Did you hear what happened at the Calgary zoo? That sounds like the setup for a joke, but in all seriousness, the zookeepers brought the penguins indoors because our city was too bloody cold for even subantarctic birds to be outside. Of course at the beginning of December, we were seeing unheard of highs nearing 16C. In a province that sees temperature extremes in both directions, insulation is an important investment in preventing many common challenges.
Condensation Control.
Water getting into places it doesn’t belong can cause a whole lot of problems really fast. Beyond just keeping the humidity in check, keeping water out of inappropriate locations means carefully controlling condensation. Condensation is a result of a property of air. Hot air can hold much more water than cold air. So if a pipe is carrying very cold fluids through a warmer area, the air close to the pipe will cool down, and water in the air will condense into droplets. Insulation fixes this problem because it forms a layer of space between the pipe and the air. It removes the temperature gradient that causes the air to cool, so the water in the air doesn’t condense.
Energy Conservation.
There’s an old saying that time is money, but for many companies, energy is money. Fluids need to be kept at a precise temperature, and it’s usually very hot or very cold. That takes a lot of energy to maintain, but insulation helps to reduce the energy load to keep your fluids at the right temperature for less out of pocket costs. Insulation is in fact so good at energy conservation, that the National Institute of Building Sciences referred to insulation as one of the, “easiest, fastest, and least costly technologies to reduce energy costs.”
Personnel Protection.
Your people are biggest asset, and their safety and health is one of your biggest priorities. Injuries from stupid mistakes like touching a hot pipe not only hurt your employee, they hurt your company, and can be costly. The response to injuries can be a bit reactive. We hear about companies deciding that everyone will simply need to wear thick gloves while working. But by placing adequate insulation along surfaces personnel may come in contact with, you can prevent these injuries while reducing your energy costs and not impairing movement. Gloves can get caught by machinery, forgotten after lunch, and worn away. In our opinion, insulation is a much better solution than insisting employees wear gloves to protect themselves from burns.
It’s the New Year, so we hope every company in Alberta is looking for ways to prevent lost time in 2018. Investing in insulation to protect personnel and your bottom line is a great place to start. Contact the experts at WestCal Insulation today to get started.
