us to do at home to help the Earth. She started off by running and checking all our faucets for leaks/drips. She told us we had to turn off the lights in rooms we were not in and she even wanted us to unplug all the appliances in each room when we left it.

My favorite though, was when she asked if I could start using old cooking oil in my car instead of gas! It was hard for her to understand that I couldn’t just start filling my car up with the old cooking oil. (They had read an article about a car that was able to run on this type of oil and thought that every car had that capability!)

What she did understand though after a little explaining, was how the EnduroSolv® line of Solid Water Treatment Chemicals was making a difference in the environment. I explained to her that not only do our chemicals help re-use water, but they also reduce the carbon footprint. (As you might imagine, the concept of carbon footprint also took a little explaining).

But when I told her that if every facility in the United States switch to EnduroSolv® products, it would be like taking 52,000 cars of the roads (from a carbon footprint standpoint), she was able to understand that! And as was the case her desire for me to switch from gasoline to old cooking oil, she instantly wanted to know why everyone wasn’t using our products so that all those “cars” could be removed from the roads! I wish everyone could think this simplistically and just make the switch!

Besides helping the environment, EnduroSolv® Solid Water Treatment has many benefits that could help your facilities water treatment needs. If you would like additional information please let us know and we can get you in contact with an EnduroSolv® dealer near you.

Happy Belated Earth Day!

Image source: www.outlook.noaa.gov

Posted on behalf of Todd Lee

World Water Day

On Thursday, March 22nd we recognized World Water Day 2012.

So how did you celebrate or otherwise recognize this important event? Why do we even have to recognize water? Simply put, water is a limited resource. While over 75% of the earth is water, only 1% of that water is in a useable form. While not a diminishing resource, it is limited.


Water has unique properties: it can be used to heat or cool; it can be made into a gas (steam), or a solid form (ice). It can provide life, or in the event of pollution – death. We rely on it in many ways that we may never recognize.
At APTech Group, we deal with ways to conserve and reuse this valuable resource every day. Our products are designed to not only conserve water, but to do so in a safe, economical, and environmentally friendly manner.

We provide our dealer partners with many tools to assist them in finding the best solution for their customers. Here’s a tool that anyone can use to learn more about what they can do to help conserve this valuable resource.

Over 12% of the 7,000,000,000 earth population goes without safe drinking water on any given day. We are an active supporter of charity: water – an organization devoted exclusively to finding safe drinking water for those people that have none. Please join us to make a difference in this effort.

And have a great World Water Day!

Posted on behalf of Fred Lattin

Thoughts from the New Guy…

As one of the newest employees of
APTech Group, I find myself trying to understand everything from where to park my car each day at the office; to the acid/base reaction that makes our solid water treatment products possible.

It can be overwhelming being the newest person on staff. It took my 11 year old daughter to put everything I am doing back into perspective. A couple weeks ago, when I got home from work she greeted me with a big hug. She said she talked about me today at school. So I am assuming she was extolling my virtues about being a Dad. A Dad who understands family/ work balance. A Dad who rarely misses a soccer game or even a practice, demands family dinner time, and once a week family game night. Patting myself on the back a bit, I guess.

But none of that comes out of her mouth. “Dad, I am very proud of your company”. What? My Job? Okay, so she is going to say “your hard work pays for the things we have and the upcoming vacation to Disney”. I get it and that is very nice to appreciate the things we have.

What she actually says is “Dad, I talked about how your stuff in a jar (that's 11 year old speak for our innovative, sustainable, solid water treatment chemicals) can help the environment”. She explained to her class during a science discussion about the environment that my company can help reuse water, reduce pollution in the air and they (Dad’s company) even helps to drill wells in Africa for people who have no water.

I hope the teacher does not ask me to come in and explain the way a well is drilled! APTech Group does support charity: water with a donation for every case of product we sell, but there are no drill bits in the warehouse.

What everyone should be proud of is the commitment to the environment with each installation of APTech’s solid water treatment solution for cooling towers and boilers. To make a difference on this planet, it has to be a broad based effort making small behavior changes that, when performed collectively, can substantially decrease environmental impact.

If one company converts 1,000 tons of cooling to solid water treatment chemicals, it can reduce carbon dioxide levels equivalent to parking your car for 6 months. And, if everyone in America switched to solids it would be equivalent to taking 52,000 cars off the road.

