While many are excited to emerge from a long and cold winter
and enjoy the rising temperatures that come with spring, not everyone loves the
shift in seasons. Facility managers around the country dread the season change
as it always brings lingering HVAC problems to the forefront. Every year during
the spring and fall as temperatures are changing, buildings around the country
work hard to adjust to the change in seasons as well. The HVAC systems go from cold
temps outside and constant heating of the building to cooling instead, or vice
versa. This dramatic change takes a toll on the building envelope and interior
and can make underlying HVAC problems that went unnoticed during one season,
suddenly very noticeable. Employees and paying customers alike are feeling the
discomfort of hot and cold spots, condensation dripping, A/C not kicking on
correctly, doors blowing open, and other annoyances.
These types of issues not only
affect the comfort for your customers in the facility, they can also lead to
long term maintenance and higher energy costs should they not be fixed quickly.
This is where having an independent 3rd party onsite to inspect the
equipment can assist. Hiring an independent company can help in identifying the
underlying cause of such problems and repair minor issues that may have gone
undetected for years. By having the facility inspected by a truly independent
company, facility managers can know that the information they are receiving
provides a truly accurate snapshot of their facility and is not biased or
swayed based on loyalties. You will get real results with accurate and
actionable information.
If you are experiencing any of these issues with the upcoming season change, it is recommended to have these issues investigated immediately. Prices begin to rise just as the temperature does in the summer, as construction demand is at its peak during this time. Seeing some of these issues in your building? Contact us here to talk with our team about ways to get in front of problems before they get worse!
I’ve
been in my role, with Melink Corporation, as a Sales Engineer just over 1.5
years. I want to ensure it’s understood
that I am certainly no expert in the “Construction World” but I do have
tangible experience. This article’s
content is based on my first-hand experiences, real-world applications I’ve
dealt with and conversations I’ve had.
Thus, these opinions are largely subject to my own with some additional
input from outside articles and research.
My first week into this role was a mix of emotion, to say the last. It was during this week that my manager (whom I see as an industry expert and mentor) expressed to me [something along the lines of], “Eric, you’re dealing with one of the toughest verticals Melink works within [New Construction]. I’ll be honest with you – you’re going to learn so much but you’re really going to have to learn to love frustration.” Yes, you [reader] likely share my same sentiment – skepticism, surprise and curiosity; though, it didn’t take long to understand what he meant. I was “christened” nearly the very first project I dealt with. Long story short, despite our product being hard specified by the hired designing Mechanical Engineer, our product was ultimately “value engineered*” for a cheaper alternative. Echoing my feelings earlier, I was surprised, curious and frustrated. I became aware of the “Achilles heel” of the New Construction world – the bidding process (which is influenced by cost). Cost is, and always has been, the deciding factor in mostly all aspects of a new build project. It makes sense, until you dig deeper.
Everyone
is guilty. Even the product
manufacturers should hold themselves accountable in this regard; they/we are
just trying to play the ‘game’ and stay in business. In his article, “People Are Cost-Driven with
Kitchen Equipment but There’s an Adage of Buy Cheap, Buy Twice”, Andrew Seymour
interviewed a chef by the name of Hayden Groves. Mr. Groves is quoted as saying some buyers
are too “Excel spreadsheet-driven” and end up trying to shave off costs when it
might not be the right move for the business.
First hand, I’ve seen this happen, as explained earlier. Our controls can often be eliminated for a cheaper
alternative that cannot do the same thing, thus cannot produce the same results
as our technology. This decision is
often made without any discussion or pragmatic decision process. Who makes this decision? Ultimately, it should be the owner or
whomever holds the checkbook and it often is; in this case, I understand. The owner can do what he/she wants to
do. Unfortunately, often it’s a ‘bidder’
who is trying to win the project by competing solely on cost. Again, I want to reiterate that this doesn’t
happen every time, but it does happen way more than it should. Yes, I am saying that if a trusted designer
hypothetically specifies a Rolls-Royces then you’ll likely see most bidders
price out a Toyota Camry (Toyota’s are great vehicles – I own one!). Yes, they both have engines and four wheels,
but they are uniquely different and have glaringly different features,
components and thus, different values.
