That New Car Feeling

So, I got a new car this week. It replaces my 15 year old van that just went over 200,000 miles recently. It’s been solid transportation since my sons were in baby/booster seats, and they both now exceed the height/weight requirements to ride in the front seat. In fact, the state of Ohio will soon permit my oldest to sit in the driver’s seat. Whether his mother and I will allow it (or are ready for it) is still up in the air. Stay tuned…

There are no “fatal flaws” with the van…the cost to fix the problems it has, though, would exceed the amount I could reasonably sell it for, and it just rubs me the wrong way to be “upside down” on a vehicle, whether that’s owing more…or spending more…on it than it’s worth.

It’s kind of a downer having a car payment again (although we were pretty proud of ourselves for having saved up a good amount for a down payment,) but the New Car does indeed have its advantages:

Operating cost: my van got just under 17 miles per gallon; the New Car boasts 33 mpg. I know; I know; “my mileage may vary,” but if I’m anywhere close to cutting my fuel costs in half, I’ll be a happy camper.

Reliability: Again, the van wasn’t dead (not completely,) but I’d had to perform unplanned replacements of the battery and a tire recently. I also noticed, at the last oil change, that engine coolant is finding its way into the oil. That gasket (wherever it is; I have no intention of finding it) isn’t going to fix itself.

Safety: Automobile makers have come a long way over the years, as the video below shows. Now, my van is a much more modern vehicle than the 1959 model…it has air bags, frame/body engineering to absorb impact, anti-lock brakes, etc. The New Car has more air bags, and over a decade more experience in the engineering behind them, as well as the “crumple zones” and brakes.

Every day, I get the opportunity to discuss these same kinds of issues with callers who are interested in finding out how EXAIR Intelligent Compressed Air Products can make these same kinds of improvements:

Operating cost: For thirty-one years now, EXAIR has gone all out to make the most efficient compressed air products on the market. And, while we’ve succeeded, we’re not stopping there. Just as our Design Engineers have pulled out all the stops to make these products the best, our Application Engineers are eager to help you get the most out of them. That’s why we constantly update our Knowledge Database and Case Study Library. That’s why we work as a team…so that there’s never a time that only one of us learns something new. In short, we KNOW that EXAIR products can lower your operating costs. We want to help you lower them even more by optimizing their effectiveness.

Reliability: Most compressed air products, by design, have small passages for the air flow. These can be prone to clogging, which will “vary your mileage” for sure. That’s why we promote the use of Automatic Drain Filter Separators and Oil Removal Filters – if you supply our products with clean, dry air, you’re going to get a LONG time of maintenance-free operation from them.

Safety: All of our Intelligent Compressed Air Products comply with OSHA Directive 1910.242(b), which governs the use of compressed air for cleaning purposes, and 1910.95(a), which specifies maximum allowable limits for noise exposure.

If you’d like to find out how EXAIR products could possibly give you something like that “New Car” feeling in regard to your facility’s compressed air use, give me a call.

Russ Bowman
Application Engineer
(513)671-3322 local
(800)923-9247 toll free
(513)671-3363 fax
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