I am very proud of what APTech Group is doing – as is my daughter evidently.

Posted on behalf of Marc Beller

Need for LEED Water Efficiency

According to National Geographic, 97% of water on the earth is saltwater. Another 2% is locked into polar ice caps and glaciers. That leaves just 1% for almost seven billion people to share.

Here in the US, fresh water concerns are becoming more widespread, affecting not just the Southwest and West, but rapidly developing areas like Charlotte and Nashville where once abundant water supplies are strained by rapid growth and development. Commercial and institutional buildings are major water users, so water efficiency measures for the built environment have a significant impact on our water issues.

The US Green Building Council’s LEED 2009 for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance green rating system emphasizes water efficiency as one of its five environmental categories. One LEED EB water efficiency credit is a “gimmee” for EnduroSolv® solid water treatment adopters: Cooling Tower Water Management – Chemical Management. Your EnduroSolv® expert can develop a water treatment plan for you to earn this credit that addresses chemical treatment, bleed-off, corrosion, scaling, bio-fouling, metering, controls and training.

EnduroSolv® solid chemicals offer a host of other environmental benefits that support other LEED certification credits, too. Please contact us to help you with LEED questions – we now have a LEED Accredited Professional on staff – and advice on other water-saving strategies for your cooling tower, boiler or closed-loop systems.

Posted on behalf of Lew Bonadies, LEED AP

March Madness!

This is such an exciting time of the year. Congratulations to all the teams that will play in the 2012 NCAA college tournament.

Everyone at APTech Group, and I mean everyone, knows I am a huge Indiana University Hoosier fan. I have struggled through 4 years of 20 loss seasons from a program that rarely ever missed the tournament and has 5 national championship banners. Why this year? In my opinion it is Cody Zeller deciding to not go play with his brother in North Carolina and stay in-state. His decision to play for the Hoosiers has been called a “Game Changer”. I believe it.


Speaking of “Game Changers”, I was travelling last week and I had one of our solid water treatment distributors tell me that the solids program is a Game Changer for his territory – especially when the audience are members of upper management. At this level, the customer will not ask about what the phosphonate package is or how much yellow metal protection is in the formula. They get excited when they hear these four benefits:

1) Solids can reduce the company’s risk and liability.
2) Solids can reduce the company’s carbon footprint.
3) Solids can help your company Go Green.
4) Solids can make a positive economic impact.

Call us if you need help “scoring” with these 4 points and we will help you put on a full court press. APTech’s solids are no longer the Cinderella story in the big dance.

We are the number one seed and can take you to the finals – whether you are a facility manager considering our solid alternative or one our distributors sharing the solid story with your customers.

Go Luck and Go Hoosiers… (And - go Cincinnti Bearcats! -Blog Editor)

Posted on behalf of Marc Beller

New App Available to Calculate Water Treatment Indices

Wouldn’t it be great be able to easily figure out a Langelier index at a customer site, while there in the field?

Well, we have recently become aware of a new, free mobile app that lets you calculate Langelier (LSI,) Ryznar (RSI) and Puckorius (PSI) indices right on your smart phone. The App was developed by a company called LXF Process Management Solutions, which develops specialized information management system software used in a variety of different industries.
At this point, the App is only available for the Android platform. However, if you go to the web page to download the App, you will also be presented with the opportunity to let LXF know that you use an iPhone or iPad. This survey would suggest that LXF has plans to develop the App for these devises as well, once there is sufficient demand. Let’s hope so…

HAPPY LEAP DAY!!!

Time… such a valuable resource and something
we all have. Problem is, if not used wisely, it is something that we can never get back. Lucky for us about every four years in February, we are gifted an extra day – February 29th or Leap Day. An extra 24 hours of time!! Are you going to use it wisely?

As many facility managers know, time is becoming more and more valuable. With shrinking budgets and staff reductions, the pressure to do more with less is increasingly more important. One of the ways facility managers can use their “extra” 24 hours wisely is to consider an EnduroSolv® solid water treatment program for their boilers and cooling towers. With one case of EnduroSolv® solid water treatment containing the same amount of chemical treatment as one 55-gallon drum, it is obvious that EnduroSolv® has many benefits including time savings.