Without going down this rabbit hole, I’ll just say it’s the principle of
the matter…that matters. Attending an
industry conference this past week, I had the chance to sit down with
consultants and manufacturers. This
exact discussion was brought to the table as a point of frustration for the
consultants. They share my frustration! This is a broken process and research support
this argument. Consulting-Specifying
Engineers recent publication (www.csemag.com), provided the top
10 HVAC systems and BAS challenges. The
top challenge, comprising 79% of respondents, is the inadequate budget for a
good design. Conversely, this same research shows that 96% of specifying
engineers can agree that product quality is paramount when comparing products,
above all else; these are the engineers that are hired for their expertise to
ultimately design and specify products to accompany the design, to meet an
owner’s and/or architects’ goals. Yet,
here we are. A battle between the desire
to specify based on quality but ultimately being sold on what is cheapest.
So,
how does a whole industry change?
Perhaps by “eating the elephant, one bite at a time” as they say. One often overlooked and unquestioned factor
is that of aftermarket and post install support. It’s imperative that we all make sure to
mention our product’s warranties and service/support on the front end of the
process, as the lack of either could potentially be a major headache on the
backend. If I never mentioned Melink’s
warranties/service in my discussions, they would never get asked about; this is
shocking. A 2016 McKinsey study proves
that service and support reign most important in terms of purchasing factors
2016 McKinsey Study – “How to Unlock Growth in the Largest Account.”
Hayden
Groves, also harps on warranties/support.
He said, “You should look for manufacturers’ warranty too. If a
manufacturer gives you a minimum standard of a year but somebody else gives you
five years, that’s a huge belief in that piece of equipment”, says
Hayden. Speaking of Rolls Royce…
“The quality is remembered long
after the price is forgotten.” – Sir Henry Royce of Rolls Royce
*Value
Engineering = “Cost Cutting”
CITATIONS
Pelliccione, Amanda. “2019 HVAC &
Building Automation Systems Study.” Www.csemag.com, Equal Opportunity Publications, Inc,
16 Jan. 2019, bt.e-ditionsbyfry.com/publication/?i=559857.
R-22 is an HCFC (Hydrochlorofluorocarbon) refrigerant found in older commercial and residential HVAC equipment, such as RTUs (roof top units), split systems and other equipment. R-22 and other HCFC refrigerants are known to deplete the Earth’s protective ozone layer and contribute to harmful climate change.
The US has slowly been phasing
out the use of R-22 per the following phase-out schedule:
1/1/2010:
The US government banned the use of R-22 in new HVAC equipment.
1/1/2015:
The US government bans the production and import of all R-22
1/1/2020:
The US government will ban the use of all R-22 (with a few exceptions). This will be the end of the road for R-22 use in the US.
NREL (National Renewable Energy
Laboratory) estimates 40 million commercial RTUs (roof top units) were
installed in the US, in the decade prior to 2010. The US Department of Energy also estimates
that are at least 1.6 million old, low-efficiency RTUs in operation in the
US. This means there is a huge tidal wave of R-22 equipment in
operation that will need to be replaced in the very near future.
How does the 2020 ban affect me?
R-22 costs have skyrocketed and are already more than 4X the cost/lb. of
R410A. Older R-22 units have much lower EER ratings and are as much as 50% less
efficient than current-day high-efficiency units. In most cases, older R-22 RTUs cannot be
converted to R410A refrigerant, and the older units will need to be replaced with a new, more energy efficient, more
environmentally friendly RTUs. It is
already cost prohibitive to repair older R22 units, and the “fix-on-fail”,
emergency replacement philosophy will be MUCH more expensive than a pro-active
roof-sweep or planned equipment replacement program.
How can I best prepare for the phase-out, and where should I start? I recommend companies start with an HVAC inventory of their older equipment, in addition to a detailed survey of all their facilities to verify the age and condition of all HVAC equipment, including newer and older HVAC equipment. I also recommend involving a national or regional HVAC installation partner, and an independent, national testing, balancing and commissioning partner such as Melink Corporation to provide the unit data and a complete assessment of the entire mechanical system. The survey should include duct-work inspections, inspection of the RTUs and exhaust fans. Additionally, air-flow measurements should be recorded to verify proper building airflows and identify existing air-balance issues. If the entire HVAC system is not inspected, the building will often continue to have comfort problems and building balance issues, even after the new equipment is installed. The positive effects of the new, energy efficient HVAC equipment will not be fully realized, resulting in a lower-than-expected ROI.
