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Did you ever wonder what insects make that very loud buzzing sound in trees during the daytime in summer? Well, it's a widely heard but rarely seen kind of insect called a cicada. The ones you hear every summer are non-periodical, some of them appearing as adults every year despite requiring several years to develop to adulthood; but the ones appearing as adults in the next few years that can overwhelm your cooling towers, evaporative condensers and air handling units emerge as adults in 17 year intervals in large and generally non-overlapping geographic regions of the northeastern United States. Because of this separation in time and place, these species are called periodical cicadas, and their various widespread populations are called broods. A total of a dozen such broods are recognized. The single largest 17-year brood, known as "Brood X" [ten] is expected to appear in sixteen states in 2004 (see figures 1 and 2 below for state and county distribution), while another 17-year brood should appear in four states in 2007, and yet another in 12 states in 2008 (many the same as for Brood X). One can identify periodical cicadas by the combination of largely black bodies, reddish eyes, and reddish veins in their wings. If your company is in a region affected by Brood X this year, you need to begin planning how you will deal with the potential problem because it can have a devastating impact on your operation if you wait until it is too late.

So What's The Big Deal?
When Periodic Cicadas emerge, their population density is enormous and can exceed 1million per square acre (several hundreds of thousand is usual). If your facility is in a brood infested region and your cooling towers, evaporative condensers and air handling units are in or near naturally forested areas or, surrounded by trees your system may be vulnerable. Please note that this otherwise harmless insect can be sucked into your equipment while flying past the draft zone of the intake opening as they make their way to the nearest tree.

Location Of Your Equipment Can Help Determine If Your System Is At Risk.
Units located on rooftops and away from trees or, in the middle of a paved area are less likely to encounter cicada related problems then those that are near the ground or surrounded by trees or woody plants. If your facility is immediately adjacent to or, nestled away in affected wooded areas, your systems are likely to be at risk.

How Big Are They And When Will They Emerge?
These insects are about the size of your little finger, measuring about 0.5 inches wide and 1.5 inches long. There are three species or kinds that usually emerge mixed together in the same area. Their songs are quite different, and they vary in average size. They are expected to emerge from the soil in early May and June, and are active as adults (only males sing) for 30-50 days. During their short time above ground, they feed both day and night by sucking the sap of trees and other woody plants. They do not chew or bite leaves or people. The songs of males promote mating. After mating, females lay hundreds of eggs in woody tissue, by making slits in the bark of pencil-sized twigs. Shortly after mating and laying eggs, the adult cicadas die, leaving massive numbers of carcasses everywhere. In about nine weeks the eggs hatch and pale ant-sized baby cicadas drop from the twigs to the ground where they burrow underground and remain there for 17 years, sucking sap from the roots of plants.

Here's What Can Happen
As one Stationary Steam Engineer, working at a major consumer products manufacturer in the Cincinnati, OH area puts it, "The last time the Periodic Cicadas emerged, we had to clean our cooling tower strainers and flume several times per day. If we didn't clean the strainers, we would lose our chiller due to high-pressure conditions and it would shutdown our cooling system. We had to maintain our cooling towers around the clock just to keep our systems operational".

If your facility is in an affected area and you don't anticipate emergence of the Cicadas, it can impact your annual maintenance budget and have an economic impact on your business. Here's how:

Cooling Towers & Evaporative Condensers:

• Clog Cooling Tower Fill - reducing airflow.
• Overwhelm sump water increasing organic content and increasing bacteria count.
• Increase water treatment chemical consumption and associated cost.
• Clog strainers, reduce flow rate and impact chiller efficiency.
• Clog solenoid blow-down valves in the open position, resulting in increased make-up water and water treatment chemical consumption
• Clog heat exchangers reducing flow rate and heat transfer efficiency
• Can cause production downtime, lost productivity and missed shipments.
• Increase maintenance cost.

Air Handling Units

• Clog Internal Filters
• Load Intake Air Pathways with insect debris
• Increase Filter Changes
• Reduce Internal Air Quality
• Cause Excessive Service & Maintenance Cost

In short, Periodic Cicadas can cause real havoc to companies that are not prepared.

