“Set It And Forget It” – Does It Work For Your Shop’s Water Quality?

A lot of things are “set and forget” these days. Unfortunately, the water quality in your shop doesn’t work that way. Setting and forgetting it leads to a host of costly problems and headaches. 

That’s why it’s so important to be proactive about testing your water quality. Let’s dive in.

Maintaining water quality takes time. When you’re running a shop, deadlines and quotas aren’t, “Whenever you get to it.” They’re tight and aggressive. That means working at full capacity – all of the time. 

But when you don’t monitor your water, it can get out of control and cause problems later. Here are two analogies to help explain: 

First up — doing the dishes.

If you use the same dishwater for a week, you won’t need a quality test to know the water is off. You’ll know by how it looks and feels—and you wouldn’t want to eat off dishes washed in week-old water. Fortunately, solving the problem is quick and easy (and it doesn’t mean switching to paper plates). 

Second — swimming pools.

You wouldn’t swim in a pool that was green or had slimy water, and it was obvious no one was staying on top of maintenance. You’d only hop in if you knew someone was ensuring proper water quality from pH and water hardness to chlorine/sanitizer levels, not to mention cleaning the filter regularly.  And, since it’s not practical to fill the pool every time someone wants to take a dip, maintaining water quality is essential. If you weren’t aware, with the right maintenance, you can use the same pool water for years!

Your machine shop isn’t a pool or sink, though… and you don’t get the same signs when something goes wrong. In fact, there’s a good chance you won’t know something’s off until there’s a problem with your products. 

And once you have a problem, fixing it can be expensive: productivity loss, fluid replacement, and dump, clean, recharge (DCR). (Check out our DCR Skill Builder here.)

If you didn’t work on a shop floor, you’d never guess that the water you drink could be a disaster in your shop. 

The very chemical makeup of your water is a bit more complicated than H2O (2 hydrogen + 1 oxygen), because water varies wildly from location to location, neighborhood to neighborhood, and well to well. Any number of additional elements, from calcium and iron to chlorine, can be present in your water. 

The sad reality for machine shops is that whatever compounds are present in your water may lead to rust and corrosion [1] and have the potential to alter or destroy metalworking fluids and projects. It’s not necessarily limited to compounds either. Microbes can wreak havoc on your equipment if your water quality isn’t within the recommended guidelines.  

By following the guidelines for your pH and water hardness, among other measurements will protect your equipment, products, and fluids from potentially costly damage due to water quality.

Maintaining your shop’s water quality takes time that no one on your team seems to have. But, you need to make time. The reality is taking the time now can save you significant headaches and money in the long run. 

Ready to get your fluids under control? Or doing a Dump, Clean, and Recharge? Shop our online store, call us, or email insidesales@quakerhoughton.com to get started.