Keeping Your Generators Compliant with NFPA 110

NFPA 110

The NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency) Standard 110 is the standard for testing emergency and stand-by generators. This standard outlines ways to prevent the disruption of critical loads in case of emergency. The standard also lists the tests necessary to fall within compliance with the authorities who have jurisdiction (AHJ) for code enforcement. However, the NFPA 110 only provides a recommendation on the tests that should be performed; they are set by the following entities:

Diesel generator systems are used for backup electric power.

  • Manufacturer’s Recommendation
  • Instruction Manuals
  • NFPA 110 Chapter 8 Minimum Requirements
  • AHJ (Authorities Having Jurisdiction) Requirements

Are your generators compliant?

Testing the diesel fuel in stand-by power generators is critical for the safety of those who may be in need of emergency power. The tests necessary to remain compliant with the standards set by the NFPA for your area may vary, but the frequency of testing should be monthly to ensure that the stand-by generators will work up to spec if called upon.

Contact POLARIS Laboratories® today to learn more and to get diesel fuel testing set up for your stand-by power generators today!

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
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Published August 29, 2019

Learn Why Reliability Matters

W Edwards Deming once said, “Learning is not compulsory; it’s voluntary. Improvement is not compulsory; it’s voluntary. But to survive, we must learn.”

And, POLARIS Laboratories® is ready to help you learn…about the future.

We partner with program champions from companies all around the globe and, together, we have helped them save more of their equipment. Yet, the world is advancing rapidly so we’re committed to helping our customers leverage new innovation, creativity and strategy to improve their programs. By embracing change through proven telematics and connectivity capabilities, maintenance professionals have embarked on a continuous journey to Unlock Reliability.

Now, just imagine how effective your fluid analysis program could be if you could successfully automate the information you receive and then transform those untapped recommendations into business intelligence. Come, let us show you. This will be on full display for three days at our fifth annual Customer Summit in Indianapolis from November 18-20, 2019.

Whether you’re looking to huddle with companies that have proven successes, dive deeper into your program’s performance or learn best practices to design a strategy that transforms information into intelligence, our fifth-annual Customer Summit will provide the keys you need to drive operational performance. With three days of reliability insights, 16 learning sessions, three training workshops, one free program review for current customers and countless hours of peer-to-peer networking, this program is designed not only for you … but a few of your colleagues, too.

 

Here are a few key day-by-day highlights from this year’s conference:

  • Day 1:
    • Exclusive behind-the-scenes laboratory tour at POLARIS Laboratories’ headquarters
    • Interactive networking reception to help you connect the importance of identifying a reliable root cause to common equipment failures
  • Day 2:
    • Compelling look into why the future is now when it comes to reliability
    • Recognition of our annual Program Champion Award finalists
    • Relaxing dinner and reception at an upscale, car storage facility where you can slide behind the wheel and marvel at the engines of these classic, exotic, luxury cars
  • Day 3:
    • Insights on how to turn early savings into lasting success as you expand your program to involve new locations and testing capabilities
    • POLARIS Laboratories’ commitment to the next generation of fluid analysis through connectivity

Join us and learn why reliability matters! The road to fluid analysis success starts right here at the 2019 Customer Summit!

Learn more about the robust agenda and topics, exclusive laboratory tour, hotel accommodations, fees and more. Seating is limited – and hotel rooms are equally limited – at The Alexander Hotel! Clear your calendar November 18-20 and join us in Indianapolis at the 2019 POLARIS Laboratories® Customer Summit, Unlock Reliability.

 

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you. 

Published August 27, 2019

VIDEO: How to Take a Grease Sample

Grease analysis allows you to tap into new information about your equipment health and reliability. Taking action from the recommendations on your grease analysis sample report means you can:

  • Monitor consistency
  • Identify contamination, oxidation and wear concentration
  • Optimize your drain intervals

Each grease analysis sample kit includes the materials you need to take a grease sample and send it into the laboratory – including a spatula, plunger, syringe, grease sampler, shipping tube and envelope.

