FacilityManagement.com

Modern buildings such as hospitals, commercial facilities, manufacturing sites and large offices are becoming increasingly complex and while technology has improved front-end operations, there are many internal workflows that remain inefficient. This leads to hidden bottlenecks such as delays in moving items, information or people, as well as inefficiencies that are not always visible but can still impact performance.

When it comes to clearing grease, sludge, or sand from small to mid-size drain lines, electric water jetters are taking the lead, especially in tight indoor spaces where gas units can’t go. General Pipe Cleaners’ JM-1000 X Mini-Jet™ and JM-1450 offer powerful, portable solutions for maximum efficiency. The JM-1000 X Mini-Jet is a lightweight, compact solution and is designed for on-the-go pros.

As temperatures begin to drop, heating systems will soon start to kick in. Experienced facility maintenance directors know that waiting for the first cold snap to address heating issues can cause operational disruptions, delays and even safety hazards. Boilers and heating hot water (HHW) systems are complex and require a critical annual preventive maintenance (PM) strategy.

Back Designed for portable jetting operations, the Hannay Reels H16 Portable Hose Reel is an all-steel, hand-carry hose reel for residential and light commercial applications. The lightweight, portable design of the handheld reel allows operators to quickly connect the hose reel to a water source to access tight and hard-to-reach areas. The hose reel includes manual rewind with tension brake for safety and ease of use during the hose rewinding process.

The fuel oil system is fundamental to the proper working of your facility’s burner. When your facility places a fuel oil system service call due to low flow, the first component blamed is often the pump. This is understandable since the pump moves the fuel; a circulation problem could indicate that the pump has reached the end of its service life. But often, low flow is just a symptom of a different issue within the system.

The Penn State Berkey Creamery implemented BAC’s ice thermal storage solution to reduce energy costs, maintain consistent process temperatures, and improve system reliability for its batch refrigeration operations. By leveraging lower off-peak electricity rates, the creamery achieved a more efficient, resilient, and flexible refrigeration system.

Russelectric, A Siemens Business, a leading manufacturer of power control systems and automatic transfer switches, highlights the value of centralized paralleling systems for applications requiring maximum control precision, system resilience, and operational visibility. Unlike onboard paralleling, where synchronization and control components are mounted directly on or near each generator, centralized architectures consolidate all control functionality in a dedicated switchgear environment.

At a Glance A Pittsburgh Potty is more than a quirky basement fixture. It points to a basic sewer-backup principle plumbing professionals still deal with today: when a line backs up, wastewater seeks the lowest opening. Modern sewer cleaning equipment, inspection cameras, pipe locators, cable machines, and water jetters help professionals diagnose the cause, locate the issue, and clear the line before a backup turns into a larger cleanup.

Data centers continue to attract much of the scrutiny over rising water demand in North America. While that focus is warranted, similar pressure is building across oil and gas, food processing, manufacturing, and power generation, where operators are also being pushed to find meaningful water savings without disrupting uptime. One of the most practical targets is the cooling tower, and more specifically, the treatment strategies used to keep those systems running.

Back A facility manager in Cleveland told me last spring that his building’s rooftop unit had been “fixed” four times in six weeks before anyone actually solved the problem. Each visit cost his budget somewhere between $450 and $1,000 in truck-roll time alone, according to GridPoint’s analysis of commercial HVAC repair costs, and roughly 25% of commercial HVAC truck rolls require a return visit. The unit itself was fine. The diagnostic process wasn’t.