Field Notes from RCS

Unplugged No. 1: This One's for Levi. No studio, no voice polish. Just Mike, a laptop and a microphone.

In this episode: a coworker's first reaction, "Is that even your voice?", and why it led to an unplugged episode · why Field Notes exists in the first place: being better known, LinkedIn, and moving to our own site · the motto, to provide something useful, and the knowledge walking out the door · how the old Listen Online button turned into a podcast · why talking about an article works better than reading it · how the regular episodes are made: dictation, a script, and a professional polish of Mike's voice · the bag phone, and the foreman we called "The President" · regular or unplugged: which would you rather hear?

Read "The Knowledge Walking Out the Door": https://newsletter.rcswv.com/p/the-knowledge-walking-out-the-door
Field Notes from RCS: https://newsletter.rcswv.com/

Roberts Corrosion Services, LLC — cathodic protection and corrosion control, nationwide since 2011. rcswv.com · (304) 869-4007

Article 0069: CP Shielding: When the Coating Protects the Corrosion. How a disbonded coating can wall off the very steel it was meant to protect, while your readings still say protected.

In this episode: a foreign-line crossing exposes your pipe, and the tape peels back on active corrosion · how an off-potential can pass while the steel a few inches away is losing metal · how a good coating's dielectric strength becomes a shield once it disbonds · why DCVG, ACVG, coupons and close interval surveys usually can't see it until the coating breaks open · what does find it: direct examination, in-line inspection, and good documentation · why turning the rectifier up won't reach shielded steel · how coating repairs actually go for an operator: approved coatings, compatibility with the parent coating, tie-ins and holiday detection · the takeaway: know your coatings, and be there whenever your pipe is exposed.

Read the article: https://newsletter.rcswv.com/p/cp-shielding-when-the-coating-protects-the-corrosion
Field Notes from RCS: https://newsletter.rcswv.com/

Roberts Corrosion Services, LLC — cathodic protection and corrosion control, nationwide since 2011. rcswv.com · (304) 869-4007

Article 0068: Oxidation Does Not Mean Oxygen. Where OIL RIG came from, why the names mislead, and the trap that catches good techs.

In this episode: the question behind the article, asked in a hotel room while writing training material (why does "reduction" mean gain?) · how a chemist with a scale named oxidation, and how the men running furnaces named reduction long before anyone knew the electron existed · why steel corrodes just fine with no oxygen at all, and why oxygen still sets the pace in most ground · why wet ground is usually oxygen-starved ground · anode and cathode as job titles, not part numbers · why cathodic protection works whether oxygen is there or not · the takeaway: the fundamentals you can recite are not always the fundamentals you know.

Read the article: Oxidation Does Not Mean Oxygen
Field Notes from RCS: newsletter.rcswv.com

Roberts Corrosion Services, LLC — cathodic protection and corrosion control, nationwide since 2011. rcswv.com · (304) 869-4007

Article 0075: MIC: A Positive Vial Is Not a Diagnosis. A positive bacteria test tells you there's bacteria. It doesn't tell you what's eating the pipe.

In this episode: the picture at the top of the article and why sterile sample bottles are a rule, not a preference · the colleague's question that started it ("when do you call it MIC?") and the one-page reference RCS built to answer it · the three conditions the standards actually require before MIC is the cause — elevated organisms compared to clean pipe, chemistry that agrees, and biology as the primary contributor · what the vials do and don't tell you, including the salinity of the kit, the two-hour rule and the two read windows · why a swab off the wall or a coupon beats a bottle of fluid · why there is no threshold number · the one takeaway: bacteria tests are not MIC tests.

Read the article (with the free one-page field reference at the bottom): MIC: A Positive Vial Is Not a Diagnosis
Field Notes from RCS: newsletter.rcswv.com

Roberts Corrosion Services, LLC — cathodic protection and corrosion control, nationwide since 2011. rcswv.com · (304) 869-4007

Article 0078: The First Tap is Misleading. A new rectifier gets dialed in, not cranked up.

In this episode: a ground bed we had just put in read six ohms on the first tap, and it wasn't the bed · we go through commissioning a tap-type rectifier step by step — pick the locations to watch, take a baseline, take the back EMF out of the resistance number, step the taps up while you read the line, and set it where the worst spot is protected and the spot next to the bed isn't overdone · the one takeaway: don't judge a ground bed on the lowest tap.

Read the article: The First Tap is Misleading
Field Notes from RCS: newsletter.rcswv.com

Roberts Corrosion Services, LLC — cathodic protection and corrosion control, nationwide since 2011. rcswv.com · (304) 869-4007