#30 What's new about DIRTMAG® PRO?

Pioneering high-performance magnetic separation, Caleffi North America has recently introduced DIRTMAG PRO.  Do you know what's new about this device?  Why is it essential to remove BOTH ferrous and non-ferrous debris from your hydronic system?

Greg and Dan discuss the technology behind this device, where it's located in a system and what's the difference between a DISCAL air and dirt separator and DIRTMAG PRO.   Need help sizing the PRO?  We're are here to help you at techsupport.us@caleffi.com.

Thanks for tuning in.

Transcript

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welcome to ask caleffi the podcast that
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dives into real life problems that
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plumbing and hvac technicians face in
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the field we're your hosts from the
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caleffi tech support team i'm greg tubbs
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and i'm dan ferkus welcome we look
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forward to sharing some stories from our
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tech calls and using our background and
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expertise to make your days a little
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easier
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[Music]
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hey there welcome back to the ask luffy
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podcast
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how are we doing dan oh i'm doing good
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today greg how are you doing not too
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shabby oh
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beautiful day today yeah a beautiful
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rainy day
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[Laughter]
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here we are heating season yeah
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definitely heating season temperatures
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outside are going down we've got a lot
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of rain today here in the milwaukee area
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certainly do
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and with the temperatures going down the
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call volume has come up it sure has the
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call volume has come way up yeah plenty
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of questions being asked on how how to
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install certain components into systems
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and where to install them absolutely
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wiring questions a lot of wiring
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questions troubleshooting wiring
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questions applications with manifolds
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lots of ways it's been manifold day yeah
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it's been manifold week it has
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all right that's good we like the calls
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yeah we want to hear from you we'd
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rather hear from you while it's going on
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versus after it's not working and been
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installed then you're frustrated right
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right yeah don't be afraid to reach out
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please call us
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so
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we're going to talk about a relatively
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new product not totally new but a new
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twist on a nice product that we offer
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yeah we sure are it's a product that
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actually we were the pioneer into the
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industry on
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um and we've just taken it and made it
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better yeah we certainly did we're
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talking the dirt mag and in this case
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the dirt mag pro yeah the dirt bike pro
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so
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what can you tell us about it i mean
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what do you know what do you know what
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do i know what do you know i don't know
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a whole lot but i'll see what i can do
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i know it's been a great product for us
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there's a lot of excitement about it
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what we did is we took our original
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brass dirt mag
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and we've added a second magnet to it
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and that magnet drops in from the top
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right down we redesigned the coalescing
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mesh yep um and that magnet is in a well
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and it drops right down through the
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center of that coalescing mesh yeah
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again dry well down through a dry well
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exactly
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so
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it's going to do a great job of grabbing
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that ferrous material and holding it
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and then you pull the magnet to release
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it so i mean it's it's got 40 percent
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more power than what our original dirt
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mag had and i'll tell you you and i have
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been playing with that magnet and the
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dry well in our lab and that thing's got
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a lot of holding power yeah it's very
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surprising how much it can grab and hold
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up
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right in the body itself
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just
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its ability to catch
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more dirt or more ferrous material not
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dirt more ferrous material
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out of solution is pretty awesome yeah
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yeah so i mean a lot of you might be
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familiar with that original dirt mag the
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dirt make pro is
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newer and better
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yeah yeah and i think you covered it i
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mean redesign the coalescing mesh so
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that dry well fits down in right in the
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mainstream of the liquid
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flowing through it
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and
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maintaining it is real easy right it
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still has that clip-on magnet that that
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you're used to seeing on our original
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dirt mag so you've got two magnets
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on that product sure
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i had somebody ask us
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or ask me over the phone the other day
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you know how do i
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what's what's the sequence of operation
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on on doing a maintenance on one of
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these
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so well it's pretty simple i mean
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step-by-step processes one you you want
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no calls for heating the system or you
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don't want pumps running right
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keep the pressure on the system
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but shut the pumps off
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from there
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get a bucket over there or get a hose
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typically i would tell a guy use a
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bucket over a hose even though we have
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the garden hose thread connection on the
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bottom we do a bucket's a little nicer
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you can get you can see that flush
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process uh as it's occurring and
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and you'll know when right when to shut
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it down right but
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pretty simple you know no pumps running
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pull the magnetic band remove the
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magnet from the top just by pulling it
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right out of the drywell right so
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put your bucket underneath open and open
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the purge valve purge it out until you
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see clean liquid yeah i mean it might be
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10 to 15 maybe 20 seconds depending on
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how bad and full of that the debris it
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is right yeah usually i say once you see
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it flush clear for about 10 to 15
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seconds you're good to close that valve
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and reinsert the magnets yeah
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reinserting the magnets is real
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self-explanatory
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you go through that and
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turn the system back on you're back in
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service again right and what's really
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nice is
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you don't have to be too careful to keep
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your hands clean you know you sure don't
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not like you know i've seen with some of
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the other options out there in the in
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the industry yeah
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i can't believe how messy that is to try
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and scrub that stuff off with a rag you
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know with a shop rag or a towel to try
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and get all that stuff off i mean these
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are strong magnets it's really hard
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you'd be fighting to get it off the
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magnet oh yeah i mean we set up that
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display with the magnet in it and we
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actually have it inserted into a jar
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with some steel shot bbs in it and when
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you flip it over it's amazing it'll grab
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all of those bbs and hold it right to
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that drywall but as you're pulling that
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magnet out of the drywall you see that
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debris release yeah fall off down to the
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bottom which would be right to your
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purge point sure another thing i really
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like about this like if there were large
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pieces of debris you can actually take
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this thing apart you can take the bottom
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bell right off where that magnetic clip
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is and it's got an o-ring seal you'll be
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able to pull it off and pull the mesh
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out and flush that if you had like large
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chunks of
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say some thread tape or something from
