7 replies to this topic

[FurFarmandFork]

Hey all,

 

I'm making it my 2018 mission to tackle the areas of standing water I have throughout my plant with a systemic approach. So far I've identified some slow leaks that created some problem areas, and the addition of "gutters" underneath slat conveyors that pass through the fillers is making a difference as well in keeping water from getting on the floor in the first place. However, the main challenge continues to be that we're in an old warehouse that has limited drainage and non-sloped floors, and telling the employees to "squeegee more often" isn't a great solution.

 

I'm experimenting with creating barriers to direct water towards drains using chemical spill dikes that can be moved and washed as necessary. Does anyone else have any ideas or stories to tell of how they helped direct water towards drains?

[Timwoodbag]

Never seen those emergency dikes before, what a great idea!  I once saw someone hook up a shop vac pointing right where the drip was coming from.  As it dripped, it went right into the vacuum, which they had set up to flow into a drain.  Not a good permanent solution, but perhaps a jumping off point.  

[GMO]

Just be wary, although your application is presumably low risk, in higher hygiene areas, there is a concern these spill barriers could become a hygiene hazard in themselves.  Still I will watch with interest for more ideas.

[rebecca1981]

We have similar challenges in our dishwashing area. We have a dish pit/drain that our largest dish machine sits over, but we use hoses often and the overspray tends to build up over time and flow away from the dish pit. After a lot of contemplation and experimenting with other solutions, we have finally decided to install a concrete curb next week around the dish area to keep the water from flowing away from the pit. We tried dikes similar to what you are considering (there are ones that are heavy duty that you can fill with water), but they just didn't last long without needing to be replaced, and we struggled with keeping them clean. Good luck, would love to see what you end up doing. 

[FurFarmandFork]

We have similar challenges in our dishwashing area. We have a dish pit/drain that our largest dish machine sits over, but we use hoses often and the overspray tends to build up over time and flow away from the dish pit. After a lot of contemplation and experimenting with other solutions, we have finally decided to install a concrete curb next week around the dish area to keep the water from flowing away from the pit. We tried dikes similar to what you are considering (there are ones that are heavy duty that you can fill with water), but they just didn't last long without needing to be replaced, and we struggled with keeping them clean. Good luck, would love to see what you end up doing. 

Yeah, we have a combination of curbs and drains in some of the areas that are partially effective, unfortunately they've been moved and cut so many times in response to auditor suggestions rather than actual engineering solutions that management is somewhat soured on them, and there's the concern of trip hazards etc. If I was going to do that much concrete work I'd probably just extend our trench drains in a circle around the affected area.

 

When you mention that they didn't last long, how long did they last? The area is a bottled water filler, so we have no allergen/buildup cleaning concerns, and I've found the dikes to be remarkably easy to clean so far.

[rebecca1981]

We tried both the cheaper water-filled dikes and the expensive ones, and they both worked really well to manage the water, however they both only lasted a few months and were expensive (even the cheap ones were $200-$300 for a 25' one, if I'm remembering correctly). We decided we'd need to treat them as disposable, as they just couldn't withstand our manufacturing environment. Big takeaway for us was that the cheap ones worked just as well as the fancier expensive ones. It sounds like in your environment, these might be a possible solution and worth considering. They just didn't work well in our manufacturing environment, as we have a lot of carts, material handling equipment, etc -- and we make a very greasy/oily product, so cleaning them was a challenge.

 

We got a variety of different samples in of the kind of dikes you're looking at -- there are so many options -- we looked at the "permanent" kind that you can screw into the floor or glue onto the floor. But we had concerns about water getting up under them and creating a bacteria/mold issue. We also looked at a dike that was pliable/squishy (thinking maybe it would last longer, given the carts and material handling equipment we use), but we had concerns that they would just attract dirt and be hard to keep clean. 

 

I misspoke when I said we are installing a concrete curb... it more like a speed bump, so that we can still roll carts over it. And we plan to paint it bright yellow to help with the trip hazard potential. But after your comment regarding auditor suggestions to change your curb/drain situation, I'm now concerned that will be an issue for us. Would you mind sharing why the auditor suggested a change in your plant's curbs? 

 

Hope the above info is helpful!

[FurFarmandFork]

 

We got a variety of different samples in of the kind of dikes you're looking at -- there are so many options -- we looked at the "permanent" kind that you can screw into the floor or glue onto the floor. But we had concerns about water getting up under them and creating a bacteria/mold issue. We also looked at a dike that was pliable/squishy (thinking maybe it would last longer, given the carts and material handling equipment we use), but we had concerns that they would just attract dirt and be hard to keep clean. 

 

I misspoke when I said we are installing a concrete curb... it more like a speed bump, so that we can still roll carts over it. And we plan to paint it bright yellow to help with the trip hazard potential. But after your comment regarding auditor suggestions to change your curb/drain situation, I'm now concerned that will be an issue for us. Would you mind sharing why the auditor suggested a change in your plant's curbs? 

 

Hope the above info is helpful!

Thanks a million, I got one of the spendy squishy ones and it seems to be holding up, but great to know that the cheap water filled ones worked just as well for you! I'll have to see, I wouldn't be super concerned if they lasted at least 9 months. We'll have to see if we can abuse them further to gauge the lifespan in our area.

 

The auditor suggestions (from what I can tell) went something like:

"you have too much standing water here"

"yeah, old facility and we haven't had a reason to re-do the floors yet., what do you suggest?"

"I think if you just took a chunk out of this curb here the water would do x,y, and z"

"yeah, okay! we can get that done"

 

corrective action satisfied, then next auditor comes in and disagrees or sees a different line configuration, or thinks the curb should be moved closer to the drain etc. This all took place years ago so I can't vouch for the specifics but it seems like that was the case. From my assessment, curbing that would be actually helpful would need to surround a large area and at that point I'd rather just redo the floors.

[FurFarmandFork]

Update: for anyone working through area where you HAVE a drain, but the water tends to flow away when not directed towards it (short or not enough slope), the chemical dikes work really well and have been holding up to water and chemicals with light cleaning (picture attached). I'm looking to get more for other areas where I have "low" spots to keep the water out of there. Best of all, you can pick them up at the end of the day so they aren't in the way if you do any mop/squeegee to get the area completely dry.

 

 

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