Scaling UP! H2O

61 Transcript

061 Pinks and Blues


Transcript Disclaimer: This Transcript is provided and copied from YouTube, grammar and mistakes are present.


0:08.1

0:12.7

welcome to Scaling UP! H2O the podcast
where we’re Scaling UP! on knowledge so

0:12.7

0:17.1

we don’t Scaling UP! our systems
hello Scaling UP! Nation Trace Blackmore

0:17.1

0:22.4

here your hosts for Scaling UP! H2O and
today we are doing a special pinks and

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0:27.4

blues episode of course you out there in
the Scaling UP! Nation know that we’ve

0:27.4

0:33.1

recently gone to weekly podcast
boy what a lot of work it is for yours

0:33.1

0:38.3

truly but I’ll tell you I love doing it
because I’m getting your feedback about

0:38.3

0:44.0

how you wanted this show each and every
week and I am pleased that I am able to

0:44.0

0:48.6

do that for you
in order to do that I need for you to do

0:48.6

0:53.0

something for me each and every week we
are running through all of your

0:53.0

0:58.2

questions so I am going through them at
a faster rate than ever I need you to

0:58.2

1:05.6

replenish that reserve so go to Scalinguph2o.com and you have two choices of

1:05.6

1:11.2

how you can do that you can record your
voice directly on the website by

1:11.2

1:16.7

clicking on the sin voicemail and you
can ask your question right here on

1:16.7

1:21.8

Scaling UP! and I might play it on the
air and I can answer your question for

1:21.8

1:26.3

the entire Scaling UP! Nation the second
way you can do that is you can go to the

1:26.3

1:32.8

show ideas page and you can send me an
email straight from that site to let me

1:32.8

1:38.7

know what it is you want to ask for your
question and that’s exactly what these

1:38.7

1:45.4

people have done so I am going to answer
questions from the Scaling UP! Nation so

1:45.4

1:53.1

let’s get right to it so one person asks
he goes into that I talked a lot about

1:53.1

1:58.9

becoming more efficient on testing so
his question is what are some of your

1:58.9

2:05.8

tips for me to become faster at running
my tests it’s a good question but I want

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2:11.5

to talk about the question first a lot
of people think that their get faster at

2:11.5

2:17.0

running tests by cutting corners or not
running certain tests folks we are water

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2:21.5

treatment professionals and that is not
an option we always have to

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2:28.1

run the test to the best of the ability
of us and the test to be run and that is

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2:32.6

non-negotiable
so taking any liberties with procedures

2:32.6

2:38.3

or pencil whipping I think Jim Luke and
itch calls that the graphite cellulose

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2:43.7

method that is not allowed for a water
treatment professional you are hurting

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2:49.0

the industry if you do that so the
question asked how do we become faster

2:49.0

2:55.2

at running the tests and I’m going to
add as properly as we can run them

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3:00.2

because after all if we have bad
information or no information about the

3:00.2

3:05.5

system how are we ever going to figure
out what we need to do to make our

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3:09.1

adjustments or water treatment
professionals folks so now I’m stepping

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3:13.1

off my soapbox and answering the
question so the first thing that I would

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3:17.6

encourage you to do is what’s your
baseline when you run your tests when

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3:22.9

everything is ready to go how long does
it take you from the opening of your

3:22.9

3:28.3

test kit running all your tests cleaning
up and closing your test kit and that is

