Graco takes the guesswork out of foam insulating
A new wireless monitoring system for contractors and builders shows how data-tracking systems can be used outside the factory.
Like he’s done 100 times, Tony Kubat strapped on
stilts, donned his respirator and then sprayed foam insulation into the
nooks and joists of a house under construction in Brooklyn Park.
Only this time, he was testing Graco’s
new InSite data system in the field. It let Kubat — and his boss at
Metro Home Insulation in Elk River — see the chemical sprayer’s
“real-time” temperature, pressure and amount of foam insulation applied.
An embedded GPS and wireless tracking system also told Kubat’s boss
exactly where the sprayer was and when Kubat used it.
“It logs everything and sends data back
[to the cloud server] every minute, so we can check to make sure I am
working to spec,” Kubat said. “And it’s kind of nice that it counts how
many gallons you use.”
Graco’s technology puts it on a new path
for data collection and gives homebuilders and contractors a novel tool
to check on work crews from afar. It also will prove to homeowners, and
even insurance companies, that homes were properly insulated. It’s a
frequent bone of contention in regions where temperatures reach
extremes.
“Our system improves accountability,”
said Nick Pagano, the Graco business development manager who created
InSite. Graco field-tested the data tracking system for six months,
debuted it at an industry trade show in October and now is rolling it
out nationwide.
Minneapolis-based Graco joins Toro, Honeywell, 3M
and other Minnesota-based manufacturers that are introducing “smart,”
remote and real-time data-tracking devices to help managers in
non-factory settings. The technology that has long been popular inside
manufacturing plants is now finding its way to tracking the soil
compositions of golf courses, the locations of firefighters trapped in
buildings and the comings-and-goings of hotel guests who may have left
an air conditioner blasting.
Now with Graco’s help, such tracking software is entering the building trades with gusto.
‘An industry standard’
“This is a game-changer. This is
creating an industry standard,” said Metro Home’s Ken Sheldon, who
manages Kubat and the five other truck crews who insulate 600 homes a
year in Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Iowa. Sheldon agreed to
test Graco’s equipment on two of his six trucks.
“It reduces risk,” Sheldon said.
“Because Minnesota is such an extreme climate, at least every couple of
months we get a homeowner or general contractor who challenges us about
what we did and didn’t do. It happens quite a bit. Now, if ever we are
challenged, this takes the guesswork right out of it.” The foam data is
tracked, recorded and easily printed for any job.
Harry Melander, president of the
Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, said Graco’s new
technology will benefit contractors, homeowners and commercial building
owners. “We are starting to see more of that type of control technology
in different industries. But the application [Graco] describes appears
to be unique. It’s creating an inventory at a certain job site. Not only
of the amount of product being applied, but also where and how,”
Melander said.
Graco’s tracking technology is so
different, it might even attract young people to the construction
trades. “Technology changes like these may spark an interest in those
who only thought of us as wielding shovels and hammers,” he said.
InSite is a significant development for
Graco, a traditional manufacturer best known for its pumps, paint and
foam sprayers, food extruders and other liquid-handling equipment. For
10 years, Graco has made the $20,000 and $30,000 “chemical reactors”
that convert resins and hardening chemicals into spray-foam insulation.
But Graco never delved into the world of wireless data systems for
contractors.
Graco’s InSite kit costs $1,250 and
looks like a black box not much bigger than a wallet. It bolts onto the
foam-insulation machine in a contractor’s truck and wirelessly tracks
the hoses, heat and drums of chemicals that become sprayable insulation.
Last Wednesday, Kubat peeked at his
InSite data on an iPad and learned that he’d sprayed 46.5 gallons of
foam in just over two hours. It showed that his spray gun shot foam onto
wall joists at 1,125 pounds per square inch. But it also showed a red
dot, meaning that Kubat was no longer spraying foam. What impressed
Kubat most is that he can check his work from any iPad or cellphone. “I
can even check the data on our truck that is out in Savage,” Kubat said.
Sheldon, Kubat’s boss in Elk River, said he will install InSite on his four other trucks next year.
Brian Cote, a vice president for Metro
Home’s parent firm Installed Building Products in Ohio, just ordered 20
InSite systems for his New England rigs. Beyond that, the company is
looking to adopt InSite nationwide. Installed Building Products
insulates 20,000 to 30,000 homes a year — most of those in extreme
climates, Cote said.
“I am exited about [InSite],” Cote said.
“When I started spraying foam, I had a small piece of equipment and
there were no gauges, no information. Nothing. There was only a lot of
opportunity for error. But with this piece of equipment you can see if
all the ratios are right, and if there is a problem you can quickly see
it and fix it.”
Cote envisions giving homeowners
InSite’s spray data as soon as the insulation job is done. “It’s so they
can see they got a quality job that was according to specification,” he
said.
For more details on Graco InSite, including purchase information head over to www.cjspray.com/graco-insite/
Article by:
DEE DEPASS
, Star Tribune
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