For
further information on HVAC surveys and other custom scopes of work, please
e-mail [email protected]
or call us at 513.965.7300.
Do you want to optimize your
employees performance by 299%? Increase
cognitive ability in strategy development by 288%?
Yes! Of course, we all would love to
fully optimize ourselves and those around us to maximize our potential and
impact on the world. What if the answer
was all around us, literally allowing us to live, and also invisible. According to new research focused on indoor
air quality in the work place, there is a tremendous opportunity to move beyond
“green” buildings and ensure we work in “healthy”
buildings.
The COGfx Study, while limited to 24
participants, demonstrated that improved indoor environmental quality doubled
cognitive testing results in buildings with enhanced ventilation versus
conventional buildings. The study
distinguished between three building types; Conventional, Green, and Enhanced
Green. Within these building types the
focus benchmarks were Carbon Dioxide levels in parts per million (ppm), ventilation
rates expressed in cubic feet per minute (CFM) per person, and Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOC) in micrograms per cubic meter. It’s also worth noting that
building used was already a LEED Platinum certified facility, thus there’s
likely more room for increased scores when comparing older existing buildings.
Source: Natural Leader: The Cogfx Study
The study explores the decrease in
energy efficiency, which could be viewed as a negative, however relative to the
increase in employee productivity and lost time due to sickness the savings can
be dwarfed. The noted increased cost per
occupant in energy consumption is $400/year, however the study suggest a 6 x
return in sick leave reductions alone relative to the increased energy
cost. Factor in the potential for increased
productivity for one of the biggest operational cost for any company, the
people, and the energy penalty is worth the investment.
While Melink is focused on energy
efficiency, we’re also not blind to the impacts of IAQ and built our corporate
HQ as a LEED Gold facility, later upgraded to Platinum. In addition to the LEED standards, we also
monitor in door CO2 levels via sensors and increase ventilation
rates via a HVAC purge sequence once the room exceeds 800 ppm in CO2. On average, the general office area CO2
levels hover around 600 ppm and are aided by the addition of live plants which
produced an average drop of 100 ppm in CO2.
This focus on IAQ has led us to the development of a new product, Melink PositiV, to help ensure proper positive building pressure and CO2 levels in commercial buildings. The aim is to provide a simple solution for one of the biggest problems in all buildings, restaurants and retail locations; negative building pressure. The standalone device will monitor pressure, temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 levels and provide a picture of building health and trends.
This one seems like a no-brainer, but there are always
occurrences when Melink arrives to perform a balance and necessary equipment
either hasn’t been installed or isn’t properly operational. Examples might
include VAV’s or dampers that haven’t been installed, or a RTU that isn’t
operational.
Ensuring that all ductwork has been completed, balancing dampers
are properly installed, any grilles, registers and diffusers are installed, and
the RTUs have clean filters helps make sure that Melink can provide a proper
air balance, as well as mitigate any potential return service costs. Making
sure that all equipment (especially RTUs) has undergone a proper start-up to
confirm power should always be completed ahead of Melink’s arrival.
All
HVAC equipment can be easily accessed.
Another hindrance to any proper test & balance is not being
able to access the necessary equipment. This includes equipment installed inside
the building, as well as equipment on the roof. When working with a customer
located inside a mall or shopping center, security and approved roof access
becomes another added component that must be considered.
Melink typically requires assured access to all applicable HVAC
system equipment, including RTUs, VAVs, Exhaust Fans, dampers, etc. Access to
fully open dampers, ceiling-height diffusers, and thermostats that may be in an
office is necessary to properly complete the balance. Our Account Coordinators
will also discuss roof access, security measures, and accessibility to ladders
or lifts.
Allotting
adequate time (2-3 weeks) to schedule and complete the balance.
Though some seasons are busier (or slower) than others, our goal
at Melink is to provide every customer the same level of service excellence no
matter the time of year. This includes communication with the customer,
scheduling the site visit with one of our National Network technicians,
performing the balance and working with the customer on any punch-list items,
and finally, providing a certified test & balance report.
Our team of National Account representatives and technicians work with the customer through each step of the process. Scheduling service with Melink approximately 2-3 weeks out from turnover will help to ensure a proper and complete balance, and enough time to work through any punch-list items or lingering comfort issues for the customer.
