[Nhcoll-l] Compactors in collections
Dirk Neumann
neumann at snsb.de
Wed Dec 15 10:45:34 EST 2021
... adding to Paul's comment, fire risks may increase if the compactors
are "closed" allow alcohol fumes to build up. Also worth considering is
potentially spillage from moving the compactors or compromising of
seals, especially if the compactors are automated (which adds potential
ignition sources on various levels, i.e. control panels, motors). John
just commented on speed and wheel size.
Also, in case of fire or other emergency (and/or power failure), closed
isles are hardly accessible ...
So a lot of pros and cons.
Another piece for Rob's /altar of constraints/ is that with compacting
you actually do not create more space, but agree to crowd objects to an
affordable/manageable maximum. This minimises (already in the first
place limited) possibilities and options for required investments in new
storage buildings to gain space for growing collections.
With best wishes
Dirk
Am 15.12.2021 um 15:35 schrieb Callomon,Paul:
>
> Lucia’s comments reminded me of another major caveat about compactors:
> if you’re planning on using them for wet collections, at least in the
> USA, check with your fire marshal and insurers first. As she pointed
> out, in a serious fire a compacted wet collection without sufficient
> venting is an enormous fuel-air bomb. Ethanol burns fairly quickly
> anyway, but if it’s pre-heated before encountering a flame, weakening
> or even popping the lids and filling the compactor with vapor, then an
> explosion becomes more likely and the whole building could go.
>
> Paul Callomon
>
> Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates//
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University***
>
> 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
> /prc44 at drexel.edu <mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax
> 215-299-1170/
>
> *From:* Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> *On Behalf Of
> *rapp at inpa.gov.br
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 15, 2021 9:23 AM
> *To:* Douglas Yanega <dyanega at gmail.com>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Compactors in collections
>
> *External.*
>
> I can't resist to add my comments after Douglas.
>
> Yes, you have "literally to breathe down the necks of the people from
> the compactor company "! This expression is great and it was exactly
> my experience. Although I received the visitation of an engineer in
> compactors, the project assembled by them made me order for half extra
> budget of complements! The shelves came with an internal "channel"
> designed to keep the rigidity of the shelf, however, for alcohol
> collections the jars could turn!!! So, I had to order extra covers for
> these channels. I also had to order extra steel bars for protection to
> avoid the jars to fall from the shelves. The initial project reduced
> the number of shelves from 6 to 5 despite of all my observations. I
> had to order extra shelves and connections. Maybe it was just local
> incompetence, but compactor companies may be not familiar with our
> kind of storaged material.
>
> I ended up gaining approx. 40% of space, what was great. I also order
> for holes, small openings, on the top shelves, to avoid excessive heat
> during fires. One of our Brazilian collections (Butantan) lost all the
> material inside compactors during a fire because the material "cooked"
> inside and the cabinets would not role with the heat. I hope I will
> never have to test if this idea will work or not...
>
> cheers
>
> Lucia Rapp Py-Daniel
> Fish Colelction - INPA
> Manaus, AM, Brazil
>
>
>
>
>
> 14 de dezembro de 2021 14:14, "Douglas Yanega" <dyanega at gmail.com
> <mailto:dyanega at gmail.com?to=%22Douglas%20Yanega%22%20%3cdyanega at gmail.com%3e>>
> escreveu:
>
> On 12/14/21 7:58 AM, Ann Bogaerts wrote:
>
> Hello everybody,
>
> We wish to renovate our herbarium with 4 milj. specimens and
> we want to get some feedback from other institutions who
> already renovated or renewed their collection buildings.
>
> One of our main questions is the use of compactors yes or no?
> So what is your opinion about this? How much space do you save
> using a compactor and how is it working with this kind of
> system? For which collections do you use it?
>
> We are really interested in the do's and don'ts and it would
> also be nice if you could send us a picture of the compactors
> you use.
>
> Briefly: our insect collection went from regular static insect
> cabinets to a compactor system in 2002. It almost doubled our
> storage capacity (instead of 7 aisles and 8 rows of cabinets, we
> now have 2 aisles and 13 rows of cabinets). That bought us a few
> decades' worth of expansion.
>
> Liquid storage cabinets are in the static units to either side,
> and and microscope slides are in a narrow shelving unit in the
> middle; the 11 movable compactor units are only for cabinets of
> pinned specimens, and operated manually. In 18 years we have not
> needed any repairs, which is a far better track record than
> electric-powered compactor systems. Insects on pins are fragile
> but not as bad as people might think; we routinely ship specimens
> using postal delivery and only rarely experience significant damage.
>
> The MAJOR caveat for compactors has to do with design and
> execution: we had to literally breathe down the necks of the
> people from the compactor company because they kept screwing up
> the blueprints and specs for the hardware dimensions in very minor
> ways, and there were also issues with pouring a layer of concrete
> on top of an existing floor. To illustrate how subtle but
> devastating a mistake can be, one of the things they didn't
> account for was that both sides of each moving unit had a knob
> that could be pulled out to engage the brake on that side. Those
> knobs stuck out an inch when fully retracted. We have two aisles,
> and each was calculated on the blueprints to be about 36 inches
> wide, and there are 6 moving compactor units on one side and 5 on
> the other. They failed to realize that their calculations had
> *excluded the knobs*, which subtracted 2 inches of space per unit.
> Had they proceeded with the installation as planned, the aisle on
> one side would have been only 24 inches, and only 26 inches on the
> other, which isn't even enough space to open the cabinet doors. I
> caught this mistake and had them machine the knobs an inch shorter
> so they retract almost flush with the side, instead of projecting;
> they are a little tricky to pull out, but at least we can work in
> the aisles. They similarly failed to account for the three inches
> in height that were added by the wheels of the undercarriage on
> the compactor units, but I didn't catch that mistake, so the tops
> of some cabinets would have run into some low-hanging ceiling
> ductwork that we had expected to be clear. We had to rebuild the
> ductwork before all the cabinets could be installed.
>
> I advise anyone planning compactors to stay very actively engaged
> during the design process, and don't trust the contractors to get
> every little detail right. Be very wary in particular about the
> precision of dimensions, and maybe plan a few extra inches here
> and there if you can.
>
> Peace,
>
> -- Doug Yanega Dept. of Entomology Entomology Research Museum Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314 skype: dyanega phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffaculty.ucr.edu%2F~heraty%2Fyanega.html&data=04%7C01%7Cprc44%40drexel.edu%7C2a8e59a762f74a4df9dd08d9bfd6ba9f%7C3664e6fa47bd45a696708c4f080f8ca6%7C0%7C1%7C637751751253293566%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=kWzuCX1cPAKLadl6VT9V%2F4fL%2F774OhEq%2BYSFuDOaOC0%3D&reserved=0> "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82
>
>
>
>
>
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Dirk Neumann
Tel: 089 / 8107-111
Fax: 089 / 8107-300
neumann(a)snsb.de
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---------
Dirk Neumann
Tel: +49-89-8107-111
Fax: +49-89-8107-300
neumann(a)snsb.de
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