Engineered Notes

A Former Intern Checks In

2015-07-09T11:33:00.002-07:00

This month I was very busy putting the finishing the touches on our first Piping System Fundamentals course in a distance learning format. Last fall we conducted a beta distance learning course with 30 volunteers, and the results were very positive. They liked the freedom of proceeding through the course at their pace, the ability to replay the videos if

A Darcy's Fable

2015-06-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

I just completed an article about a method to arrive at a reasonable design margin for pump selection when my granddaughter came into my office and asked “Pop Pop, can you read me a story?” Before I have an engineer review an article for technical content, I like to pass it by a non-engineer to check for clarity. I figure my granddaughter falls into the non-engineer group. After I had finished,

Operating on a Pump Curve

2015-05-07T11:20:00.002-07:00

As I have often said, the pump curve is the most important document for a fluid piping system. All centrifugal pumps are designed to operate around a Best Efficiency Point (BEP). Operating a pump away from its BEP for extended periods adversely affects the pump’s operating and maintenance cost while causing a reduction in system reliability. In this month’s blog, we’ll review the ANSI/HI

What can be done to increase the flow?

2015-04-01T10:47:00.004-07:00

After my four-year tour in the US Navy, I went to work for EBASCO Services in New York City. A little history, EBASCO (short for Electric Bond and Share Company) was started by General Electric in 1905 as a holding company to finance electrical utilities. They financed, designed, built, and in some cases operated the power plants for electrical utilities around the world. The company was

EOOW on the USS Jack

2015-03-12T07:55:00.006-07:00

This blog article is another sea story about my life on the USS Jack SSN 605 a fast attack nuclear-powered submarine. Initial training required for all officers qualified to operate a naval nuclear power plant is long and challenging. After six months at nuclear power school in Vallejo, CA, I was transferred to Idaho Falls, ID to qualify on the A1W operational nuclear “prototype”.&

Chief Hill and the Portsmouth Nickels

2015-02-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

As I have mentioned in past blogs, after graduating from the US Merchant Marine Academy I activated my commission in the US Navy and applied for the US Naval Nuclear Power program. Shortly thereafter, I was interviewed by Admiral Rickover and his team and was directed to attend the US Naval Nuclear Power Training program. The second six months of our yearlong training program was to

Online Training and the Four Lessons I Learned Instructing Them

2015-01-06T10:23:00.003-08:00

As I mentioned in previous blogs we have gone through major revisions of our ESI Learning courses to take advantage of the distance learning format. After working all summer, we decided to conduct a pilot of our new Piping Systems Fundamentals course and had nearly 60 people participate. After reviewing the feedback from the pilot participants, we learned a tremendous amount on

Change Is In The Air

2014-12-03T16:48:00.001-08:00

By now all of you should have noticed the new look of our newsletter ESI News Brief. It sports more articles dealing with fluid piping systems and the PIPE-FLO program. We recently hired Delcina Betts as our Director of Marketing; she has been very busy since her arrival and the new ESI News Brief is the initial results of her excellent work. The new format has a cleaner look

2014-07-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

Boldly Teleporting Through Space and Time I just finished watching Star Trek Into Darkness the latest addition to the Star Trek franchise. One of the things I like about all the Star Trek stories is the ability to transport through space, and now time. I always was intrigued about the ability to step into the transporter room and be beamed anywhere. In the latest episode, they

Vision Based Hiring

2014-06-05T09:53:00.001-07:00

Engineered Software has been expanding our team these past few months and it has been a pretty exciting time. Since September, ESI’s vision for the future has continued to mold and evolve as our team rethinks how we provide our customers with innovative tools to increase the efficiency of fluid pumping systems through superior pump selection and system simulation software. We’re not only

On the Energy Front

2014-04-24T13:48:00.002-07:00

Headed to the AHR Expo 2014 As I write this month’s blog, I am getting ready to attend the AHR Expo (Air Conditioning Heating & Refrigerating) Jan 21-23 at the Javits Center in New York City. I don’t know why I look forward to this show so much each year, I guess because it’s our first trade show of the New Year and it is always well attended.