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3:32.6

your baseline number and then look at
that ad with the number of tests that

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3:39.7

you have to run the complexity of those
tests does that seem reasonable and I

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3:44.5

think you know the answer to how
efficient you are in running these tests

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3:48.9

I’ve set it on other shows but if you
have to look at directions to run your

3:48.9

3:54.3

tests you don’t know your tests so maybe
even I should take a step back and

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3:58.8

before you figure out what your baseline
of running tests are you need to make

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4:05.3

sure you completely understand how to
run your tests from memory with no

4:05.3

4:10.9

mistakes and you can consistently get
the same answer once you’re there how

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4:18.2

long does it take you to run your tests
and I like to say actually it’s people

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4:21.9

in my company like to say from the
opening of the test kit from the closing

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4:27.1

of the test kit what is the time in
between so that includes the cleanup as

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4:30.4

well so what you’re going to do is
you’re going to take out a stopwatch and

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4:35.1

you’re going to figure out what that
is and then that’s gonna give you

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4:38.9

something to build on folks I got to
tell you when I was working with my dad

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4:45.1

I used to love to do this because in
addition to working by yourself you

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4:49.8

start going in the same accounts over
and over again and it can get boring

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4:55.4

again my father told me if I ever got
bored in this industry I was doing

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5:00.9

something wrong and this was one of the
things that I chose to do so I didn’t

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5:06.9

get bored as I was learning more things
to learn about the system so for example

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5:12.9

I would go out I would compete against
myself when I would run my tests and

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5:19.1

every single account and I noticed that
just the simple fact that I was keeping

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5:25.1

track of how long it took me to run
those tests that made me a little bit

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5:30.0

better things get better when you look
at them so simply knowing your baseline

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5:35.5

knowing how long it takes and competing
against yourself to not sacrifice

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5:39.9

standards but to make yourself more
efficient I promise that that will make

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5:45.2

you better some other things that you
can do is one you never want to

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5:49.8

sacrifice the ability of your tests to
tell you the right results so never

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5:56.3

become faster then your accuracy can
allow you to take so what I would

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6:02.5

suggest with that is to build a standard
or take a really large water sample and

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6:08.3

test it and as you’re trying to get
faster you know what you’re supposed to

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6:13.7

get each and every time you run that
test and now you can ensure that you

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6:18.8

haven’t left anything out another thing
you can do is work with others it’s so

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6:25.3

fun to have a competition with somebody
else who’s doing the same thing because

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6:30.3

now you both are not only learning from
each other but you’re challenging each

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6:37.1

other so who can you challenge to see if
you can make each other better with

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6:43.8

running your tests this next tip is
where I think a lot of us just never

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6:47.6

think about it
Behrman with the order in which you run

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6:52.1

your tests somebody might have shown you
the order that they ran their tests and

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6:56.1

you never thought about it and you just
simply run those tests in that order

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7:01.7

over and over and over again well folks
that might not be the most efficient way

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7:08.7

to run your tests what I like to do is I
like to look at all the procedures of

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7:13.5

all the tests that I run on a regular
basis and I want to run my longest ones

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7:20.1

to develop first most of the time that
silica silica requires a 12-minute

7:20.1

7:26.1

development period and I can do a lot of
things in 12 minutes so the thing my

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7:30.9

father used to always tell me is you
should never be waiting on your tests

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7:36.9

your tests should be waiting on you so
think about how much time you’re

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7:41.7

spending waiting for something to
develop and if you are finding yourself

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7:46.5

waiting for tests to develop that’s
probably telling you that is definitely

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7:52.0

telling you that you need to change the
order in which you run your tests now

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7:56.7

keep in mind – your tests can’t wait too
long there’s some tests that need to be

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8:00.8

read immediately free chlorine is an
example of that but there are other

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8:05.2

tests that have like a 10-minute waiting
time so there’s no reason that we can’t

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run tests like that and have them wait
on us so we can run them when it’s our

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8:16.1

time to run them another thing you might
want to look at is how you’re collecting

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8:20.0

samples and how organized you are
collecting samples if you’re on a

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8:26.2

multi-campus area will you save more
time by doing all of your tests

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8:30.3

at one location or does it make more
sense to go to the various eight

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8:36.0

locations and run your tests separately
now that is a case-by-case basis and I

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8:41.0

can tell you that I can come up with
reasons to do both depending on campuses

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8:44.9

that I’m thinking of there are some
where it just makes sense to grab all of

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8:50.5

your samples and there’s no really good
place to run them except one mechanical

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8:55.0

room so we’ll grab all those samples run
them in that one mechanical room and now

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9:00.6

we know what to do as we are
walking around that campus now we’re not

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9:05.4

just grabbing samples when we’re in
those mechanical rooms grabbing those

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9:10.0

samples we’re looking at inventory
levels and we’ve already mentally

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9:15.7

serviced that account so we know what to
expect and if we don’t see what we are

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9:21.3

expecting or making notes so we can
bring the things that we need to

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9:28.0

accurately service that account when we
come back after running the test so if

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9:32.5

you’re going there 15 times it doesn’t
matter how fast your test running is

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9:36.4

you’re not gonna be saving any time that
way now there are other places where

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9:42.1

it’s so spread out it just makes sense
to run them separately so you need to

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9:46.7

think about that but that’s probably the
point if you’re not thinking about how

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9:52.1

you’re collecting and running samples
don’t just assume the way you were

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9:58.0

trained to do that was the best way
experiment with that making sure that

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10:03.3

you never compromise quality so those
are a couple of tips that I can think up

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10:10.8

off of the top of my head but I want you
to really think how valuable this is so

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10:17.4

imagine five minutes we just say five
minutes for running our complete battery

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10:21.8

of tests well big deal five minutes well
let’s say we normally service six

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10:27.3

accounts in a day well folks that’s a
half an hour that we’re going to save a

10:27.3

10:34.6

day and over a week’s time that’s two
and a half hours that we are going to

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10:42.3

realize just by making ourselves more
efficient at running the test you

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10:47.4

multiply that for the month you multiply
that out for the year folks this is

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10:52.8

serious time five minutes is huge and
you’re not going to start with five

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10:56.1

minutes you might start with thirty
seconds and that’s going to build – one

10:56.1

11:00.8

minute maybe that builds to two minutes
but if you don’t start looking at that

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11:06.7

nothing will change so my final answer
to that question after all of that is

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11:13.0

what’s the best tip to run my tests fast
sir it’s to want to run your test faster

