423 Pushing the Boundaries: Jacob Deak on Innovating Water Treatment Systems
Release Date: 06/06/2025
451 Building a Culture of Innovation and Customer Service with Frank Lecrone
Scaling UP! H2O
What happens when you build a company around one niche, listen obsessively to customers, and never stop improving? In this episode, host Trace Blackmore finally sits down for a full-length conversation with , Founder, President, and CEO of . What started in a small 60' x 60' space in Hanover, Pennsylvania, with three employees, maxed-out credit cards, and endless Staples runs has grown into a 300+-person organization serving industrial water professionals around the world. Frank shares how AquaPhoenix became “the booth everyone wants to be next to” at...
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450 Wastewater Advocacy and Innovation with Robin Deal
Scaling UP! H2O
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Scaling UP! H2O
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448 2025 Halloween Special
Scaling UP! H2O
Holidays don’t usually line up with release day—but this year they did. In this Halloween special, Trace uses the horror-movie trope of the “scary boiler room” to deliver practical, field-tested reminders for safer sampling, clearer thinking, and better decisions in high-heat, low-light spaces. Boiler Rooms, Myths, and Real Risks From Nightmare on Elm Street to Tower of Terror, pop culture loves dim steam, tight corridors, and clangy pipe-labyrinths. Trace contrasts that imagery with what matters to pros: light, ventilation, a stable work surface, and time for...
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447 Unlocking Team Potential with Culture Index with Randi Fargen
Scaling UP! H2O
Hiring in industrial water is slow, specialized, and expensive to get wrong. In this conversation, executive advisor explains how a two-question, 5–7 minute Culture Index survey becomes an ongoing management and coaching system—not just a hiring screen—so owners cut turnover risk, speed onboarding, and improve day-to-day communication. From “assessment fatigue” to a usable language Most teams dread long assessments. This survey takes minutes and measures four primary traits—autonomy, sociability, pace/patience, conformity—plus three...
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446 Leveraging the Culture Index for Business Success with Danielle Scimeca and Conor Parrish
Scaling UP! H2O
How do you make “right person, right seat” a repeatable system—not a hope? ’s (President) and returning guest (Chief Growth Officer) share how the Culture Index became a decisive tool for coaching, hiring, and a company-wide restructure. If you lead field service, customer service, or operations in industrial water, this conversation offers practical patterns you can apply the next time a role feels misaligned or a 1:1 stall on surface-level updates. From intuition to instrumentation Trace opens with the origin story and quickly moves to why Danielle and Conor adopted...
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445 Industrial Water Week 2025: Careers Friday
Scaling UP! H2O
Industrial Water Week 2025: Careers Friday brings the celebration back to first principles—mentors, disciplined training, and field diagnostics that go beyond the screen. Trace reflects on the people who invested in his craft, recognizes guest contributors across the week, and issues a practical challenge to invest in one new professional before the day ends. Foundations that Compound A candid mentorship story anchors today’s episode. Trace recalls how early-career intimidation turned into decades of teaching fundamentals and math at AWT—proof that asking better questions...
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444 Industrial Water Week 2025: Wastewater Thursday
Scaling UP! H2O
Wastewater isn’t an endpoint—it’s a decision point. On Wastewater Thursday, host Trace Blackmore, CWT sharpens the operator’s toolkit with field-tested lessons: dose by mechanism, verify by sampling discipline, and use wastewater’s fast feedback to protect quality, cost, and permits. Sampling discipline protects credibility Trace recounts an early-career moment when an inspector sampled the wrong location, triggering alarms. Immediate, methodical resampling—guided by logs and a clear process map—proved the system was in spec. The leadership takeaway: embed verification before...
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443 Industrial Water Week 2025: Cooling Wednesday
Scaling UP! H2O
Cooling Wednesday is about performance, protection, and proof. Trace Blackmore invites the Nation to get hands-on with cooling equipment and share field photos while offering a practical reminder: learn to navigate the chiller’s user interface—because it’s your fastest route to actionable diagnostics, documentation, and energy impact. Reading the Chiller UI—From Intimidation to Insight Modern microprocessor interfaces reveal real-time and historical data that matter to heat transfer: temperatures, loading, and power trends. If you’ve avoided the panel out of fear of...
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442 Industrial Water Week 2025: Boiler Tuesday
Scaling UP! H2O
Boiler rooms reward clarity: how many BTUs from the flame actually arrive in steam—and stay there to do useful work? For Boiler Tuesday, Trace Blackmore, CWT, treats boiler care as heat-transfer management across the full train, from feedwater and deaeration to distribution and condensate return, with dry steam as the operational benchmark. Heat Transfer Is a Leadership Metric Dry steam isn’t a detail; it’s throughput. Steam on its worst day carries ~1,150 BTUs while hot water on its best day carries ~180 BTUs. When carryover creates wet steam, production loses energy at the...
