Presenter: Jeff Kochelek, CEO of Engineered Corrosion Solutions
We are pleased to announce Jeffrey Kochelek as the presenter for our October meeting. Jeffrey Kochelek has spent more than 30 years designing corrosion control strategies in a variety of industrial applications including oil and gas operations, municipal and industrial wastewater, and most recently in the fire sprinkler industry. Mr. Kochelek has published numerous articles on the subject of fire sprinkler system corrosion and has 10 patent applications regarding corrosion management in the fire sprinkler industry on file with the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Jeff Kochelek earned a BS in Chemistry from St. Louis University with additional coursework in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University. Mr. Kochelek worked as a research chemist doing soy protein research at Ralston Purina’s R & D headquarters in St. Louis. He later worked as a research chemist in the R&D department with Petrolite Corporation in St. Louis for 13 years.
Mr. Kochelek was founder and CEO of Team1 Auto Body and Glass providing retail and fleet collision repair services in 1993. During his tenure as CEO the company sales increased to $20M with 13 retail locations in Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee. Mr. Kochelek retired from the company in 2008.
Mr. Kochelek came to work for Fire Protection Systems Corrosion Management Inc. (fpsCMI) in 2008 to begin advancing corrosion management technologies for the fire sprinkler industry. He spearheaded the development of nitrogen inerting technologies in the industry. His engineering team now provides the only state of the art corrosion assessment, corrosion management and risk mitigation services for the fire sprinkler industry. He assembled a team of investors to form Engineered Corrosion Solutions, LLC which completed the acquisition of fpsCMI in March of 2013.
This presentation discusses the benefits and practical application of using Nitrogen Gas to inert Wet and Dry Pipe Fire Sprinkler Systems to prevent and manage internal corrosion. Under a nitrogen atmosphere, oxygen corrosion, which is the primary cause of corrosion related failures in sprinkler systems, can be completely controlled resulting in reduced risk (life safety, leak and business continuity), enhanced performance, and extended life of the fire sprinkler system. Excluding oxygen from both wet and dry (preaction) pipe fire sprinkler system piping by purging with nitrogen gas can reduce the corrosion rate in a fire sprinkler system by 99% and significantly extend the useful life of the piping.
Please plan to attend this important informational event. We encourage you to pass this invitation on to co-workers, professional acquaintances, friends, and others that would be interested in this program and our MN SFPE chapter.
Make your reservations on our website - http://www.sfpemn.org/ - or by contacting Andrew Leahy; email: mnsfpe@gmail.com, phone: (952) 656-3626. Membership is not mandatory for this program, but always encouraged. See you there!
Reservations must be made before 4:00 pm Monday, October 27th, 2014.