How You Can Prevent Trouble

1. First of all you need to determine if you are located in an affected region - If you had a problem the last time they emerged and there has been little construction or disruption to the soil or forested area around your operation, then you are likely to have trouble again (See Fig. 2).
2. If you are in an affected region, It is recommend that you identify your most critical systems and set extra maintenance dollars aside specifically for protecting and maintaining those systems (systems that support production or other revenue generating operations are key) - anticipate extra maintenance, service, increased water treatment chemical consumption, frequent filter changes on air handlers, overtime or investment in preventative technology such as Air Intake Filters that stop the insects and debris from entering your systems).
3. Research your alternatives. Water filtration and air intake filtration are two good options. Depending upon the level of protection you are seeking, each provide varying degrees of protection - Water filtration will help you to manage the insects and other airborne debris after it has entered the cooling tower and will protect down stream systems including chiller and heat exchanger; however, water filtration does little to protect the cooling tower where most of the maintenance will be required. Air Intake Filtration Systems that mount to the outside of the cooling tower or other air intake openings (as in chillers and air handling units) will filter the air as it is entering the system stopping the debris at the point of entry and protecting your entire system. Long after the Cicadas have come and gone, use of Air Intake Filters will provide long term protection against annual airborne debris (including: cottonwood seed, small & large insects (e.g., May Flies / Fish Flies, Lady Bugs, Cicadas), leaves, pine needles, paper and wrappers, harvest chaff, construction debris, birds and more).

Anticipation and Prevention is Key Knowing if you will be affected and developing a plan of action is the first step in avoiding impact to your operation. Taking a preventative approach is usually more cost effective than simply reacting when the problem occurs and can literally save you thousands of dollars while keeping your operation running smoothly.

What Not To Do
When airborne debris becomes a serious problem, the natural tendency is to look for something to cover the intake opening to prevent entry of the debris. Never use window screen, roll filter media or mesh purchased from a hardware store to cover air intake openings on cooling towers or, evaporative condenser units; these materials are not designed to allow proper airflow and can drastically increase static pressure, increase energy cost and impede cooling efficiency. When using air intake filtration it should provide less than 1/10inch drop in static pressure (as measured in inches H2O). Air intake filtration specifically designed for use on cooling towers and evaporative condensers and chillers is highly recommended.

Air Solution Company developed and patented the first Air Intake Filter specifically engineered to mount to the outside of cooling towers and other HVAC equipment for purposes of stopping the debris before it entered into the system. Since that time, Air Solution Company has been manufacturing and has introduced a variety of other innovative filter systems including its new Fine Mesh Filter which is engineered for use on small and medium size refrigeration coils and machine fan intake housing units. Air Solution Company Randy Simmons is with Air Solution Company, author of articles can be reached at http://www.airsolutioncompany.com

Yoga Cl Arizona

Employee incentives are an important tool not only for the Human Resources department but also as a strategy for companies to maintain the support and loyalty of their employees. Depending on how they are implemented, employee incentives can be quite effective in motivating and driving employee productivity. Here are some examples of employee incentives you might want to consider:

Money
Money is the most common employee incentive used by companies for the simple reason that it is simpler to reward and its effect is felt immediately. This is often the case with sales-related performances where companies opt to reward employees for going beyond their sales target or for bringing in profitable businesses.

Company gifts
These are some of the simplest rewards that can be a part of your employee incentives list. These can include company-issued plaques, jackets, shirts, pins and hats, to be issued only to employees that have reached a certain level of performance. These rewards may either be used to reward employees that reach the first tier of your scaled incentive program or they may be given to supplement other rewards.

Gift certificates
As a non-monetary employee incentive, gift certificates make wonderful rewards for excellent work performance. They also dont have to have a very high value as long as they offer access to special items such as a fancy restaurant dinner, a shopping spree at a favorite store, a big discount at a specialty shop or a tutorial lesson.

Travel incentives
Travel incentives work well especially since they offer time away from work, allowing the employee to relax and have a good time as reward for a job well done. This employee incentive can range from a short weekend trip to an all-expense paid tropical vacation.

As an employee incentive, travel can be very effective if it is also scaled in value. Depending on the desired result, travel may progress from local destinations to more exotic locales, commensurate with the employee's performance.

Time off from work
This is a simple non-monetary incentive for employees who have perfect attendance or have no tardiness record for a year. Day off certificates may be issued and the duration can vary, depending on the company. Employees may choose which day they prefer to use the day off, provided they inform the office ahead of time.

Family-oriented incentives
A great way to say, 'Job well done!' to someone is to let his family know how much his performance is appreciated. Include the employee's family in the reward, regardless of the monetary value. It can be as simple as inviting the employee's family members to the awards ceremony, treating them to dinner or sending them off to a family trip.

A points-based employee incentive program
One of the challenges of designing an employee incentive program is creating one that will not only measure performance effectively and fairly but also give employees something that they find meaningful. A points-based system that rewards employee incentives is an effective way of monitoring progress and allowing employees to choose which rewards they prefer, simply by earning rewards points and redeeming them at a later time, when they choose.

Employee incentives dont really have to be very expensive. Although a simple praise often will suffice for an employee, nothing beats the feeling of being appreciated and rewarded for an excellence performance. Plan your employee incentives to reward exceptional accomplishments to motivate your employees and raise productivity in your company.

Mario Churchill is a freelance author and has written many articles on various subjects. For more information on sales incentives or employee incentives checkout his websites.

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