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In this episode of Scaling UP! H2O, host Trace Blackmore interviews Jake Deak, Marketing & Inside Sales Director at Pyxis Lab, for a deep dive into how innovation is born—not in labs, but in the field. Jake shares the story of Pyxis Lab’s rapid evolution from a lean, hands-on team to an industry leader in developing smart, user-informed water treatment technology.
Building Solutions from Real-World Problems
Jake Deak's journey began during the pandemic, stepping into a role shaped by both legacy and urgency. Working closely with his father and the Pyxis team, he reveals how their approach centers around listening intently to water treatment professionals and designing products that directly solve the problems they face.
From the ST500 sensor to the OxiPanel, Jake breaks down how each product starts with a call from the field—an operator struggling with membrane fouling, or a technician frustrated by unreliable chlorine measurements. Pyxis doesn't stop at fixing problems; it uses those challenges as fuel for continuous R&D cycles, bringing hardware, firmware, and app-based solutions to life.
Innovation Through Collaboration and Core Values
The success of Pyxis Lab isn't just about technology—it's about a culture deeply rooted in empathy and real-world experience. Jacob discusses the importance of maintaining strong core values and explains how hiring practices focused on field expertise led to better tools and better service for end users.
From Product Development to Media Innovation
Leveraging his media background, Jacob also reveals the upcoming launch of Pyxis Lab’s new podcast, "In The Flow." Created to foster industry education and dialogue, this initiative underscores the company's commitment to advancing the water treatment profession through open communication and shared knowledge.
A Clear Takeaway
If there’s one message that defines this episode, it’s that the best innovations don’t begin in isolation—they begin with a conversation. Whether it’s a technician venting a daily frustration or a field team asking “what if?”, Pyxis Lab listens and acts. And as Jake reminds us, the future belongs to those who adapt, engage, and stay relentlessly curious.
Conclusion
Jacob Deak exemplifies the spirit of innovation that is reshaping the water treatment industry. Through passion, practicality, and persistence, his work at Pyxis Lab offers a compelling model for how technology and human experience can work hand in hand to create better solutions for water professionals worldwide.
Continue expanding your professional knowledge by subscribing to "Scaling UP! H2O" and exploring "In The Flow" by Pyxis Lab. Stay informed, stay innovative, and stay connected to the evolution of water treatment excellence.
Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!
Timestamps
02:17 – Trace Blackmore reflects on eight years of Scaling UP! H2O, building a global community for industrial water treaters
05:10 – Announcement of New Detective H2O Episodes coming for Industrial Water Week
08:04 – Upcoming Events for Water Treatment Professionals
10:15 – Water You Know with James McDonald
12:50 – Introduction to Jake Deak: Background, Family Influence, and Career Journey
16:16 – Core Values at Pyxis Lab and how they shape product development and customer relationships
17:07 – Inside the creation of the OxiPanel Plus
27:14 – Why Pyxis Lab developed a mobile app
29:37 – In the Flow, Pyxis Lab’s new education podcast series
Quotes
"When I started this podcast eight years ago, I had no idea how much it would mean to so many people." - Trace Blackmore
“If you can envision a staircase in front of you, the very first step is about ten feet tall. But once you take it, you’re on your way.” — Trace Blackmore
"We don't just create content; we create community."
"Starting is always the hardest step."
"Data is king. The more we can help operators harness their data, the better decisions they'll make."
"We’re not just adapting to change; we’re leading it."
“We are the friend to the water treater—the friend to the end user—and that has led to a lot of new acquisitions for us.” — Jacob Deak
Connect with Jake Deak
Phone: +15704197057
Email: jacob.deak@pyxis-lab.com
Website: Inline & Handheld Analytical Tools for Water Treatment | Pyxis Lab®
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobddeak/
Click HERE to Download Episode’s Discussion Guide
Guest Resources Mentioned
“In the Flow” Podcast by Pyxis Lab
2022 AWT Innovation Award Recipient
Episode 1 In The Flow : Trace Blackmore
FS-100/101 Series Ultrasonic Flow Meters
PRL-100 Personal Radar Level Sensor
uPyxis App: Water Tech for Modern World
Scaling UP! H2O Resources Mentioned
AWT (Association of Water Technologies)
Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses
2024 AWT Innovation Award Recipient
Water You Know with James McDonald
Question: Are conductivity and Total Dissolved Solids the same thing?
2025 Events for Water Professionals
Check out our Scaling UP! H2O Events Calendar where we’ve listed every event Water Treaters should be aware of by clicking HERE.