Grease Sampling: Easy as 1, 2, 3 … 4, 5
  1. Remove the plunger from the syringe.
  2. Use the narrow end of spatula to collect sample (~2 g) and fill the syringe with the grease.
  3. Use the syringe to fill the grease sampler.
  4. Place the cap on the grease sampler.
  5. Place the grease sampler into the provided shipping tube.

It’s that easy! Watch the video to learn how to take a grease sample from your equipment using our easy-to-use, cost-effective grease sampler.

How To Take a Grease Sample with a Grease Sampler

Click to watch

How To Take a Grease Sample with a T-Handle

Click to watch

Tips for taking a grease sample:

  • Send in a baseline reference sample
    • This allows us to compare results of used grease to the new grease
  • Fill the syringe with as much grease as possible
  • Collect your grease sample from the active zone in your equipment
Ready to learn more or start analyzing your grease?

Learn more about grease analysis, why it’s vital to a comprehensive fluid analysis program and what the tests identify by downloading our Grease Testing + Analysis FAQs.

Contact your account manager or submit our contact form to add grease testing to your fluid analysis program.

Tips for Understanding Coolant Component Types

POLARIS Laboratories® has over 32 component types to select from for samples pulled from the cooling system. This can become overwhelming. Why are there so many options when the sample is pulled from the cooling system? The reason there are so many options is because a coolant component type represents:

  • The type of inhibitor packaged used for cavitation protection
  • The type of glycol
  • If the sample is new, a concentrate or in-service
8 Common Formulations

There are at least eight common formulations to select from. Once the formulation is determined, the base glycol will need to be selected. After the formulation and glycol base are selected, there are three options to select from to determine if the sample is a baseline or in-service. This is why there are so many options when it comes to selecting the appropriate coolant component type.

The antifreeze formulation can be provided by the Coolant Manufacturer. Anyone submitting samples, purchasing and maintaining cooling systems should know the type of antifreeze utilized in their fleet. The antifreeze information will help indicate if the coolant formulation meets OEM specifications. OEMs specifications will help regulate what formulation is compatible with equipment, seals and hoses. New, advanced equipment technologies and a competitive coolant market will also help drive the different combination of coolant inhibitors being utilized. A mixed OEM fleet may require different antifreeze formulations on-site to meet specifications or a single antifreeze formulation may be acceptable for all OEMs in the fleet.

Selecting the Correct Formulation

Selecting an accurate formulation of antifreeze for the equipment is important. If antifreeze information is unknown and submitted to the laboratory for testing, we default to consider it a conventional ethylene glycol. If the test package evaluates all possible inhibitors we test for, we will be able to determine what type of antifreeze formulation may be in the system. The coolant component type will determine how the results are analyzed and what recommendations are applied on the final report.

To help understand component types and learn the steps for how to select the correct coolant component type, view our Technical Bulletin, Selecting Coolant Component Types.

 

 

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Let us prove it to you. 

Published July 9, 2019

VIDEO: Adding Equipment in HORIZON®

 

Adding one or more components to your equipment list in HORIZON® is easy! Making sure your equipment list is up-to-date is essential for your program to be a success. Check out the our new video for step-by-step instructions on how to add and edit your equipment in HORIZON.

Click to watch

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you. 

Published  June 24, 2019

Eliminating Costly Equipment Downtime

In the construction industry, we see harsh operating conditions, extreme load variations and high-dollar costs with equipment replacement. That’s why fluid analysis a key to meeting the high demands of your customers – on schedule.

Heavy-Duty Equipment Environments

Construction equipment is often exposed to extreme, uncontrollable environmental factors for long periods of time, yet is still expected to maintain optimal performance levels. Contamination and wear are imminent and can halt production in a heartbeat, when left unchecked.

