June 2023
The Watlow Difference
Watlow Heaters for Every Application
No matter your industry or application, Watlow has a heater solution tailored to meet your specific needs. With a wide range of products, including cartridge heaters, tubular heaters, flexible heaters, immersion heaters, and more, Watlow offers versatile options for heating liquids, gasses, and solids in industrial, commercial, and even residential settings.
Watlow’s heaters are designed to provide optimal heat transfer, uniform distribution, and quick response times, allowing you to achieve accurate and efficient heating in processes such as plastics molding, food processing, semiconductor manufacturing, medical equipment, and many others. Whatever your unique requirements may be, Watlow has the right heater to get the job done.
Unrivaled Quality and Performance
At Watlow, quality and performance are of utmost importance. With Watlow Heaters, you can rest knowing that you’re investing in products that meet the highest industry standards. Watlow’s commitment to excellence is reflected in every aspect of their heaters, from design and engineering to manufacturing and testing.
Watlow heaters are built to withstand the toughest operating conditions, ensuring long-lasting performance and reliability. With advanced heating technologies and state-of-the-art materials, Watlow delivers unmatched efficiency, precise temperature control, and consistent heating across various applications.
Unparalleled Support and Expertise
Choosing Watlow Heaters means gaining access to not only exceptional products but also unparalleled support and expertise. Watlow’s team of knowledgeable engineers and technicians are dedicated to helping you find the perfect heating solution for your application. Whether you need assistance with product selection, installation guidance, or troubleshooting, Watlow’s experts are there to provide prompt and reliable support at every step.
We at New England Temperature Solutions are proud to be a part of the Watlow team. Call or email us for more information!
Watlow Heaters – Did you know?
By Bob Pierce
- Watlow specializes in the manufacture of heating elements in a wide variety of shapes and sizes for most heating applications.
- Watlow’s standard cataloged heating elements are manufactured and ready to ship in days not weeks.
- Watlow has a staff of application engineers specifically for heaters ready to support your heating element designs.
- Watlow’s heating elements are available in Single and Three phase wiring arrangements.
- Watlow’s heating elements can be powered by either AC or DC power.
- Watlow recommends for most heating element applications to use the control method of Zero Cross Fired vs. Phase Angle Fired control. reducing the cost of your Power Controller.
What to know more? Please contact NETS, Inc. your local Watlow Distributor.
Andy’s Tech Tips
By Andy Bowser
Tech Tip #1: Use A Password Manager
This is the first of (soon to be) many helpful tech-related tips from our new engineer, Andy! Look forward to seeing this new segment in our future newsletters as well!
We’ve all been there before:
“Did I swap the S for an $ or was it the 3 instead of an E?”
*password incorrect*. “Of course. Time to reset it again.”
Password security is of utmost importance to any business today, yet so many of us can’t seem to keep a system together for remembering passwords, let alone making sure they’re secure. The best security comes when each online account has a different, completely random and complicated password, but remembering them is just not what humans are built to do.
What does a password manager look like?
If you’ve used any modern device recently, you’ll probably already have interacted with a password manager – Apple and Google integrate their own password managers into their web browsers (Safari and Chrome) and phones. These streamlined solutions can be perfect for many – they’re built right into the devices you use and will automatically generate and remember random passwords for each different website. But password managers can offer so much more than this type of simple integration. Modern password managers offer:
- multi-platform support with background sync
- password auto-fill
- biometric unlock (fingerprint or FaceID)
- automatic password generation
- secure notes storage
- password change history
- automatic password updates (for supported sites)
- multi-user support with selective sharing permissions built for business
- proven track record of security
Why do I need one?
Every day that passes, businesses are increasingly targeted by cybersecurity attacks, phishing attempts, social engineering, and more. For the most part, attackers aim for the low-hanging fruit, and one of the easiest targets is the user that re-enters the same (or slightly altered) insecure password across multiple sites. As soon as one site is compromised, attackers try the credentials gained (and common permutations – think 3 for an E, $ for a S, etc.) on as many other sites as they can, hoping that the user hasn’t been diligent by using a different secure password. Simply by implementing a password manager, a business’s IT threat profile is substantially reduced. This is a critical component of a proactive IT strategy that works to prevent issues before they happen.
How do I choose?
It can be tough to select a good password manager. Sifting through marketing and technical information takes time. Regardless, in your business’s exploration of password managers, look for one that has good, third-party reviews and independent security audit records. Any reputable password manager will be end-to-end encrypted by a master password – meaning that even if the entire password database is compromised and leaked, your master password (which only you have and which is cryptographically impossible to crack within a dozen lifetimes) will be required to decrypt your vault.
I personally use the popular open-source password manager Bitwarden, which has affordable business plans and allows teams to selectively share passwords, among many other premium features. The Bitwarden server can even be self-hosted (for free! see https://hub.docker.com/r/vaultwarden/server), so data is stored only on company property and not in the cloud on Bitwarden servers.
If Bitwarden doesn’t work for your company, there are plenty of other password managers that are reputable and have varying free and paid features. Some of the advanced features you’ll encounter might be active directory integration, 2FA, family plans, cloud storage, or identity protection services.
Closing Remarks
I hope I’ve illustrated the importance of a strong password management plan in any proactive IT strategy. With a password manager, the task of creating and memorizing passwords is a thing of the past. It is difficult to describe how much of a productivity difference this really makes until you try it – I can’t state enough how good it feels never to have to guess or reset a password because I’ve forgotten it.
When combined with other best-practice measures like 2FA and regular cybersecurity training, a password manager can be a formidable addition to your business’s IT plan. I’m looking forward to sharing some more fun Tech Tips in future newsletters!