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11:17.4

another member of the Scaling UP! Nation
writes in they want to know how they can

11:17.4

11:23.3

get better consistency when multiple
people are running the same tests folks

11:23.3

11:27.4

this has been an issue that I think US
water treaters have wrestled with for

11:27.4

11:31.5

years especially when we have customers
that are helping us out with running

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11:37.2

tests in between our visits so you need
to look at technique just like we were

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11:41.6

talking about before and most of the
time our customers will have dropped

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11:45.7

count test kits sometimes they might
have spectrophotometers those are a

11:45.7

11:50.1

little less easy to mess up in my
opinion but a lot of times they don’t

11:50.1

11:56.0

want to pay that in order to get that
accuracy the biggest thing that I see

11:56.0

12:02.1

that people make mistakes is how they
hold the bottles when they do these are

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12:06.0

their titrations or their adding
different reagents so remember you want

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12:12.3

those bottles to be straight up and down
and any deviation from straight up and

12:12.3

12:18.5

down could change the size of the drop
and nine times out of ten that’s where I

12:18.5

12:25.3

have found the issues the other most
common thing that I see is dirty

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12:31.1

glassware or dirty sample where if we’re
testing the same thing each and every

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12:36.3

time in the same vial maybe we don’t
have to clean it every time but folks

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12:41.8

let’s face it the cleaner our stuff is
the better results we’re gonna get with

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12:47.5

that stuff it doesn’t take that long to
rinse things out to clean them to store

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12:52.5

them upside down to dry them and then
they are ready to go each and every time

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12:56.9

when we are depending on them now my
personal preference is I rinse

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13:02.0

everything with deionized water and all
of our customers have a DI bottle there

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13:08.2

so they can rinse their glassware now as
far as us in the field and our company

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13:14.1

we wash our glassware at least weekly
we’ve got a special dishwasher for it

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13:20.5

and everything but if your stuff is not
clean you don’t know what other stuff is

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13:23.6

on that
stuff probably the final thing that I

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13:28.6

can think of to help you with that
question is have you run your test side

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13:34.1

beside the person that you’re having
issues with or is everybody run those

13:34.1

13:38.7

together a lot of times when we train
customers or maybe another employee

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13:45.6

we’ll show them that we can run the test
but we never see them run the tests so

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13:49.7

when we all do that together we can look
at things like are they holding the

13:49.7

13:54.2

bottle correctly are there little things
that they are doing that could be

13:54.2

14:00.2

contributing to why we’re not getting
the same thing I did this recently and

14:00.2

14:05.1

this was after a training that we had
done so I know we covered this the

14:05.1

14:10.8

customer just forgot and when they were
testing for sulfite they were taking the

14:10.8

14:15.8

sample directly out of the boiler with
no cooling at all well folks there’s no

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14:21.2

wonder that they were getting a
different result but here’s the key I

14:21.2

14:25.1

didn’t know it and when I asked them if
they were running the test the exact

14:25.1

14:31.3

same way that I taught them to run it of
course the answer was yes when we ran it

