503 Pinks and Blues: Beyond Industrial Water Week 2026
Scaling UP! H2O
Industrial Water Week 2026 has ended, and Trace Blackmore, CWT, challenges listeners to carry its focus on learning and mentorship into the rest of the year. This Pinks and Blues episode combines reflections on IWW26 and the AWT convention with listener questions about AI and professional development. Give continued learning a place on your calendar Trace proposes a specific challenge: choose one of Industrial Water Week’s five focus areas and schedule 30 minutes to improve your understanding. Those areas are pretreatment, boilers, cooling, wastewater, and careers. ...
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502 Industrial Water Week 2026: Careers Friday
Scaling UP! H2O
Experienced water treaters carry knowledge that the next generation needs. For Careers Friday, Trace Blackmore, CWT asks them to pass it on. The Industrial Water Week 2026 finale connects industrial water treatment careers with mentorship, practical training, and curiosity. Pass on the reasoning behind the work Trace describes a mentor as someone you can call when a system presents a problem you cannot explain. Learning from another professional’s challenges, mistakes, and experience helped him solve problems and later mentor others. He also addresses professionals preparing to retire....
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501 Industrial Water Week 2026: Wastewater Thursday
Scaling UP! H2O
A wastewater inspection appeared to expose a failed treatment program—until Trace checked where the sample had been collected. For Industrial Water Week 2026: Wastewater Thursday, Trace Blackmore, CWT, connects correct sampling, water reuse, and careful troubleshooting with the decisions water treaters make every day. Check the sample location before drawing conclusions In an early-career account, a plant operator faced a threatened shutdown after an inspector’s sample produced out-of-spec results. Trace reviewed logs, spoke with the engineer, and tested two locations. The...
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500 Industrial Water Week 2026: Cooling Wednesday
Scaling UP! H2O
Cooling Wednesday brings a practical reminder: correcting a treatment problem requires understanding what caused it. For Industrial Water Week 2026, Trace Blackmore, CWT, celebrates Episode 500 with lessons on cooling tower foam, biocide feed verification, Legionella risk, and unexplained chilled water loss. Start with the feed history When a cooling tower produces enough foam to spread across the property and trigger low water shutdowns, Trace begins with the biocide feed logs. He compares the chemical remaining in the tank with calculated consumption and finds evidence of...
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499 Industrial Water Week 2026: Boiler Tuesday
Scaling UP! H2O
Boiler Tuesday is a reminder that industrial water treatment exists to protect heat transfer efficiency. For day two of Industrial Water Week 2026, Trace Blackmore, CWT, connects feedwater preparation, condensate quality, and treatment distribution to the everyday decisions that keep steam systems working. Feedwater quality sets the stage Trace starts with a practical measure of boiler performance: how much heat from the flame reaches the steam? Feedwater conditions directly affect that work. He links inadequate feedwater heating with higher chemical demand,...
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498 Industrial Water Week 2026: Pretreatment Monday
Scaling UP! H2O
is here—and Day 1 is Pretreatment Monday. In Episode 498, Trace Blackmore, CWT, opens the 2026 celebration with troubleshooting stories, returning guest greetings, and a new Detective H2O case that brings pretreatment performance into focus. Celebrate with purpose Take a photo with your favorite pretreatment equipment—a softener, RO, or filter housing—and post it with #IWW26. Then search the hashtag to connect with others doing the same work. Trace’s invitation makes the week visible and recognizes the people who keep downstream systems operating. Start with the pretreatment train At...
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497 Pinks & Blues: From Sample to Solution
Scaling UP! H2O
A controller and a handheld meter give you different readings. Before you adjust blowdown or chemical feed, how do you determine which result deserves your confidence? Reliable water treatment testing starts with understanding the sample, the system, and the equipment behind the number. In Episode 497, “Pinks and Blues: From Sample to Solution,” Trace Blackmore, CWT, answers listener questions that build on Episodes 397 and 408. He connects testing with repeatable procedures so technicians can interpret results, make informed adjustments, and explain their decisions to...
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496 Growing Through Change in Water Treatment with Mark Lewis, Part 2
Scaling UP! H2O
When a water treater can run a test but cannot yet diagnose a failing system, the next training decision matters. In Growing Through Change with Mark Lewis, Part 2, Mark Lewis of CRB Water joins Trace Blackmore, CWT, to connect training choices with work in the field. Match Training to Experience Mark sees the space between AWT’s March and November training sessions as a chance to revise material instead of repeating the same presentation. He explains how Fundamentals and Applications, Program Designs and Operations, and Technical Training serve different levels of readiness....
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495 Growing Through Change in Water Treatment with Mark Lewis, Part 1
Scaling UP! H2O
Change is unavoidable, but uncertainty does not have to control how water treatment professionals respond to it. Mark Lewis returns to share what he learned when Southeastern Laboratories was acquired by CRB Water—and how employees can remain valuable, informed, and open to opportunity during a business transition. Navigating an Acquisition from the Employee’s Perspective Southeastern Laboratories began exploring a buyer because its owners wanted to protect the company and approximately 30 employees. When CRB Water entered the picture, employees naturally wondered what...
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494 Preparing for AWT 2026: Leadership, Change, and CWT Growth with Matt Coffindaffer, Part 2
Scaling UP! H2O
A strong convention outcome starts before the first session and continues long after the exhibit hall closes. Association of Water Technologies Executive Director Matt Coffindaffer explains how deliberate preparation, wider professional relationships, and volunteer service can turn AWT 2026 into practical value for an industrial water treatment career or business. Find the Right Place to Volunteer AWT offers yearlong committee service, shorter task-force assignments, and opportunities across technical research, marketing, membership, regulatory affairs, business resources, young...