Condition Monitoring

Monitoring the condition of both the fluid and the unit through fluid analysis identifies wear-causing contaminants and their effect on component performance. Monitoring the condition of coolant along with engine oil creates a clearer picture of what’s occurring in the engine. Sampling frequency should be based on the unit’s criticality to production, as well as the costs involved in replacement or repair.

Read more about our solutions and testing recommendations for the construction industry:

Maximize asset reliability and regain control of your production schedules with an effective fluid analysis program by POLARIS Laboratories®. It costs so little to protect so much.

 

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you. 

Published  June 11, 2019

 

The Key to Unlocking Reliability in Your Program

Everyday at POLARIS Laboratories®, we’re dedicated to helping our customers save more of their equipment. As the industry has advanced, POLARIS Laboratories® has kept up by unleashing the potential for maintenance programs everywhere. We’re achieving these results by empowering maintenance professionals, automating the information they receive and transforming untapped recommendations into business intelligence.

This Year’s Summit

We’re all on this journey together. And, we see this path leading us to greater emphasis on reliability. We know reliability is the key to solving maintenance challenges smarter and faster. That’s why this year’s Customer Summit theme is Unlock Reliability. This unique, peer-to-peer experience is designed to help your company capture and apply the elements of a successful oil analysis program, integrate data better and solve reliability challenges.

As part of the evolution of fluid analysis at our summits – Driving Action, Champion Impact, Connected Performance and Elevate – Unlock Reliability keeps our customers focused on how to turn data into information into intelligence. At the summit, more than 100 customers and partners will convene to learn how to bridge a traditional fluid analysis focus with a futuristic view of empowering the overall user experience and manage more effective maintenance programs.

Unlock Your Maintenance Potential

Whether you’re looking to huddle with companies that have proven successes, dive deeper into your program’s performance or learn best practices to design a strategy that transforms information into intelligence, our fifth-annual Customer Summit will provide the keys you need to maximize your oil analysis program and continue to drive operational performance.

We have coordinated every aspect of this event to best fit your team’s needs and ensure that you make the most out of your summit experience. Taking place in Indianapolis from November 18-20, this three-day, 19-session event offers a one-of-a-kind experience for you and your team.

Are you ready to take the next step to realizing reliability?

Check out our Customer Summit website to learn more about the robust agenda and topics, exclusive laboratory tour, hotel accommodations, fees and more. Be sure to take advantage of our early registration discounts.

Come learn why reliability matters! Clear your calendar in November and join us in Indianapolis at the 2019 POLARIS Laboratories® Customer Summit.

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you. 

Published May 23, 2019

Celebrating 20 Years

As an innovative leader in asset management, reliability and fluid analysis, POLARIS Laboratories® celebrates two decades of accomplishments, successes and innovative solutions we’ve brought to our customers – all while continually saving their equipment.

The beginning

In 1999, we first opened our doors as an oil analysis laboratory, with a mission to provide excellence in oil testing, analysis, tribology expertise, data and recommendations. Our first laboratory was in Greenwood, Indiana and in 2002, we moved to the northwest Indianapolis area and have called that area our home since. In that time, we’ve grown from five to more than 200 employees (in seven global laboratory locations) – who strive every day to meet (and exceed) customer expectations.

20 Years in 5 Minutes

Watch the video to see highlights of our history, accomplishments and our plans for the future.

Our values

Our core values have remained the same throughout our 20 years, with an emphasis to convey to our customers that saving your equipment is more than just sending your sample into our laboratory and getting the results back. What continues to save equipment is customers using the recommendations we provide to take action, establish trend history and effectively manage their maintenance and reliability programs.

What it means

20 years of being the leading fluid analysis provider in the industry has amounted to 48,439 pieces of equipment and $253,575,289 saved for our customers. See below for a quick glance of a few POLARIS Laboratories® stats:

Looking forward

With our eyes on the future, we will continue to focus on providing our customers with the greatest quality of service, accurate and timely analysis results, specialty testing and innovative data integration solutions. We’re expanding our testing and analysis capabilities to include grease, we’re advancing our HORIZON® data management platform and we are increasing adoption of our game-changing solution for sample data automation and integration called DataConnect.

