“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” — Oscar Wilde

When you’ve worked in the deep trenches of critical infrastructure long enough, like quite a few of our longest tenured employee owners, you know that the most valuable lessons don’t come from a textbook or a policy manual. Rather, we learn the most, right in the field, from those real world mistakes and mishaps—or “experiences” as Oscar Wilde would say.

So, we asked our Associates about their most valuable gems of wisdom that they could pass on to colleagues in the industry. Here are some of the top answers we received. We're sharing them here, in hopes that we'll be able to save others from learning some unfortunate lessons the hard way.

• Spare parts are an on-site technician’s best friend.
• A single-point-of-failure is NOT an end user’s best friend.
• A hungry mouse can be disastrous to critical wires.
• The smallest of unchecked details can be the source of a project’s biggest (and most expensive) problem.
• Arc-flash is dangerous and not anything you ever want to see.
• Weekly exercises are the surest way to know your GenSet will work when needed.
• The UPS battery system is like a loaf of bread…you only get so many slices (or discharges)…and the bigger, and more often, the discharge, the quicker you’ll need a new loaf.

Let us know what you think of these nuggets. Have you had the unfortunate opportunity to learn any of these lessons on your own? Or do you have an important one to add to the list? Email us at Marketing@DVLnet.com. If we get enough responses, we’ll post a Part 2.

As the year draws to a close, we at DVL are preparing to say goodbye to three of our most dedicated and tenured employee owners, Jim Boyle, Ed Remington, and Lissa Wolf, all based out of our Philadelphia area office. We will miss them, but we couldn’t be happier for them as we send them off into the great world of retirement. DVL is an employee owned company, which means each employee benefits from our Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), a retirement fund that is 100% funded by the company. To make that sound even more amazing, this is in addition to our 401(k) plan and company match.

At DVL, retirement isn’t just the end of someone’s journey, but rather just the beginning of everything they’ve been working towards as an employee owner. Employees are encouraged to think like owners as they make decisions in their day-to-day life, all with the shared goal of making the company as profitable as possible, so that the workers themselves can enjoy those benefits.

With that being said, the employee owners of DVL want to congratulate Jim, Ed, and Lissa on reaching this most exciting (and ultimate) milestone of any employee owner’s ownership journey. You’ve worked tremendously hard, you’ve all impacted our company and our ESOP for the better, and we wish you nothing less than the huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

JIM BOYLE Senior Director of Finance Years at DVL: Almost 19
ED REMINGTON Senior Project Manager Years at DVL: Almost 26
LISSA WOLF Parts Sales Manager Years at DVL: 42*

*While DVL was not founded until 1985, in 1981, Lissa began working at a company that DVL acquired in the 1980s.

So, you get a new cooling system or a new generator and you think you’re set. The equipment is of such top-notch quality, and made really well, so you can just kick back and relax, and let it do its thing while you put any thoughts of future maintenance or service for the equipment in the back of your mind. Bury it away for another time. At least until something acts up.

Right??....

WRONG!

The power is yours to prevent something from going wrong in the first place. All the more reason not to take a dangerous gamble, risking the chance that the thing that goes wrong will be the priciest or most significant of repairs. Just show your equipment, even the shiny new stuff you just installed, some TLC, and you’ll stay ahead of the game. 

Soon you will see for yourself that the key to getting the most out of your equipment is being proactive. For example, checking on certain things in between scheduled preventative maintenance visits (we're talking oils, coolants, debris, filters, and more) will optimize efficiency and help you recognize potential issues that you can prevent from snowballing into something even worse down the road. 

Your ultimate goal is to comfortably rely on your investment for many more years to come.

Set yourself up for success. Check out these documents for pointers on how you can show your HVAC systems and Generators the love and attention they deserve.

Since we began our DVL Power Hour webinar series a few years ago, we've been able to bring you more than 40 live episodes. We’ve hosted many discussions about a variety of topics related to critical infrastructure and data centers. Thermal Management. Batteries. E-Rates. Green Data. Pandemics. Service. We’ve talked about all of this and more, as we welcomed guests from some of our partners, such as representatives from Vertiv, Generac, Critical Labs, Packet Power, and more, as well as some of our customers, and even scientists who have helped explain some of the latest technologies and trends.

If you haven’t had the chance to tune in for any of these webinars, or haven't in a while, we hope you’ll make your way over to our list of past webinars, as all our previously broadcasted webinar episodes can be accessed on-demand via our website. We invite you to browse topics and titles to find any that may interest you.

Some of our most popular episodes include:

• "How to Choose the Right Cooling System"
• "The Importance of Indoor Air Quality"
• "Research & Development: Advanced Methods of Cooling Electronics"
• "Power Distribution in Critical Facilities"
• "Expanding the Monitoring Equation: Alert Management to Risk Mitigation"
• "NFPA Standards & Generator UL Listings with Generac"

As far as new webinar episodes go, we are currently on a break for the summer, but check back soon for more information. We will continue to bring you new episodes on a monthly basis. In the meantime, if you'd prefer, all our webinars are ALSO available in a podcast format as well. Episodes have been edited down--you won't be able to see video or slides, but will still get to enjoy some interesting conversations and insights into the critical infrastructure world while on the go. We hope you'll tune in. And if you have any questions or comments, please reach us at Marketing@DVLnet.com.

DID YOU KNOW? All five DVL offices in Philadelphia, Albuquerque, Denver, Harrisburg, and Salt Lake City, have a parts department that you can contact to order emergency parts, portable cooling, or even a customizable spare parts kit. Spare parts for your equipment can be invaluable to have on-hand BEFORE you need them, especially with supply chains as unreliable as they are today. You don't want to be waiting for a piece in the mail that you need to have installed in your data center right away. We recommend a Spare Parts Kit, tailored to your equipment and needs. Don't be left out in the cold (or heat) waiting for much-needed thermal management parts to arrive, AFTER your equipment has called it quits due to a broken piece.

In need of Liebert or Generac parts or portable air conditioners?
Please contact the Parts Department at your local DVL office.