Imagine the time it takes to get one 55-gallon drum to the mechanical room… ugh – lots of time and lots of potential for accidents. Now imagine carrying one 44 pound case to the mechanical room. A big difference – a lot quicker, a lot safer and no hand truck required!

Take a moment to look over all the benefits of EnduroSolv® here or contact us. We would be happy to discuss all the benefits of EnduroSolv® solid water treatment products with you.

Finally, on this Leap Day, I wanted to share something that gives a little perspective on the value of time. There are many renditions of this but I think this hits home to all. Have a happy and productive Leap Day!

To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the Value of ONE DAY, ask the person born on February 29th.
To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the friends waiting to meet.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed the train.
To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Posted on behalf of Kathleen Collier

APTech Turns 10!

2012 marks APTech Group’s 10 Year Anniversary
manufacturing EnduroSolv sustainable solid water treatment products. So, we are not the New Kids on the Block.

But, even though we have been manufacturing for a decade – and growing substantially in recent years – there are STILL many people out there who don’t yet fully understand the benefits of EnduroSolv solid water treatment.

We have solid products in many
forms, for all water types, including bottles, discs, sticks and pucks that can treat all of your Cooling Tower, Boiler and Closed Loop System needs.

If you are looking to improve the way you are treating the water in your facilities, please let us know and we can get you in contact with an EnduroSolv dealer in your area! Here’s to 10 more years of growth…

Posted on behalf of Todd Lee

Solid Laundry Detergents Mirror Water Treatment Dynamics

An interesting article in Chemical & Engineering News a few weeks ago reported on the detergent industry re-introducing Dry Concentrated Laundry Chemicals. The Concentrate technology has been around for at least 50 years (for those of us old enough, remember Salvo Tablets), but never caught on in a big way. Consumers have been resistant to change and have continued to use liquids or dry soap with added filler. The article went on to add that when using liquids or dry (powder) soap, most consumers added more than was needed, which is not only a waste of money, but an added environmental concern.

Much of the same apprehension affects the water treatment industry. Comments about liquid water treatment chemicals such as “been doing the liquids for years, a little more is always better” are still prevalent.

Perhaps the pending introduction of these new single serve solid laundry products is a signal that the time has finally come to take a step back and re-examine the way we think. The world is a different place and no matter how much we pine for the good old days, those days were wasteful in many ways. Today we’re more concerned about economics, but also about making life better and cleaner for our kids and generations to come. We at APTech Group believe Solid Technology for water treatment chemicals to be the absolute best fit in addressing both of these desires & needs of our new world.

Posted on behalf of Jim Heimert

Extending Our "Reach the Rep “ Program

In a January Blog, Jim Heimert discussed the need to educate more of our distributors' representatives on the benefits their customers will receive when making the change from a liquid water treatment program to one utilizing the same state of the art chemical technology in a safer, easier, more environmentally responsible form: EnduroSolv® Solids.

Expanding on this program, we have substantially increased our involvement and participation in many of the leading Facility Management organizations - such as ASHRE, ASHE, IFTMA, and BOMA to name a few. Our goal is to help our distributors carry the EnduroSolv® message through industry meetings, trade shows, lunch-and-learns, and the like.

By directly interacting with those managers that will gain the most by changing to a solid based water treatment program we anticipate substantially shortening the selling cycle through awareness.

Do you have an organization that you are actively involved in, and think we should be as well. Why not reach-out to us and let us know? We are always learning as well.

Posted on behalf of Fred Lattin

A Change for the Better

Starting today and lasting through the weekend APTechGroup is converting our email system from a pop mail server that we have subscribed to online for the past seven or eight years to a hosted exchange server. We are working with our IT vendor, PROOnCall, to complete this conversion. We made the decision to make the move to the hosted exchange because all of the benefits involved will be of great benefit to us. The pop server did its job and delivered us our email reliably and efficiently but there were just too many features that weren't available. The feature that I think will be most helpful is the shared calendar. As we have gotten busier and our staff has grown, being able to coordinate everyone's schedule and the company's events will be more critical to ensure that we take care of everything that needs to be handled.

