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Back To School: 2023
Back to School season is all about parents, students, and teachers. But the Facilities Maintenance teams have a crucial role in reopening school buildings for the commencement of classes in the fall. Properly maintained buildings are essential for creating a conducive learning environment. Our school facilities maintenance customers have the critical responsibility of reopening partially or fully closed school buildings after the summer months. This article presents a roundup of the common plumbing and mechanical inspections and repairs required.
Why Sloan Sensors in 2023?
During the heightened health concerns of the Covid pandemic, The Part Works helped a major sports stadium in our region install over 1,000 Sloan Side Mount retrofit kits in anticipation of both the heightened sanitary standards and the perception of a safe space to congregate (the stadium, not the restroom!). With over 65,000 potential users at a given event, the cleanliness of the restrooms really matters.
Emergency Eye Wash and Showers
While the hope may be that you’ll never have to use your emergency equipment, you should maintain the mindset that an emergency could happen at any moment. When a victim needs an eyewash or shower, you and the victim must have confidence that your eye or face wash is working properly to provide the care that is needed.
Training and Service with T&S Brass:
Like T&S Brass, The Part Works is committed to training. Included in our Portland Live Learning Lab series is our October 2022 T&S Brass class with Eric Isenbarger. We believe it’s important for our factory representative to share best practices, tips and tricks, general product knowledge directly with our customer. Equally, to give our customers a chance to ask questions and to share real world challenges back to the factory. It’s what we do, bridging the relationship between the manufacturers and the crews that support and maintain their products in facilities. The Part Works provides the product, the knowledge and the customer service. Working with great partners like T&S Brass makes our job easier.
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Faucet Outlets: Aerators vs Laminar-Flow
Air carries microbes, and the use of faucet aerators pulls these microbes into the water you drink and wash your hands with. An aerator draws air into the water stream to make the water feel softer. Lucky for you, aerators are not the only way to make your water soft and attractive. Consider a laminar flow, which doesn’t allow any air into the stream but provides the same, soft water effect.
Water Filtration
When it comes to filters, it’s all about how the filter is rated. “A 5 micron filter is a 5 micron filter,” says Chris, “so it’s not a brand choice.” Instead of considering which brand to use in your facility, decide first what you want to filter out, and what you want to let through. This is going to be specific to the application point of use in the facility.
Water Temperature and Antimicrobials
Hot water at 140 degrees or higher kills bacteria, but code requires that water coming out of a source cannot be hotter than 110 degrees, for safety reasons. Still, water temperature in hospitals is often higher than other non-medical facilities. In many hospitals, boilers are set to 140 degrees, then the temperature is reduced at the faucet or point of use through a thermostatic mixing valve.
Establishing a Performance & Maintenance Plan
Once you’ve identified the solutions you’ll use for your facility, establish a performance and maintenance plan, or a “P&M Plan.” This ensures that your facility is maintained to the agreed upon standard beyond any near-term COVID-19 concerns.
Identifying Touch Points in Your Facility
To reduce the spread of pathogens including bacteria and viruses, keeping surfaces clean and washing hands are essential. However, those physical surfaces people touch in your facility can be made to either play host to pathogens, or help fight it.
Antimicrobial Plumbing Solutions
With the spread of COVID-19, many individuals and organizations are evaluating options for limiting the spread of pathogens and bacteria in their places of work, play, and residence. Because our team supplies and advises facilities across a range of industries, including healthcare facilities, we’re able to apply leading edge solutions from one industry to another. In this series, we’ll explore some of the standards and protocols implemented in the medical facilities we work with which may be applied in schools, office facilities, or residential buildings to reduce the spread of pathogens.
ADA Compliance for Restrooms
ADA, which stands for Americans with Disabilities Act, is a law established in 1990 to ensure that all spaces can be used by everyone, including those with disabilities. What are the requirements to make a lavatory ADA compliant? What products can you use in a ADA compliant lavatory?
Small Steps Equal Big Savings with Water Conservation in Facilities
As awareness surrounding potential water shortages rises, so too does the urgency for water conservation. Many areas around the world are using water faster than it can be replenished in water basins and other sources and are facing dire threats to water availability. These threats have led many facilities to place water conservation at the forefront of overall sustainability plans. An increasing number of available options are making it easier to prioritize and support sustainability efforts.
Procurement Guide to Ordering Plumbing Parts
We know that when you’re procuring supplies for your facility’s specific plumbing or maintenance needs, it’s about more than just finding the right part. Our customers rely on The Part Works for our short lead time, quick delivery, competitive pricing, and trusted sales team. Below we’ve shared best practices and insight from our procurement customers across the Northwest to help you save money and time.
Keeping Facilities Running Since 1980
Over the past 40 years, we’ve worked alongside partners in maintenance and procurement to keep their facilities running smoothly. Now, with leading-edge technology, we’re able to offer additional tools and resources to help you save money and minimize downtime. Read our blog about innovation and growth here at The Part Works for the full story.
Developing an Action Plan for Lead-Free Drinking Water at your Facility
While the school year is beginning to wind down, many of the facilities we partner with across Washington and Oregon are ramping up efforts to ensure clean and safe drinking water for their students. Check out this month’s blog for helpful insight and tips to help your facility develop an Action Plan for lead-free drinking water.
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