14:31.3

14:37.1

together I immediately saw what the
issue was and we were able to solve that

14:37.1

14:41.1

so maybe getting more involved might
help you with that as well I got to

14:41.1

14:46.6

commend you if you are realizing that
other people in your company or some of

14:46.6

14:51.0

your customers are getting different
results than you are you are doing your

14:51.0

14:54.4

job as a professional water trader
you’re not just writing down numbers

14:54.4

14:59.3

please folks don’t ever write down
numbers again Jim calls that the

14:59.3

15:05.3

graphite cellulose method that does not
belong anywhere in water treatment and

15:05.3

15:10.7

end-users if you’re listening yes part
of your job might be to run these tests

15:10.7

15:14.8

and maybe the water treater you have
isn’t looking at them like they should

15:14.8

15:19.4

unlike this water treater that we’re
talking about right now but do your part

15:19.4

15:24.0

if you’re going to take the time to have
a log and to have a test learn how to

15:24.0

15:30.8

run it properly so we can all use that
information to make the program better

15:30.8

15:37.1

third question asked why do we filter
some samples and some we don’t filter

15:37.1

15:42.7

well that’s true we have filters in our
test kits and some tests require

15:42.7

15:47.7

filtering sware others don’t and then
I’ve seen some people that don’t even

15:47.7

15:53.0

know why that filter is in their test
kit so let’s talk about that question

15:53.0

15:58.3

one of the tests that comes to mind
about filtering is the phosphate test

15:58.3

16:04.4

for boilers and once you get your sample
you then filter it and then you do the

16:04.4

16:09.1

phosphate procedure whatever one that
you decide that you’re going to use well

16:09.1

16:13.9

the reason you filter that one is you
want to know how much and I don’t know

16:13.9

16:18.7

what to call it other than call it free
phosphate you have in the system and

16:18.7

16:24.9

what that means is it hasn’t combined
with anything else in the system like

16:24.9

16:31.2

calcium so what the filter will do is it
will filter out anything that the

16:31.2

16:37.4

phosphate has bonded with so now in your
sample you have just phosphate that’s

16:37.4

16:41.7

ready to go to work and bond with
something else so that’s what that

16:41.7

16:47.3

filter does and another time you might
use a filter is to prove to a customer

16:47.3

16:51.6

that they have a dirty system but you
can filter that out and everybody in the

16:51.6

16:57.8

Scaling UP! Nation knows that I am a
strong proponent of getting a filter

16:57.8

17:02.9

feeder on closed-loop systems and having
a sand filter on cooling towers folks

17:02.9

17:08.9

there’s only so much stuff that we can
do chemically or using a device or

17:08.9

17:14.6

however you’re treating water if we do
not have the mechanical aspect of

17:14.6

17:20.8

filtration it is so hard to get our job
done and sometimes it is just impossible

17:20.8

17:26.0

so we might use the filter just to show
hey look at all the stuff that I can

17:26.0

17:31.7

take out of this water and as you know
mr. customer that water is the best heat

17:31.7

17:35.8

transfer medium out there but we’re not
just transporting water we’re

17:35.8

17:40.4

transporting all this water and garbage
floating around in it if we can get all

17:40.4

17:44.5

this garbage out we can clean up the
heat transfer surfaces

17:44.5

17:49.7

we can clean up the heat transfer medium
which is water and that is going to

17:49.7

17:56.2

translate into savings it will cost you
less money to heat and cool this

17:56.2

18:01.8

facility and that’s ROI return on
investment this filter is going to cost

18:01.8

18:06.9

you X but because we don’t have all
these dirty surfaces to transfer the

18:06.9

18:11.5

energy through to transfer the heat
through it’s going to pay for itself in

18:11.5

18:16.4

two three four five months
so hopefully that allows you to

18:16.4

18:21.4

understand what some of the filters in
your test kits do and why some tests

18:21.4

18:28.4

specifically ask you to filter my final
question is asking specifically about

18:28.4

18:35.6

episode 55 where we talked about the
little blue pill in the bottom of

18:35.6

18:43.0

Legionella samples the thiosulfate and
what that does that eliminates that

18:43.0

18:51.2

neutralizes any of the oxidizers that
are in the system so you have a sample

18:51.2

18:57.8

right then and there not a sample that
can be worked on with whatever oxidizers

18:57.8

19:03.3

in the system so this person wants to
ask why can you not take your sample if

19:03.3

19:07.9

you’re missing that pill because the
tower doesn’t have a pill so what’s the

19:07.9

19:12.5

difference why can’t we grab the sample
anyway and that’s a great question and

19:12.5

19:16.7

it’s actually one I’m so glad you asked
because I thought about it after I

19:16.7

19:22.6

published that episode so thank you for
that Scaling UP! Nation is making Scaling UP!

19:22.6

19:27.2

better I appreciate that so you are
exactly right the tower does not have a

19:27.2

19:33.4

little blue pill in it but your test
does and here’s how I want this to make

19:33.4

19:39.2

sense to the Scaling UP! Nation when you
take a test the clock stops right there

19:39.2

19:47.8

so I took a test at 10:22 a.m. and I am
only sampling exactly what is going on

19:47.8

19:55.3

at 10:22 a.m. nothing after that even
though that the tower will continue to

19:55.3

20:00.2

use the oxidizer in sterile
or come down whatever it’s trying to

20:00.2

20:05.2

kill the test can’t do that it has to
stop at that moment in time and that’s

20:05.2

20:10.0

why that little blue pill is in there it
neutralizes the oxidizer and it says

20:10.0

20:16.4

this is what you have at 10:22 folks I
got to tell you I love this new format

20:16.4

20:21.4

of coming at you weekly I love that
people are asking questions to me

20:21.4

20:29.3

because I know it takes pressure off of
me so I know that I am doing exactly

20:29.3

20:33.8

what you want me to do because you’re
asking me these questions otherwise I’m

20:33.8

20:37.4

guessing sometimes I guess right
sometimes I might not guess right but

20:37.4

20:43.4

take the guesswork out and help me by
submitting your questions I hope that

20:43.4

20:47.2

some of the things that we talked about
here from listeners in the Scaling UP!

20:47.2

20:54.2

Nation will motivate you to do something
different to be better to make the water

20:54.2

20:58.7

treatment industry better because you
are working in the water treatment

20:58.7

21:04.9

industry folks I’ll talk to you next
week

21:04.9

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