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Boiler Tuesday is a reminder that industrial water treatment exists to protect heat transfer efficiency. For day two of Industrial Water Week 2026, Trace Blackmore, CWT, connects feedwater preparation, condensate quality, and treatment distribution to the everyday decisions that keep steam systems working.
Feedwater quality sets the stage
Trace starts with a practical measure of boiler performance: how much heat from the flame reaches the steam? Feedwater conditions directly affect that work.
He links inadequate feedwater heating with higher chemical demand, increased conductivity, and additional blowdown. For deaerators, he also emphasizes pressure. Together, these points reinforce the need to review feedwater conditions when evaluating treatment performance.
Follow contamination through the condensate system
Jake Elliott of HydroFlow recalls declining boiler alkalinity that eventually led to a plant room full of foam. A failed valve had allowed process material into the condensate return and feedwater tank, consuming alkalinity and forming soap.
Meanwhile, Trace shares a separate case involving oil contamination, boiler surging, priming, and deteriorating steam quality. The investigation traced the oil to a leak in a process condensate line. Recovery required isolating the affected return, cleaning the boiler, and withholding contaminated condensate while the plant corrected the equipment and process problem.
Both stories show why troubleshooting must include the process equipment connected to the condensate system.
Confirm that amine protection reaches distant equipment
James McDonald’s scripted Detective H2O story, The Case of Not Going the Distance, examines a different condensate problem. Readings near the boiler house look acceptable, while distant sections show lower pH and corrosion.
The case explains amine distribution ratio as the relationship between amine in the vapor phase and amine in the liquid phase. It compares how morpholine, diethylaminoethanol, and cyclohexylamine travel through the system.
The detective reviews the blend and identifies satellite feed locations near long steam branches. Then he checks condensate pH at the same sampling locations after the changes. Early coupon observations support continued monitoring through a full exposure cycle.
Strengthen the fundamentals and celebrate the work
Frank Lecrone of AquaPhoenix Scientific shares a hardness testing mixup that reinforces the value of checking test instructions and using the correct titrant. Eric Johnson of Boilearn emphasizes learning boiler fundamentals and considers how future AI tools could help professionals interpret system data.
James Courtney of CSC Technologies closes the guest greetings with a story about returning to a familiar brewery boiler. To join the Boiler Tuesday celebration, share a photo with your boiler, deaerator, or feedwater tank using #IWW26. You can also guess the mystery guest voice on LinkedIn before Friday’s reveal.
Sound boiler decisions depend on reliable testing, attention to connected processes, and evidence that treatment reaches the equipment it needs to protect.
Listen to the full conversation above. Explore related episodes below. Stay engaged, keep learning, and continue scaling up your knowledge!
Timestamps
01:10 — Trace welcomes the Scaling UP! Nation to Boiler Tuesday and invites professionals to share their boiler work during IWW26.
02:50 — Trace defines the water treater’s role as a heat transfer efficiency manager and connects treatment work to steam production.
03:40 — The discussion moves from softened water and returned condensate to feedwater quality, establishing the starting point for boiler performance.
04:00 — Trace links inadequate feedwater heating to chemical demand and blowdown, then emphasizes deaerator temperature and pressure.
05:30 — Frank Lecrone shares a hardness testing error that shows why the correct titrant and test instructions matter.
06:30 — Eric Johnson explains how boiler fundamentals help professionals understand system behavior and troubleshoot customer problems.
07:50 — Eric considers future AI tools for interpreting boiler, steam, and hydronic system data to inform operating decisions.
09:10 — Jake Elliott describes declining alkalinity and foaming caused by process contamination entering the condensate system.
09:50 — Trace begins a field story about boiler surging, priming, and lost steam quality that disrupted production.
11:20 — The investigation identifies oil entering the condensate return through a process line leak, revealing the source of the boiler upset.
12:30 — Trace describes isolating the affected return, cleaning the boiler, and withholding contaminated condensate during recovery.
15:00 — Detective H2O begins The Case of Not Going the Distance, a scripted investigation into corrosion in distant condensate lines.
29:50 — James Courtney shares the personal significance of returning to a brewery boiler connected to his family business.
30:30 — Trace invites boiler room photos with #IWW26 and encourages listeners to prepare their Cooling Wednesday photos.
Connect with Frank Lecrone
Email: [email protected]
Website: Water Quality Testing Products | AquaPhoenix Scientific
LinkedIn: Frank Lecrone | LinkedIn
Connect with Eric Johnson
Email: [email protected]
Website: Boilearn I The Foundation of Boiler Training
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjohnson2020/
Connect with Jake Elliott, PhD
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://hydroflow.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hydro-flow/
Connect with James Courtney
Phone: +1 443 878 2407
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.csctech2o.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-courtney-cwt-leed-ap-379a6877/
Links Mentioned
AWT (Association of Water Technologies)
Scaling UP! H2O Academy video courses
Industrial Water Week Scaling UP H2O Resource Page
460 Building Boiler Talent: Fundamentals, Online Training, and Better Partnerships with Eric Johnson
451 Building a Culture of Innovation and Customer Service with Frank Lecrone
467 From PhD to Pump Rooms: Jake Elliott on Wastewater, Efficiency, and Saying “Yes” Wisely
325 Rising Together: Conquering Challenges through Collective Support
394 Visibility and Value: Enhancing Sustainability in Water Treatment
445 Industrial Water Week 2025: Careers Friday
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