Ah, spring is upon us.
When we were kids, that meant throwing on our rain boots, splashing in puddles, and getting into some muddy trouble, somewhere, somehow.
One day, one extra-gloomy day, I decided to collect a jar of dirty water from a stream near my home.
With one fistful of sand and gravel, and my jar in the other hand, I ran home to conduct my first science experiment with water. I lined the bottom of a plastic cup with a coffee filter and tossed the sand on top. I placed the cup into an empty jar and poured the dirty water into the cup.
Then, I watched the gravel and sand filter the dirty stream water.
"Do not drink that!" Mom said. That’s the wrong thing to tell a curious kid.
Not long after my Mom’s ignored advice, I discovered water can look clean without actually being clean. And that the bacteria or viruses you don’t see can really ruin your weekend.
I’ve been interested in water purification technology ever since.
As the snow melts in the Northeast and you get outdoors to explore and experiment with your family, I have one piece of advice: always think about what’s upstream from your sample collection location.
Since Spring brings rain and snowmelt and we’re all doing our best to avoid puddles in the parking lot at work, this edition of the SECO newsletter is all about water purification.
Water Purification over the years
Did you know that besides being home to SECO, the Northeast is also home to the first water disinfection system for community drinking water in the U.S.? Keep reading to find out how the Northeast kicked off nationwide water purification.
Dive into Water Purification
It’s 1908, Jersey City. Dr. John L. Leal, a doctor and a water treatment expert, establishes a plan for water chlorination and filtration to combat the dangerous rates of typhoid and cholera in the Northeast.
Dr. Leal’s initiative ushers in the concept of water purification into our everyday lives, making clean drinking water and high-quality lab water possible and accessible.
Fast forward to 1933. Thomas McCutcheon founded SECO to address the unmet demand for lab supplies in the Northeast. He begins networking with analytical chemists and science enthusiasts, curating a collection of products that have transformed over almost 100 years.
Today, SECO maintains a partnership with leading water purification manufacturer, Thermo Scientific™, who changed the water purification game altogether.
By manufacturing comprehensive and sophisticated water purification systems like:
Thermo Scientific™ Barnstead™ Smart2Pure™ Water Purification System
Thermo Scientific™ Barnstead™ EPure™ Ultra Water Purification System
… Thermo Scientific has outfitted labs in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and across the United States with the tools they need to secure the highest quality water in the amount they need it in, when they need it.
You can find all your lab’s water purification necessities here.
Leading Water Purification Systems from Thermo Scientific
Your lab team depends on ultrapure water for a whole lot in the lab. Feeding it to analyzers. Rinsing glassware after washing. Running experiments that are much more sensitive than the streamwater experiments from our childhood.
When our family started SECO back in 1933, we relied on and trusted in our close-knit community of scientists to help us best understand the unmet needs of chemical and petro labs in the Northeast.
So now, even in 2022, we’ve stuck to these principles. We're one of the largest distributors of Thermo water purification systems and accessories in the Northeast. That gives you special access to Thermo water purification application engineers. Very few distributors can give you this.
Of course, you want to make sure you get the right water purification system in your lab. No problem. Ask and we'll send you a free H2O Select analysis kit. You:
Fill the bottle with your feed water.
Complete the short questionnaire.
Send it all to the Thermo Scientific Barnstead Water Lab.
They will recommend the best system configuration based on your feed water quality, laboratory applications, daily volume requirements, and budget. Then we'll build your quote with your special SECO pricing and ship it under a single part number.
Want to be more hands-on? We'll set up a video chat with a Thermo Water Lab engineer so you can talk over your application with an expert in real-time.
Sound like something that could take some stress off your shoulders? Get in touch with us to schedule your video chat at any time.
Don’t let your lab get tide down by your water needs.
Bottled Water Options from MilliporeSigma, LabChem, and Ricaa
Our loyal customers know that we extended our partnership with MilliporeSigma in 2021 to make more of your favorite lab products available and accessible than ever before. Bottled water options are one of those sought-after products.
Your lab could simply need bottled water to dilute buffers. Maybe you’re performing careful flow cytometry. Whether you need a little or a lot, SECO carries a bottled water solution for you. You can find the collection of bottled water here.
Replacement Cartridges?
Maintaining your water purification system shouldn’t burn calories. Having worked with busy labs in Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, and all across the Northeast and the United States, we know that your daily lab work keeps your plate full (sometimes, with seconds).
Did you know lab water purification filter cartridges have a shelf life? Most are halfway expired by the time you get them in your lab. They spend half their lives in an overseas warehouse or on a shipping container waiting at the port.
Thermo Scientific makes its filters here in the USA, so they're fresh and your lab gets all the mileage possible out of them.
Plus, we like easy. And over the last hundred years, we've learned you do too. A lot of your colleagues say Thermo cartridges are easier to swap out than any other brand.
If you're doing HPLC or ICP, pharmacology or microbiology or proteomics, swapping out your filters is almost as easy as replacing your Brita at home.
We do our best to bring you better and easier. You can find the fresh Thermo Scientific replacement cartridges you need here.
Can’t find what you need on our website? We stock thousands of SKUs that aren’t available online. Get in touch with our team for preferred pricing on everything you need.