construction

Trusted manufacturer renews support with $17,000 grant to expand nonprofit’s educational outreach in raising awareness of skilled trades opportunities.

Ambler, Pa. — Bradford White Corporation, an industry-leading manufacturer of water heaters, boilers and storage tanks, has partnered with Explore The Trades for the second year in a row as they continue to bridge the technical talent gap by raising awareness of career opportunities in the skilled trades and support the next generation of industry professionals.

Explore The Trades, founded in 2005, is a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about the trades with students in kindergarten through 12th grade throughout the United States and Canada. Through educational resources, the organization’s mission is to give educators, students and parents a foundational understanding of the plumbing, heating, cooling and electrical trades.

Philadelphia’s Mayfair Elementary School has been able to provide materials to students interested in the skilled trades thanks to the “Explore The Trades Skills Lab, Built by Ferguson” equipment grant program.

Through a grant from its Industry Forward® charitable giving program, Bradford White Corporation is donating $17,000 to Explore The Trades to support the organization’s expansion of its poster kit program, which has delivered more than 3,500 kits to North American classrooms since July 2021. The expansion includes a Spanish translation of the posters kits as well as an infographic series aimed at ages 5-11.

“We’ve already reached more than 700,000 students through our poster kit program — and we’re thankful for that — but widespread awareness of the trades is slow-going,” said Kate Cinnamo, executive director at Explore The Trades. “This expansion will give us the opportunity to connect with Spanish-speaking and English as a second language learners, which is so important with the K-12 Hispanic student population in the United States growing to nearly 30%. Bradford White’s support helps us reach this new audience, as well as introduce young learners to the trades in a simple, friendly way.”

Through Industry Forward®, Bradford White partners with nonprofit organizations and technical schools to educate individuals and families on the importance of the skilled trades and the role that industry professionals provide in the health, safety, sanitation, and infrastructure of their communities through strategic grant funding that supports workforce development training and education programs and industry career opportunities, events, and partnerships.

“We’re grateful for the top-of-mind awareness Explore The Trades is bringing to skilled labor, and we’re proud to be able to help them expand their reach,” said Rebecca Owens, senior communications manager for Bradford White. “Introducing the career and financial opportunities that exist within the skilled trades to today’s youth is a vital component when it comes to staffing these essential positions in the future. We applaud organizations like Explore The Trades for ensuring that introduction is happening.”

For more information about Bradford White Corporation, visit https://www.bradfordwhitecorporation.com.

For more information about Explore The Trades, visit https://explorethetrades.org/.

The Fed’s recent interest rates cut could be just the beginning of a downward trend 

Ed Sullivan, the Chief Economist and Sr. Vice President of Market Intelligence for the Portland Cement Association (PCA) — which represents America’s cement manufacturers — says the Federal Reserve’s recent move to lower interest rates coupled with easing inflation signals a significant retreat in interest rate levels by the end of next year … all to the benefit of construction activity.

At PCA’s annual Fall Meeting held in Aurora, Colorado last week, Sullivan shared the industry’s economic forecast for 2025 with cement company leaders. Key points highlighted include:

• It will take time for the impact of the Fed’s policy pivot to materialize in the economy and construction. Near term, construction activity is expected to be burdened by oppressively high interest rates. As more rate cuts transpire, construction loan rates are expected to decline — spurring new life into the construction market. This is expected to begin by mid-2025.
• Mortgage interest rates are expected to decline to 5.5% by mid-2025 and to 5.0% by year-end 2025. This is likely to usher in favorable home affordability and a surge in consumer demand.
• Lower rates will also usher in a significant increase in the supply of existing homes on the market. This is expected to more than offset the increase in demand and lead to a reduction in new and existing home prices. This further enhances affordability.
• Nonresidential construction will also benefit from lower interest rates. Unfortunately, it will take time to improve occupancy rates and a higher Net Operating Income. These will come as the economy gains momentum next year. Given this, nonresidential is not expected to see recovery until 2026.

Public construction activity is expected to benefit from increased spending associated with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The Portland Cement Association (PCA), founded in 1916, is the premier policy, research, education, and market intelligence organization serving America’s cement manufacturers. PCA supports sustainability, innovation, and safety while fostering continuous improvement in cement manufacturing, distribution, infrastructure, and economic growth. For more information, visit www.cement.org.

The other day I performed a Google search for ‘How to detect an air leak’. Not surprisingly it came up with millions of results, over 18 million in fact.

Whether solving the problem in a commercial establishment or a domestic home environment, the majority of search results pointed to one solution. Namely, soapy water!

Before we all ridicule the idea as belonging to a bygone era, take a vehicle with a slow puncture to a tyre fitting depot and the chances are they remove the wheel and spin it in water to determine the leak. It’s a simple time proven method for determining leaks from pressurized systems.

But of course, not all equipment can be placed in soapy water. What if a system is known to be losing pressure and yet the lines carrying the compressed air from the source are located 10 metres above the ground, and dismantling the system is out of the question? Thankfully there is a fast and effective solution to hand.

Each time air or indeed any gas, leaks from a pressured system there is an associated sound. If the leak is significant, it can be audible to the human ear and therefore easily identified and rectified accordingly. However, most leaks in high pressure systems are extremely small and are out of the range of a human ear.