Making this conversion today is taking a little bit of upfront effort and preparation. I'm sure it could be viewed as a hassle in the short term but everyone knows the long term benefits totally outweigh any minor hassles. Once the system is in place it will greatly simplify some of our day to day tasks.

I think this could be analogous to changing your water treatment program from liquid products to solid water treatment products like EnduroSOLV. There are certainly some extra considerations needed when implementing the solid products but as is the case with the exchange server, the long term benefits totally outweigh any perceived short term hassles. So, if you are considering making the change to solid cooling tower and boiler products and some of the hassles in the short term seem daunting just remember that the long term benefits far outweigh those concerns.

Customer Success Has Us Wondering…

We are currently working with a long-standing customer on the development of a very compelling case study regarding the many good things that have occurred during their 9 year history of utilizing EnduroSolv® solid water treatment products.

Their success from using EnduroSolv® solids to treat their cooling towers and boilers have been so impressive and their team so enthused, that one has to ask: Why isn’t everyone using this more sustainable, safer form of water treatment for their cooling towers, boilers and closed loop systems.

If you are not familiar with EnduroSolv® water treatment products, perhaps you should take this opportunity to learn more about this advancement in water treatment. You could become a hero at your organization for saving space in the mechanical room, saving on shipping charges (a case of EnduroSolv® product weighs only 44 lbs compared to a drum of hazardous liquid chemical several hundred pounds) and many other benefits.

You can learn more at the EnduroSolv® site as well as request a distributor to provide you with a “site survey”. The summer cooling season will actually be here before you know it. Now’s the time to check it out.

EnduroSolv®… The space saver!

Space is a valuable commodity… at home, at work… just about everywhere. Just do a quick Google search on space saving ideas and hundreds of thousands of websites appear listing all the latest and greatest ideas to maximize and save space – in the kitchen, in the closet, in the car, under the bathroom sink – the list goes on and on.

But what about in your mechanical room?

In the heart of your building, is there a way to maximize this valuable space while maintaining its functionality? One good way to start is with EnduroSolv® solid water treatment products. See the graphic below… in the same footprint that one 55-gallon drum occupies; you could store approximately 12 cases (48 bottles) of EnduroSolv®. Since one case of EnduroSolv® contains about the same amount of water treatment as one 55-gallon drum, you would be able to store 12 times the amount of water treatment in the same space. That’s quite a space saving!!
Along with space savings, adopting EnduroSolv® into your water treatment program offers many additional benefits including reduced transportation costs, reduced spill risks, reduced carbon footprint, and possible qualification for LEED points. For more information, visit www.endurosolv.com or call us at 866.489.4831.

Posted on behalf of Kathleen Collier

Technology: Then and Now

Technology is defined as the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function.

Technology is always changing and a picture is worth a thousand words. Take a look at the examples below and see just how some of our everyday technology has evolved.

Cell Phones



Computers



Television



AND...

Cooling Tower and Boiler
WATER TREATMENT!





If the technology you are using for your water treatment needs are still in the “Then” and you would like to be in the “Now”, get in contact with us so we can get you information on the EnduroSolv® line of solid water treatment products for the cooling towers, boilers and closed loop systems in your facility!

Posted on behalf of Todd Lee

Innovation Can’t Be Planned, It Can’t Be Predicted; It Has To Be Allowed To Emerge

As I reflected on ways to grow awareness of EnduroSolv Solid Water Treatment Technology for 2012 and beyond, I stumbled upon the above quote. How true it is. We at APTech Group, as the manufacturers of this sustainable & safer technology, can only show our distributor-partners the path toward the advantages of developing Solid Water Treatment technology within their customer database.

No matter how hard we try, there is still a certain amount of “emerging” that needs to take place. This will only be developed through a continual educational process of how our superior products and technology can be used to satisfy individual companies’ sustainability and safety requirements. We can only facilitate this change through being accessible to the needs of our distributors.

To address those needs, we are implementing a “Reach the Rep” program in 2012 which will accelerate that emergence among those who are currently unaware of the benefits of EnduroSolv. This understanding will allow all to prosper and see its innovative power.

If you would like to join our growing ranks of forward thinking distributors, click here for more information. Or if you would like to utilize our innovative solid water treatment solutions, click here to learn more.

Posted on behalf of Jim Heimert