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Using captured rain water to mix your coolant with


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Upper management got the great idea to save on the water bill if we were to capture the rain water from the gutters store it in a bin to be used to mix coolant.

 

I am just unsure if this is a good idea. Seems the ph balance of the untreated water could play a diverse effect with the chemicals of the coolant.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

Personally I would think it would end up being stinky even quicker since it has no Chlorine added to it.

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My shop was off site they moved us into a old warehouse on the property of our main plant. But the warehouse doesn't have running water and they don't want to pay for the plumbing or city permits to run the water. So their brainchild was capture rain water since we are on the west coast where it rains constantly.

 

 

I suggested getting a 50 gallon drum fill it with water and put it on a rack so operators can premix in the shop into 5 gallon buckets and fill the coolant tanks that way. They think the cost of the angle iron to fab the rack would be a waste (Keep in mind our main plant is a foundary with over 100k tonnes of raw material at any time). So what we have been guys have been doing is throw a couple 5 gallon pails on a skid hop on the forklift and drive across our lot (which is a few acres) and fill them and bring them back.

 

Ther thinking is drain the water into the drum from the gutter and then no operator ever has to refill it.

 

Using the odor defense won't fly with them because they aren't the ones who will have to smell it.

 

They don't see the costs associated with having each operator do this once every couple days to keep tanks full when one 50 gallon drum would last a couple weeks that you would have to fill once.

 

 

Do the guys in MGMT wear Tevas?

 

Not sure what a Tevas is.

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Seems to me leaving standing water in a barrel till your ready to use it is going to make for some nasty water.. unless its in a sealed system or something standing water tends to attract all kinds of nasty bacteria..

 

I kind of look at it as .. if its such a good idea .. why doesn't everyone do it that way? I think this is more being penny wise and pound foolish than being thrifty..

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Well .. just think of the cost savings if they removed the roof.. then employees wouldn't have to waste valuable time putting the rainwater in the machines.. it would fall right in.. and additionally think of the cost savings using natural lighting.. lol

 

I have to say I try and be understanding of owners perspectives and how narrow the margins are for profit in some shops / industries.. but I am pretty sure that if they went the route of rainwater and no bathrooms it would be time to put a resume out..

  • Haha 1
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Well .. just think of the cost savings if they removed the roof.. then employees wouldn't have to waste valuable time putting the rainwater in the machines.. it would fall right in.. and additionally think of the cost savings using natural lighting.. lol

 

I have to say I try and be understanding of owners perspectives and how narrow the margins are for profit in some shops / industries.. but I am pretty sure that if they went the route of rainwater and no bathrooms it would be time to put a resume out..

 

I totally get your point and do agree with you. I have dealt with a lot worse owners than one that makes me walk to a adjacent building to use the washroom.

 

There is no savings to this what this does is give my operators a excuse to go for a nice long walk. The down time this is producing is unreal. I run the shop here and am expected to be fiscally responsible for everything that comes through my department and work within a budget for tooling and shop supplies. I am also responsible for maintaining the machinery and equipment used in the foundary making parts for the machines and tooling for them. All that work doesn't show up on my monthly, partially because Managers at the other Plant don't want the revenue moving from their department to mine for the work I am doing for them.

 

So my numbers never look at where they actually are due to the hours spent on internal work for the other plant and the other Plant looks like God's because they now how more efficient tooling and machines running in better condition then what they have in the past.

 

That is the one thing here that bothers me the most because we are on pay + production bonuses. based on a percentage of profit after operating costs are factored in. Obviously if I am spending say 30% of the hours the machines are running doing internal work that I can't bill back for then the work I am doing for our paying customers never adds up because I only have 70% of the time to do 100% workload.

 

So how do you make up the 30%. Well with overtime, but that creates another problem because my labour cost for OT is now 1.5 X wages. Now I can't bill back my customers the extra .5 because i wouldn't get the contracts someone without the second plant that they support won't have that as a financial hinderance.

 

So the dilemna is getting owners to understand that I need to be able to bill my time for all work I do for the other plant but everytime that comes up in the boardroom the topic changes quickly by the managers of the other plant that know if this does work the way it should it will destroy their margin and bonuses.

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del. wrote

I's just tell them you need to use the restroom and then shi% right on the table in front of them and wipe yer a$$ with their profit margin papers. But hey, that's just me

 

This just made my day. I laughed so hard when I read this. I agree you should try this lol

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water/ rain water stored in an open system will be dirty.

dirty water = dirty coolant

many bad things come from dirty coolant

$ lots of labor replacing coolant & cleanning machines

$$ a lot of new coolant to replace the old dirty stuff

$$$ eventual dammage to the coolant systems on the machine

$$$$ repairing\replacing dammaged coolant systems

$$$$$ Damaged\ destoryed parts & tools when the coolant stops

plus more I'm sure that I'm forgetting

 

You could possibly combat the dirty water by treating it, but the stuff coming out the pipes already has that.

 

You should get a quote on a water reclaimation sytem. That might convince them. Or, if the price is right, you could be like the Romans and have........Running Water!!!

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  • 4 years later...

I wanted to reply to the chargebacks for work performed.  I recommend you no longer talk to manager or bonus seeking hypocrites.  You need to log your manual and machine time per hour and charge back all expenses.  Have the operator sign it and take it to accounting.  Every department needs to be a profit center including yours.  The manager has an option to outsource but would that provide you more time to complete your task?!  Stop seeking approval and have a meeting with you black belt or EVP to stand behind you.  

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I wanted to reply to the chargebacks for work performed.  I recommend you no longer talk to manager or bonus seeking hypocrites.  You need to log your manual and machine time per hour and charge back all expenses.  Have the operator sign it and take it to accounting.  Every department needs to be a profit center including yours.  The manager has an option to outsource but would that provide you more time to complete your task?!  Stop seeking approval and have a meeting with your Six Sigmablack belt or EVP to stand behind you.  

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I wanted to reply to the chargebacks for work performed.  I recommend you no longer talk to managers or bonus seeking hypocrites not support your team effort. You need to log your manual and machine time per hour and charge back all expenses.  Have the operator sign your internal invoice and submit it to accounting.  Every department needs to be a profit center including yours.  The managers have an option to outsource machinist, but would that provide you more time to complete your task?!  Stop seeking approval and have a meeting with your Six Sigma black belt or EVP to support your actions  

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