Think about a pressured air system on a large factory delivering compressed air from a bank of compressors to various stages of production throughout the manufacturing process. The chances are there are hundreds if not thousands of connections in the form of joints, reducers, valves, elbows, condensers etc. Each of these has the potential to leak small amounts of air, reducing the pressure of the system.

One leak might make very little difference but multiply this by the number of potential leaking joints and efficiency can be significantly compromised. The compressor will seek to compensate for any pressure loss by simply working harder. However, as any engineer will know, compressors can be expensive to operate in terms of energy and therefore will certainly increase an operators energy consumption.

With electricity costs being so much higher in Europe due to geopolitical factors in recent years, most companies are seeking to reduce the amount of energy used. Having a compressor work overtime to compensate for leaking joints is certainly not something senior management would smile about!

These scenarios are certainly not uncommon, in fact one European compressor manufacturer has stated that in some industrial settings, up to 80% of air generated is lot in leaks. So clearly identifying these small leaks can make a real difference to a company’s energy bills.

Although the sound produced by a small leak is inaudible to the human ear a high performance acoustic imaging camera such as the FLIR Teledyne Si2 – LD will have absolutely no problem identifying the source. Launched earlier this year the camera is capable of detecting leaks of 0.05 litres per minute at a distance of 10 metres, meaning those elevated air lines pose no problem for this latest instrument in the FLIR acoustic imaging camera line up.

For closer work the camera is even more sensitive and can detects minute leaks of 0.0032 litres per minute at a distance of 2.5 metres. Coupled with this improvement, the third-generation camera has improved microphones now capable of detecting sounds over an extremely wide frequency range, namely 2 – 130 kHz.

Areas of plant are often dark or dimly lit. for this reason FLIR have fitted the FLIR Si2-series of cameras with two powerful LED lights to make component identification easy even in poorly lit conditions.

Of course, it’s not just compressed air that the camera is capable of detecting; noise emitted by any escaping gas is identified by the powerful microphones. However that’s only part of the story.

The FLIR Si2-LD has built in software termed Industrial Gas Quantification. If the leaking gas is ammonia, hydrogen, helium, or carbon dioxide, very commonly used gases in a number of industries, the software is capable of quantifying the financial loss caused by the leak. By simply entering factors such as the cost per litre, the software identifies the amount each leak is causing over a given period of time. Such data is invaluable to financial analysts and senior management within an organisation.

It goes without saying that the financial considerations are only one aspect of leaking gas. The gases mentioned above all carry significant health hazards and can present a variety of dangers to personnel if allowed to leak for any period of time. Ammonia and carbon dioxide can cause serious breathing problems and asphyxiation even in smaller concentrations, whereas hydrogen can explode in the presence of oxygen. Clearly the cost of such problems goes way beyond any financial considerations.

We’ve come a long way since the ‘soap and water’ approach. See how the latest technology from FLIR Teledyne can help in reducing downtime, lower energy bills and improve safety in your organisation.

Visit www.flir.com or contact you local FLIR Teledyne agent or distributor.

Author: Darrell Taylor

Email: Darrell.Taylor@teledyne.com

Aalberts integrated piping systems (IPS), a global leader in advanced integrated piping systems for the distribution and control of liquids and gasses, is excited to announce its participation in the upcoming ASPE Convention & Expo, taking place from October 18-23, 2024 in Columbus, OH. Aalberts IPS will be exhibiting at booth #1815, where attendees can explore the company’s latest innovations, services, and product lines, designed to deliver complete, tailored piping solutions across industries.

Aalberts IPS is renowned for its mission-critical products surrounding valve and connection technology, with a legacy spanning 96 years under its “Apollo”® Valves brand. The company offers a wide range of products, including: ball valves, butterfly valves, safety relief valves, control valves, mixing valves, backflow preventers, and more. These products are engineered domestically to meet the needs of key verticals from commercial to industrial and utility markets globally.

At the ASPE Convention & Expo, Aalberts IPS’ booth will feature key information about the company’s design and field services, as well as products like the Revit plug-in among the Shurjoint and “Apollo”® product lines. Aalberts IPS provides expert advice and support for piping applications, from the initial planning stages to the final implementation of piping systems. Their unique design service ensures that every project is optimized for efficiency and effectiveness. Additionally, Aalberts IPS offers a comprehensive range of field services to ensure that piping systems are installed correctly and operate efficiently. Their experienced team provides on-site support, from installation to maintenance, ensuring long-term system reliability with minimal downtime.

Booth visitors will be able to witness the Aalberts IPS Revit plug-in, a powerful tool designed to streamline the design process, allowing engineers and architects to easily integrate Aalberts IPS products into their projects. This plug-in enhances project accuracy and efficiency, ensuring things are done right the first time and minimizing costly extended lead times. The Shurjoint range of mechanical piping solutions, which will also be highlighted at the event, is known for its versatility and ease of installation. This product line is designed to offer reliable and extremely durable pipe connections for a variety of piping systems whereas the “Apollo” SmartPress® line of press fittings and valves offer quick and secure connections, reducing installation time and costs while ensuring long-term reliability.