Have you ever replaced old HVAC equipment just to find that, after spending a lot of money, the comfort issues you were experiencing previously are still there? Or you now have new problems that weren’t there before? Your HVAC operates as a complete system, and the new equipment is only as good as its installation quality and the existing system it is connected with. Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your HVAC equipment upgrade program.
First, be proactive. Get ahead of HVAC issues before they get worse or before they occur at all. The more proactive you are, the lesser the negative impacts to your facilities operating budget, revenue, customer relations, and human resources. On the flip side, with a fix-on-fail approach, you deal with costly emergency repairs, you have high energy costs from inefficient equipment, your revenue and customer relations suffer as uncomfortable customers take their business elsewhere, and your human resources incur lost productivity and even turnover of employees due to uncomfortable/unhealthy working conditions. Not to mention the effect on your stress level when you have to deal with HVAC breakdowns!
Start with a site survey. You need an accurate inventory of your existing HVAC equipment, so you can make decisions on what to do with it. Be clear about what information you need to have collected from the field, information that will enable you to make a thorough evaluation and meaningful recommendations. Examples include equipment age, condition, features, operating measures, and so on. Remember that your HVAC is a system, made up of many components all working together. The focus can tend to be limited to the heating/cooling equipment, but there are also other pieces of the system that are very important, such as exhaust fans, ductwork, air grilles, and controls, to name a few. Issues with these other components could limit the effectiveness of any new heating/cooling equipment. The system is only as good as its weakest member.
Assess the data. Review the data returned from the site surveys to assess the overall scale and scope of your upgrade program. Determine your trigger points for repair versus replacement, such as equipment age, condition, and efficiency. This is the methodology that will help you to objectively decide whether you will continue to invest in a piece of equipment or replace it altogether. In grading the equipment, this could be a simple, Green – Yellow – Red system of classification. Green meaning ‘do nothing’, the equipment is good as-is. Yellow meaning ‘repair’, the equipment has some issues that can be corrected at relatively low cost. Red meaning ‘replace’, the equipment has completely failed or is no longer worth investing in.
Prepare a scope of work. Apply the previously prepared methodology to your entire equipment inventory. This then becomes your scope of work for each site. Put the scope in writing and be clear about your expectations. Your equipment suppliers and installation contractors will need this scope in order to provide you with accurate estimates of cost and lead time. This advanced planning, budgeting, and coordination will help to ensure the subsequent execution of the work goes smoothly.
Consider the timing. Equipment suppliers and installation contractors tend to be busiest in the summer and early fall months when construction activity peaks. Avoiding these times helps to ensure you have the support you need, and your costs may be lower. Plus, upgrading before summer helps to prepare your facilities to handle the hot/humid weather ahead. Any temporary outages of heating/cooling that may occur while equipment is being repaired or replaced is less impactful on the facility operations during times of milder weather.
Vet your partners. Working with the right people makes a world of difference. Partner with suppliers and contractors who are trustworthy and reputable. Make sure they have experience with your type of facility and HVAC system, and are qualified for the services to be performed. With the right team, you can accomplish most anything.
Inspect the work. After the equipment is repaired or replaced, it is imperative that it be inspected, tested, balanced, and commissioned in order to receive the full benefit of your capital investment. This is your final assurance that you get the quality and performance expected out of your HVAC system. When issues are uncovered during this process, be sure to have them corrected by the suppliers and contractors while they are still under warranty. If left unaddressed, those issues will become headaches and costs to your facilities and operations teams later.
Managing an HVAC equipment upgrade program can be a daunting job. When it is handled in a proactive and organized fashion, and includes the right partners, the results can be extraordinary.
To quote a critically acclaimed HBO television series, “winter is coming, and we know what’s coming with it.” While it may not be as bad as the army of the dead, we can expect winter to bring about a variety of HVAC issues that can cost more pennies than shivers. Here are the top three most preventable winter mishaps, and how they can be avoided with a little DIY maintenance.