PIPE-FLO Nuclear

2013-12-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

Millstone Power Station. Image via www.nrc.gov Now that PIPE-FLO Nuclear is nearing its release, one of our new employees asked me how someone in a nuclear power plant could use the new program. That got me thinking about my first job after getting out of the Navy. In 1975, I was hired by Northeast Utilities as a start-up and test engineer at Millstone Unit 2 in Waterford Connecticut. I was

Bagpipes and Crested Geckos

2013-11-22T14:20:00.000-08:00

There is a specific protocol when meeting someone for the first time. Last week at my Rotary meeting, I introduced myself to a visiting Rotarian from a club in Olympia WA. We looked at each other, and in unison both extended our right hand, made eye contact and shook the extended hand. We then in turn stated our names. The next item on the protocol, prior to getting down to the business at hand

Continous Uptime

2013-10-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Engineered Software and PUMP-FLO Solutions are and have always been, committed to our customer’s satisfaction, as well as their user experience. Along with offering the best support in the industry, we also look to implement proactive measures so our customers never have to use their support service or wait to use their web products from us. We are monitoring Continuous Uptime more closely than

Read the Instructions!

2013-09-25T15:40:00.001-07:00

A local news station that I watch has a question of the day and this one I found particularly interesting. 92% of these are thrown away without ever being used. What are they? Answer: Instructions INSTRUCTIONS!! Yeah, I know, I am guilty of this myself on occasion, but 92% of all the instructions I receive? That seems pretty high. Especially when you consider the drawer in my office where I "

Working Together to Build the Best

2013-08-26T15:55:00.000-07:00

Last month’s Blog I discussed how pumps get over-sized because of our failure to communicate and the possibility of cumulative error in the process. This month I will discuss ways to communicate together from the get-go so a better system may be built. In last months blog I stated that the most common communication problem in piping system design is the failure to accurately state the process

...Failure to Communicate

2013-07-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of Paul Newman, the actor and humanitarian that had a long and successful string of hit movies. One of my favorite is Cool Hand Luke, where he plays Luke, a prisoner in a southern chain gang that is continually bucking the system. During the movie the following dialog takes place between the Captain and Luke. Luke just finished time in “the box” after an unsuccessful escape

3D Printers and PIPE-FLO

2013-06-27T10:08:00.001-07:00

Estimated Reading Time: 1 minutes 2 seconds. Read Later (Video is 10 minutes) So there has been a great deal of press about mass-market 3D printers, and their increasing affordability to the Average-Joe, (who just happened to have $1500 lying around). The technology isn’t new of course, but it’s practicality hasn’t been sufficient for in-home use. So when I happened on the article about the 3D

It Flies Just Like the Simulator

2013-05-28T10:10:00.002-07:00

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes 37 seconds. Read Later The Pacific Northwest is home to The Boeing Company and as such, the first flight of any new aircraft is big news. When the 787 Dreamliner made its first flight, the two test pilots stated, “The airplane flies beautifully, it did exactly as we expected. No surprises and no major issues with the airplane.” Prior to conducting the

A Dynamic Welcome

2013-04-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

Estimated Reading Time: 1 minutes 40 seconds. Read Later I’m not sure if you’ve heard yet, but we have just recently released a little program and we’re pretty excited about all the new changes that were made in this release. I am talking of course, about the PIPE-FLO software that our company was founded on, and has recently undergone a three-year major rewrite. The new PIPE-FLO 12 release

PIPE-FLO v12 Features Poll

2013-03-19T09:46:00.002-07:00

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes 18 seconds. Read Later We are so pleased to have the newest release of PIPE-FLO available. Not only do our customers have new features and functionality, but the Engineering Support team for ESI also reaps the benefits. A poll from our team of engineers reveals four standout improvements that are worth mentioning. #4 the Property Grid Starting the top four

The First PIPE-FLO 12 Training

2013-02-27T15:27:00.001-08:00

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes 32 seconds. Read Later I just got back from running two weeks of training in Bahrain. The client had two groups of 16 engineers that went through our two-day Piping System Fundamentals course followed by our two-day FLO-Master course on our PIPE-FLO software. This also happened to be the first FLO-Master training course we conducted for the newly released

Bolivia, Isn’t That Where Butch and Sundance Went?

2013-01-18T16:09:00.000-08:00

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes 54 seconds. Read Later Film poster for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Copyright 1969, New Films International My last trip in 2012 was to Santa Cruz, Bolivia to teach our PIPE-FLO Training to YPFB the Bolivian oil company. When our training lead told me about the pending class, my first response was “Bolivia? Isn’t that where Butch and Sundance went?