Before I leave you, check out this old xkcd comic:
Bethany
By Dawn DeLuca
In the month of May the NETS team laced up their shoes and raised $200 for Bethany. This organization services vulnerable children by working to strengthen and preserve families who are in a crisis. They work to ensure children are OK and make sure their parents are OK. If not, they provide a safe place for the children and come alongside the parents to provide services in receiving the help they need.
Their services also impact families around the world to:
- Assist the refugee children find a safe place to live either in a foster home or be reunited with family.
- Rescue children from labor trafficking in Ethiopia
- Provide foster and adoptive homes as an alternative to orphanages in Ethiopia and Ghana
- Partner with the United Nations for Refugees– 8,000 unaccompanied and separated children and adolescents who fled to Colombia from Venezuela– to provide food, shelter, psychosocial care, legal aid, and help to find and reunify with their families.
- Teach practical skills to help youth in Haiti thrive as adults
To find out more about their impact in this world visit their website
Flexibility/Stretching
By Lisa
Flexibility is a component of exercise that refers to the ability to move a joint through a full range of motion. Just like we have our routine for cardio and strength training workouts, there should be one for flexibility.
Whether you’re focusing on running a marathon, going for a bike ride or more practical aspects of daily life such as cleaning the house or doing yardwork, maintaining flexibility is important. The loss of flexibility due to disuse, an injury or aging can limit your ability to carry out these activities.
ACSM Recommendations for Flexibility
Frequency: Equal to or greater than 2-3 times per week. Daily stretching is most effective.
Intensity: Stretch to the point of feeling tightness or slight discomfort.
Time: Holding a static stretch for 10-30 seconds is recommended for most adults.
Type: A series of flexibility exercises for each of the major muscle-tendon units is recommended.
Some suggestions:
Move more – The more time you spend sitting, the less flexible you’ll be.
Stretch only when your muscles are warm – Begin with a few minutes of easy walking first to warm up your muscles before stretching. This will help you stretch farther without tightness or pain.
Foam rolling – Spend a few minutes using a foam roller before stretching. Warming up with this will make muscles more pliable and warm to aid in getting more out of your stretch.
Incorporate flexibility exercises as a part of your workout routine – Consider Yoga, Pilates, or Tai Chi.
Resistance band – Using this can help you go a little deeper with your stretch.
Push the stretch, but not too hard – Stretching to the point of mild tension guides your muscles to adapt, helping you become more and more flexible over time. But do not force the stretch into a painful position, this may lead to injury.
Before beginning any exercise program consult your doctor and a trained professional to learn how to perform exercise safely and in proper form.
The Dog Den
Dogs are such impressive animals. It is amazing how easily they become part of the family, while filling our lives with so much joy, love and laughter. However, beyond the love and loyalty they show, they possess some astonishing physical capabilities that I am going to share with you.
Have you ever spoken to your dog and they begin the adorable behavior of tilting their head side to side? Experts suggest, this display of behavior means they’re interested in what you are saying. Even though they don’t quite understand every word, they are listening to the frequencies/tone in your voice and listening for key words they do understand. Another reason behind the adorable head tilt is they are trying to decipher where a noise is coming from, even if you are unable to hear it.
Dogs are capable of locating the source of a sound in 6/100ths of a second by using their swiveling ears. Dogs have at least 18 muscles in their ears to tilt, raise and rotate, which helps them identify sounds from different directions. Their ears can move independently of one another hearing sounds from over a half mile away. Some dogs can pick up pitches as high as 65,000 Hz and as low as 40 Hz. Although they can hear these pitches, anything over 25,000 Hz may cause your dog to show signs of discomfort. A lower frequency at a higher volume will bring the same irritation as a higher frequency at a lower volume.
Another impressive physical capability a dog possesses is their nose, which is used for both smelling and breathing. When dogs inhale, a fold of tissue just inside their nostril helps to separate these functions. When dogs exhale, the spent air exits through the slits in the sides of their nose. The manner in which the exhaled air circulates out actually helps assist new odors into the dog’s nose. More importantly, it allows dogs to sniff continuously while still breathing in and out. They possess up to 300 million scent receptors in their nose, in comparison to our 6 million. Dogs can wiggle each nostril independently, which helps them to locate where a scent is coming from. Humans can only wiggle their nostrils simultaneously. Go ahead, try it!!
Penguin’s Place
In Missy’s piece on some cool facts about dogs, she talked about how dogs have AMAZING noses! Well, those cute little noses aren’t just for finding food! Their noses can also be used to help conservation efforts – including for penguins!
Their keen senses, unwavering dedication, and unique skill sets have helped protect and study these waddling birds, ensuring their continued survival and the preservation of their fragile habitats.
With the Little Blue Penguin population on the decline, it has been even more important than ever to be able to protect the current colonies. Last time I mentioned how a dog (Oddball) was able to help deter foxes off of an Australian island that was home to a delicate population. This time, though, we are going over to New Zealand where a special dog, Mena, has helped to sniff out hard to find penguin nests!
Mena is specially trained and uses her incredible nose to sniff out and detect penguins and their nesting grounds. By doing this, her handler is then able to mark the nests so that they can easily find them again to monitor and help protect from predators and environmental issues, which can be done by planting extra vegetation and using penguin fences. The penguin fences keep penguins from roaming into roads and being hit by cars.
Researchers have already seen a positive impact from using dogs and their special noses to help protect the vulnerable pint-sized penguins. The Little Blue Penguin colonies have hope for a better future thanks to their furry friends, and conservationists now have a better idea on how and where to help to make the most impact!