Cheers to 20 more!

View the full press release.

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you. 

Published May 7, 2019

Expose What’s in Your Filters

Oil filters are designed to filter out potential contaminants, but the debris that is caught in the filter can help bridge the gap and tell you what’s really causing wear and tear in your system. Filter debris analysis (FDA) analyzes that debris. It helps identify harmful contaminants and wear-causing particles and mechanisms not detected by traditional oil analysis. FDA is preformed by the following laboratory tests:

  • Analytical Ferrography
  • Micropatch
  • Elemental Metals by ICP
  • Acid Digestion
  • Gravimetric Solids

Watch the video to see how we perform FDA at POLARIS Laboratories®.

1. Analytical Ferrography

  • Identifies particles by metallic or non-metallic and shape and color
  • Analyzes particles through a microscope to determine source of wear particles
  • Digital images of particles are included within the analysis report from the data analyst

2. Micropatch

  • Particles are identified and qualified as contaminates
  • Most particles detected by the micropatch test are too small to be detected through routine testing; therefore often times, micropatch testing is recommended after oil analysis is performed.

Analytical ferrography and micropatch tests are conducted underneath a powerful microscope and are often vital in determining wear particles and contaminates not seen by the human eye and not detected by field oil analysis.

3. Elemental Metals Analysis: Detects particles less than 8-10µ and reports data on 24 elemental metals.

4. Acid Digestion: Identifies large particles accumulated in the filter.

5. Gravimetric Solids: Determines total solids in filter based on mass.

The Next Level

Filter debris analysis takes elemental analysis to the next level to determine particle size and type of wear. FDA also allows you to perform root cause analysis of wear to detect early stages of component failures and in turn, helps extend the life of your components.

Discover more about Analytical Ferrography and Micropatch testing by reading this Technical Bulletin.

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you. 

Published May 2, 2019

A Connected World: Fluid Analysis is No Exception

We live in a connected world. Our daily lives involve hundreds of interactions with data and technology so why should your fluid analysis program be any different? How you submit samples, receive results, manage test data and take action on maintenance recommendations will determine your program’s ROI. In turn, this affects the uptime and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of the equipment you operate.

We are all going through a technological revolution, so it is more important than ever to understand how our devices and The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) can be integral to your fluid analysis program.

One System: Smarter Actions

From a maintenance management perspective, viewing oil analysis results from an individual machine on the same screen as its vibration readings and data from sensors allows the engineer to react quicker to the recommendations, assess the bigger picture and understand that one set of results confirms another. This creates huge efficiencies and results in smarter, more accurate maintenance actions being performed. In turn, it leads to improved uptime, an increase in ROI returns and a reduction in the Total Cost of Ownership of the equipment being monitored.

A Solution

POLARIS Laboratories® has joined the technology revolution and is helping you get there, too. With our integration feature, DataConnect, internal data systems communicate and transfer your sample data and results back and forth on an hourly basis from HORIZON® so your own CMMS or SAP system is accurate, up-to-date and in the correct format at all times.

Part of a Routine

Most CMMS or maintenance management programs are utilized at point of application during daily plant walk-rounds, in sample taking or planned maintenance actions. This means there is a growing requirement to integrate the sample taking procedure into your internally-operated system to reduce the number of applications and processes used.

Your system working in conjunction with the laboratory’s system will enable you to use your own software to submit samples and ensure that the information is as accurate as possible (as with our mobile app) and performing all the duties in a ‘single screen’. Knowing when a sample should be taken and receiving the notification is vital for improving compliance and optimizing your fluid analysis program. In addition, having all of this information in a single program not only adds value to the program, but creates huge efficiencies in daily maintenance and reliability tasks.

 

 

Proven Impact. Proven Uptime. Proven Savings.
Let us prove it to you. 

Published April 29, 2019