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the system that got caught in there yeah
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if you had really large debris in there
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you might not get it to come out of that
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purge point um so you're right you can
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pull that out you can pull that
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coalescing mesh right out of it clean it
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out flush it out wash it put it right
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back in
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pretty easy to do actually right i think
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another question that we get a lot of is
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i only have so much room where
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should i put a dirt mag where should i
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put a dirt separator
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well having one in your system is is key
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right um generally i like to see it
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right before the inlet of the boiler
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same because now you're collecting any
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debris and removing any debris before it
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would enter your your boiler whether
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it's high efficient or mid efficient
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you're getting that debris out before it
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can settle in the heat exchanger or
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cause any damage to that piece of
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equipment right um also you're going to
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pull that ferrous material out because
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that's going to also help protect your
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variable speed pumps right remember your
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system itself is a dirt separator it is
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it's a giant dirt collector right it's a
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big dirt collector so anywhere in your
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system where you have a little bit of a
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drop in velocity that dirt is going to
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settle so it'll settle into radiators
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you know panel radiators heat exchangers
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of boilers
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cast iron boilers the bottom sections
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you know any kind of piping traps right
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yep you get anywhere you're going to get
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a velocity drop
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that dirt is going to settle
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and that's you know the big key with our
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dirt separator is it's a large opening
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in the pipe you know it's typically a
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three to one connection size so the
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body's three to one three sizes larger
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than the connections so it creates that
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instant velocity drop the magnets grab
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that ferrous material the non-ferrous
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material dropped to the bottom yeah and
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you can purge it right there yeah it's
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pretty pretty darn slick prevents it
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from landing in the other parts of the
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system where you really don't want it
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yeah now
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i've gotten the question about air dirt
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separators
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not to get too far off the topic but
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a guy will get one
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because
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his primary focus maybe is
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the fact that he wants to remove dirt
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but
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he sees that air vent on there and
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that's kind of confusing isn't it
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yeah well it
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that that device provides both air ender
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separation right magnetics right you
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know it's going to do a great job of all
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three
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um but you're right where do we locate
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that i mean that becomes becomes a key
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factor because you know i have i've had
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the call too you know hey i'm really
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concerned i got an old system i want to
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make sure that i clean it up and protect
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my new boiler
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so i bought the discal dirt meg
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and great product but if you're putting
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it in for dirt removal i like to see it
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before the boiler but when you look at
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air separation
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your best location is going to be on the
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supply side after the boiler where that
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water temperature is the hottest exactly
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and that's where you got to ask
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we got to turn around and ask them hey
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what do you really want to do here
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right what is your prima primary
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objective of installing this device is
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it to remove dirt and an air is kind of
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a secondary then we definitely can say
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you know what it's got to go on the
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return back into the boiler right
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protect that boiler protect the pumps
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yeah it's not going to be as efficient
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in air separation no um it still is
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because it has the coalescing mesh and
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you know it's still going to remove air
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but the water temperature is going to be
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a little cooler than it would be on the
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supply side right and by then too a lot
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of the air is already getting trapped in
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more of the high points of the system
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right right well and he had
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i know the one guy i talked to had a
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auto air vent at the top side of the
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boiler so sure you know he did have a
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source of air removal there as well um
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if it's a new system you know and you're
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already starting relatively clean you
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know then
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you know in that application i would
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probably put it on the supply side and i
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generally tend to to lean towards the
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supply side after the boiler
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out coming out of the boiler with the
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scale dirt meg for that air separation
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sure but i certainly understand his
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point when with focusing on dirt removal
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and that application you know maybe a
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little bit more cost a little bit more
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piping i probably would have done one of
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each and put the dirtmag pro right on
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the inlet for the boiler and then our
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our discal air separator on the outlet
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yeah
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that 551 series
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or even gone to a full hydraulic
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separator or sep4 yep exactly if they
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haven't needed an idea that's always the
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most ideal right but with with the
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dirtmag pro i mean we're offering it in
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one inch inch and a quarter inch and a
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half and two inch sizes all the brass
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bodies all brass bodies
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they
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are going to have
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sweat press and npt connections right
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flow rates the flow rates are pretty
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generous i think i mean one inch you're
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looking at 14 gallons a minute and up to
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two inch the two inch is good for 54
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gallons a minute so it covers a pretty
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high flow rate yeah and that's at five
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and a half feet per second right we have
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plenty of options available in different
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sizes and connection types so it's
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really up to you if you are looking to
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upgrade or add
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something to remove ferrous material and
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non-ferrous material dirt make pro is
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where it's at right whether it's a new
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install a new system installation or
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retrofit and doing existing yeah and if
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you need help sizing or selecting a
11:48
product you'll give us a call we're
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happy to help you with that yeah that's
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what we're here for and that's what we
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want to continue to do yeah so we're
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excited we're you know
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you may have seen the dirt meg pro in a
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lot of the trade magazines i know
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more online i know we're doing a big
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push to to get it out there
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we're certainly excited about it and
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just thought you know what we wanted to
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take an opportunity if you hadn't had an
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opportunity to grab one of those
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publications or see it um to at least
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announce it and tell you a little bit
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more about it yeah so there you go you
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got the meat and potatoes on the dirtmag
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pro thanks for listening yep thanks guys
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thank you for tuning in if you ever need
12:27
help please feel free to contact our
12:29
tech support team anytime at
12:31
techsupport.us
12:34
caleppe.com
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or call us during our business hours
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at 7 30 a.m to 4 30 p.m
12:42
central time
12:43
at 414-238-2360
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[Music]
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you