There are many curious sayings from history that are still part of our vernacular, and whose origins are debated. Examples are ‘Spill the Beans’ and ‘Bite the Bullet.’ One of my first supervisors liked to use the expression ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.’ Initially, I didn’t quite understand what was meant by this, and then wasn’t sure it was relevant in some instances. Fast forward many years, I hadn’t thought too much about it, but for some reason, the phrase recently came back into my thinking.
Today the phrase generally means not to get rid of something good when getting rid of something bad (when throwing out the dirty bath water, you don’t want to throw out the baby, too!) As I look back to the supervisor that used it, it was for situations where the solution was within grasp, but due to recent shortcomings it may seemed out of reach. Scrapping the whole thing (the baby and the bathwater) and trying something new would not be the favorable way to proceed.
I remembered this phrase when recently a customer called in about the 3″ Line Vac they were using. It was performing OK, but just was’t doing what they had hoped. They asked if it was still returnable under the 30 day guarantee (it was) and how to start the return process.
While we aim to make the return procedure simple and efficient, we will most likely ask a few questions. We’ll ask ‘what are trying to do?’ ‘Can you send in any photos of the installation’ (we solve lots of issues by seeing something that can be easily remedied) and certainly we will ask ‘about the compressed air supply.’ In the recent customer call, the customer was trying to convey dog food, a distance of 25′ vertical and 18′ horizontal – a fairly challenging distance, but not impossible. A photo could be sent in if needed and then the discussion turned to the compressed air supply. It was determined that the compressed air supply line was undersized for the 68.5 SCFM of 80 PSIG compressed air needed to for the Line Vac to operate to its full capability. We reviewed the Installation and Maintenance Guide and suggested the proper pipe and air hose sizing for this installation. Armed with this new knowledge, the customer set about to modify the installation.
I got an email later that day from the customer. Results were dramatically improved! Average of first measured trials yielded 50 lbs of material in 46 seconds, one of the fastest conveyance rates recorded for those types of distances. Customer was pleased and was looking forward to keeping the unit and getting the benefit that was expected.
In this case, the baby was not thrown out with the bath water.
To discuss your application and how an EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Product can be a benefit at your facility, feel free to contact EXAIR and myself or one of our other Application Engineers can help you determine the best solution.
Brian Bergmann
Application Engineer
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