In addition to cost savings, there are many advantages to
choosing hiring over purchasing gas detectors. By Jason Wright

When I married my wife, I also
became a proud owner of a
swimming pool. So you would
think that I would be happy to see the
summer months approaching, right? Wrong.

It’s actually quite the contrary. So far, it’s been
the same story every year. It starts with
uncovering the pool, and then it quickly goes
downhill from there.

The first step is to drain the smelly,
stagnant, tadpole-filled water off the winter
cover. And every year, the same thing seems
to happen: There is a minuscule tear or hole
in the cover that I cannot see. I place the
water pump onto the cover and as I am
waiting for the water to drain, I notice the
water level gets to a certain point but never
gets any lower. Hmm…. It is then that I
realize the good water, which is underneath
the cover, is now being sucked through the
pump and sent through the waste line. Nice.

After I wrestle with the — let’s call it the
“heavier than you think because it still has
smelly, stagnant, tadpole-filled water on it”
winter cover — I finally get it pulled to one
side of the pool and somehow remove it. By
this time, I am usually covered in smelly,
stagnant, tadpole-filled water.

After removing the smelly tadpoles from
my ears, it’s time to assess the water level in
the pool and determine how many loads of
water I will need to purchase from the local
fire department. Next, it’s time to buy
chemicals and various pool supplies. After
turning on the pump and praying that no
leaks spring up, it’s now time to vacuum the
pool.

“Darn. The vacuum is broken!” Back to
the pool supply store I go.

Granted, I am a newer pool owner and do
not have a vast knowledge about caring for a
swimming pool. I’m sure I will learn more it
in time, but I don’t think I will ever become
an expert. My time spent taking care of the
pool is limited since I live an area with a cold
climate many months out of the year. And
after all of that, usually I don’t end up having
much time to sink into it anyway.

I would surely love to be able to hire a
swimming pool, but now I’m stuck owning
one. When it comes to gas detection
equipment, however, you do have a choice.

Understandably, companies that have a
need for gas monitors on site for everyday
use should participate in a “total package”
Gas Detection as a Service solution. But what
about those instances when your need for
the gas detection equipment lasts only a few
days or a couple of months? In this case, it is
more economical to hire gas monitors than
to buy them.

A process shutdown at a plant is a common
event in which hiring gas detectors would be
ideal. This could be a turnaround at a refinery,
a shutdown at a steel mill, or an outage at a
power plant. During these processes, more or
different types of gas monitors often are
needed by the maintenance crew of that
company or for use by the contractors who
will be coming on site to do the work.

Another case in which hiring gas detection
equipment makes better sense is during a
new process or experiment. For instance, an
industrial hygienist wants to conduct a test,
but the particular gas of concern is not within
the plant’s normal array of sensors. Why
purchase a gas monitor for this short-term
project and pay all of the maintenance costs
that go along with it when you can hire for a
fraction of the cost of ownership? In the
unfortunate event of an accident or
emergency, fire and hazmat crews are not
always equipped with gas detectors that
include the exotic gas sensors, such as
chlorine, ammonia, and hydrogen chloride. It
would be very costly to own and maintain a
monitor with these sensors installed due to
the price of the sensors and calibration gas
associated with the exotic gases.

In addition to cost savings, an advantage
to hiring over purchasing gas detectors is
that it enables more accurate budgeting for
projects. This is because the hire costs are
known ahead of time. If a piece of equipment
is purchased and owned, all of the other
costs associated with maintaining the units
over time are unknown and unaccounted for.

When the job is done and the hire units are
sent back, the maintenance and upkeep costs
are transferred back to the company that
owns the equipment. Typically, gas detection
equipment hire companies will absorb the
normal costs associated with wear and tear,
including sensor replacements, filters,
faceplates, and pumps. These costs are not
passed on to the customer. Some will even go
so far as to send out replacement monitors
the same day they are needed for hire
monitors that go down while in service.

In summary, hiring gas detectors is a great
option for applications that require shortterm
use of gas detection equipment. These
could be instances where more equipment is
needed to cover additional workers due to a
turnaround, shutdown, or outage. There may
be a need for a different type of gas monitor
with sensors that are not typically used on a
day-to-day basis. In an emergency when gas
monitors are needed quickly, hiring could be
a sensible option.

So don’t be a victim of smelly, stagnant,
tadpole-filled water abuse! Contact the gas
detection experts and see whether hiring gas
detectors is right for you.

Jason Wright is the Account Manager,
Rental, at Industrial Scientific Corporation.

He can be reached at [email protected]