Frozen Pipes
Besides fire, a building’s biggest enemy is water. Only this time of year, unwelcomed water doesn’t come in the form of humidity or a leaky roof, rather, in the form of solid icy pipes. Many building owners will try to cut costs by not heating their buildings at all times while completely unaware that above ceiling and sub-floor spaces can fall below zero in extreme cold weather. These spaces are home to water pipes that can freeze and burst causing un-flushable toilets, compromised showers, inaccessible tap water, and not mention, outrageous repair costs. The residual heat from the livable spaces above or below these pipes help to keep temperatures above freezing, so setting the thermostat to at least 65 °F throughout the day and night should keep the water flowing. In addition, be particularly aware of areas that are unheated or are constantly exposed to the elements like garages, loading docks, and basement storage rooms. Insulated pipes and walls will help to seal the deal.
Uneven Airflow and Temperatures
Depending on the season, air is circulated throughout a building in different ways. Cold air falls which is why in the summer months, closing floor vents to allow more air to diffuse from ceiling vents is most effective in cooling a space. The opposite is true in the winter months where rising warm air is best circulated from floor diffusers and baseboard radiators. Knowing these trivial properties about air temperature can best optimize how your building is heated or cooled, so let the cool air fall and the warm air rise!
Dirty Furnace Filters
While problems that arise from dirty or clogged filters are not unique to the winter, it’s still one of the most common culprits for defective air conditioning. A unit’s air filter removes particulates from the pre-conditioned air and allows the clean air to be conditioned and distributed. If a filter is clogged, airflow is reduced, and the terminal units will have to run longer to achieve desirable space temperatures. In the colder months, the air becomes dry which can dehydrate a person’s skin as a result. With dead skin cells making up 70 to 80 percent of dust content, it’s no wonder that the winter sees some pretty dirty filters. Changing an air filter is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective way to ensure maximum heating outputs which is why new filters should be installed before every season.
These winter mishaps are snow laughing matter, but just like bad puns, they’re easy to spot. Keeping these three common maintenance issues in mind will allow you to brave the cold and keep cozy all winter long.
Good is no longer good enough! It seems it was only yesterday that every business claimed the key to winning customers was the quality of product or service they deliver. Here at Melink, we’re changing the game to focus on the customer experience! According to a Walker study, by the year 2020, customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. So, what is customer experience you ask? Customer experience is your customers’ perception of how the company treats them. These perceptions affect their behaviors and build memories and feelings, and may drive their loyalty. In other words, if they like you and continue to like you, they are going to do business with you and recommend you to the others. With customer experience being the new battlefield, companies are changing their approach, offerings, and business practices. Sales teams are working harder to learn their customers and their customer’s business, so they can create the “wow”. Hotel managers, restaurant chains, and even doctors’ offices are focused on creating an experience that knocks their customers socks off, instead of just standard practices.
These days, social media gives the consumer a lot of power and impact. There’s an instant feedback loop and the cluster of data starts to create the company’s reputation. For example, if you get on Amazon to buy a new bike for your son, you’re likely going to check the performance stars and the customer reviews. Any of those reviews can be the difference between you purchasing that bike and moving on to a different bike. If you’re looking for a surgeon and every website has them at 3 out of 5 stars, you’re likely going to move on to the next guy. He may be the best surgeon in the land, but his rude receptionist and office staff have poor bedside manner and make people miserable when they go in to see him. If you go to a fast-food burger joint, how likely is it that you’re going to write a positive Yelp review if you pull up to the drive thru, order your food, pay the correct amount, get the correct change and correct order, and you leave in a timely manner? Probably never! They didn’t go above and beyond and create the “wow”! If you want to improve the customer experience, there must be a “wow”! Recently I went through a drive thru myself and was caught off guard with my experience. When I pulled up it was raining. Normally I would get soaked reaching out to hand over the money. This time the cashier stuck an umbrella out the window, so I wouldn’t get drenched. Super small, super easy, but I was impressed! I’ve never seen it before in my time on this earth and he was focused on my experience! I did write a review and I tipped a drive-thru cashier for the first time!
Millennials are changing the game and companies need to embrace it. Sure, the entitlement is out of control, but the business practice changes are not all bad. If you’re focusing only on your product or service and not how your customer feels about the entire experience, you’re in trouble! Some of the large hotel companies are incentivizing their General Managers on customer experience and guest loyalty. The baby-boomers want to talk, interact, have face-to-face experiences with nice people. The millennials want to check-in swiftly to the hotel with no hiccups and have issues resolved quickly. Management needs to address all their consumer personas in a unique way to setup the individual customer experiences for success.
What happens if you fail to provide a positive customer experience? According to a recent study, 67% of customers mention bad experiences as a reason for churn and only 1 in 26 unhappy customers complain. That means companies not focused on the customer experience will lose customers well after it’s too late! Most of this is the result of what I refer to as “sales autopilot”. When you’re there trying to make it look like your product is perfect for them, without the data, you end up losing trust with them. Trust, brand and customer experience are all built on honesty. And honesty is knowing when your product won’t be a perfect fit for everyone. Therefore it’s so important to stop selling and start solving!
Since most companies will be expected to compete mainly on customer experience, organizations like Melink that focus on customer experience will stand out from the noise and win loyal customers over. One thing is for sure, if you want your customer to have an excellent customer experience and create a “wow” you must know your customers better than ever before! Here at Melink, my team and I are completing customer profiles and personas to improve individual experiences. Once you know your customers well enough, you can use that knowledge to personalize every interaction. Customers these days have more power and choice than ever before. Thus, we are responsible for understanding and acknowledging their needs. When people ask what we do, it shouldn’t be Test & Balance, Demand-Controlled Kitchen Ventilation (DCKV), Solar, or Geothermal, it should be creating the best customer experience in renewable and energy reduction markets for our customers!
The difference between outside air supplied to a building and air removed from inside a building is the building pressure. Typically, a slightly positive (or more air being supplied than taken out) building pressure is wanted for most buildings. Negative building pressure can cause many issues for customers from high energy costs to hot and cold spots in a building. Here are the top five problems a building with negative pressure can experience:
Difficulty Opening and Closing Doors:
One of the first signs that a building is negatively pressurized, is when the front door is not easily opened. After finally opening the door to a negatively pressurized building, a large draft will be felt on your back as the door is slammed closed. Because buildings are typically designed to be positively pressurized, you should feel a soft gust of air blowing outward when this is set properly.
High Humidity:
If your building is negatively pressurized, the building will pull in unconditioned outside air through all openings including doors, windows, and other leaks in the structure. This is very noticeable in the summertime when outside humidity is especially high. This can cause mold or mildew in the building.
High Energy Costs:
Studies have shown that correcting negative building pressure can save a facility owner as much as 20% on their HVAC energy costs. By ensuring your facility has a positive building pressure, you are avoiding unnecessary costs and maximizing comfort in the facility.
Outside Debris:
In a facility that is negatively pressurized, owners are more likely to see outside debris being pulled into the facility through various openings. These items include, leaves, flies, dirt, as well as smells brought in from outside. In many facilities, this could create major issues with production as the outside debris could be contaminating the products.
Hot and Cold Spots:
Another symptom commonly noticed in buildings with negative building pressure is noticeable hot and cold spots that are created by the disrupted airflow. This could cause the customers to become angry because they can’t reach a comfortable temperature in the building. In a restaurant, this could also cause food at the counter to become cold.
A few weeks ago my team and I had the pleasure of working directly with a customer who is expanding a very large and strategic program within their organization. I could tell the individual responsible for the program was carrying an incredible amount of responsibility to ensure this program’s success. While we gathered information and learned more, it was apparent that for as much as this program was a challenge to our customer, it was an opportunity for Melink to provide insanely great service. So, instead of assuming our standard approach to business, we tried something different: we leaned-in, volunteered out of the box suggestions, and assumed a collaborative approach. The response from our customer was through the roof!
Though we are well known for leadership in sustainability, our best-place-to-work culture, and are now employee owned, Melink Corporation is, at its core, a service company. In fact, “Service Excellence” is one of our core values along with “Integrity”, and “Innovation”. It is our job to exude these values; to continue doing so, we need to be incredibly adaptable to meet your needs. Have you ever heard the following expression about good Customer Service? You’ll know it when you see it. Well, when you work with Melink, I don’t want you to “see” our service; I want you to feel it. I want you to be so impressed by your experience, that you are over the moon, telling everyone you see about us. I expect nothing less than Insanely Great Customer Service… so should you.
So, I invite you to provide me with any feedback you might have to offer regarding your experience with us. Feel free to contact me at [email protected].
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Read More
Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Analytics cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.
We do not use cookies of this type.
Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient. The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission. This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.