We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gary Wintering a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Gary, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers
Back in 2021, we were contacted by The Colorado School of Mines (CSM) regarding a project they were working on to test more effective fire suppression options than what was commonly used. Large volumes of water tended to cause as much damage to an area as the fire itself and the use of bromine based compounds had been recently banned due to reported damage to the earth’s ozone layer. The project included participants from academia, business, and the US government (NASA). They contacted us because they were looking for commercial business partners that had some experience using mist systems for fire suppression.
As opposed to large volumes of water that are used to ‘drown’ the fire, the idea was to utilize water but in a different capacity. By atomizing the water into micron sized droplets, fog has the ability to smother the fire without excessive water damage. The combination of reduced heat from the fog system as well as the fact that the fog replaces oxygen in the air made it an interesting approach to traditional fire fighting methods. The concept was being used at that time but was not well understood.
Due to gravity on earth, the fire and the resulting suppression methods were difficult to observe with any degree of accuracy. Conducting these experiments in space would eliminate the effect of gravity and allow for a more robust and meaningful measurement of the actual effects of moisture on a fire.
Over the course of 2002, we worked with CSM and the other partners to develop a means of testing micron sized droplets of water to provide effective fire suppression. To fully understand what was taking place at the molecular level, the testing was to be conducted on the upcoming flight of the space shuttle Columbia.
The main goal of the experiment was to determine the optimum water concentration and water droplet size needed to suppress fires. The preliminary testing in zero gravity on a NASA KC-135 indicated that mist takes about 1/10 the amount of water compared to traditional fire sprinklers to extinguish a flame.
These experiments, however, were limited to a relatively short time frame due to the method of achieving zero gravity on the KC-135 airplane. The decision was made to continue the testing in an environment that could provide longer testing times in zero gravity. The space shuttle provided the ideal conditions and the experiments were scheduled for the STS-107 flight of the Columbia shuttle in early 2003.
As part of this project, we were invited to attend the shuttle launch on January 16th, 2003 at the Kennedy Space center in Florida. The trip included a VIP tour of the Marshall Space Flight Center facility in Cocoa Beach ,, attendance at a ‘pre-launch’ cocktail party, and special seating for the actual shuttle launch. It was an extreme pleasure and honor to be present for this ‘bucket-list event.
Although we were seated approximately 1 mile from the shuttle during launch, the noise and vibration from the energy required to lift the shuttle into space was truly incredible. You could feel the vibrations throughout your body. I observed the clothes of those around me actually vibrating due to the combustion of the fuel from the shuttle. It is hard to explain unless you have experienced it personally. I can still remember the feeling and my thoughts during the launch.
Following the launch, dozens of experiments were conducted over the next 2 weeks of the flight. It was extremely exciting to see our efforts, along with hundreds of other participants, come to fruition.
Very sadly, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry due to what was later revealed to be damage to the shuttle tiles from a piece of insulation foam that came loose during launch, hit the underside of the shuttle and caused enough damage to later create a catastrophic failure to the integrity of the shuttle during its re-entry.
Although much of the data from the experiments was already sent back to the Kennedy Space Center during the flight, the tragic loss of the 7 astronauts, all of the equipment, and the shuttle itself effectively overshadowed any and all of the experiments that were conducted on the flight. The net result was an understandably subdued response to the experiments and essentially terminated the work that had been done on this project up to that point. Unfortunately, no further steps were taken to pursue the results of these experiments. The subsequent investigation resulted in significant changes to the structure of NASA and the protocols that they used for shuttle flights.
Although this was a very unique opportunity for my company, it ended in an unbelievably tragic way. It is something I think about still to this day.
In the 33 years since I started this company, this was by far the most interesting, stimulating, and exciting project I have ever been involved with. We were honored to be a small part of these experiments.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Back in 1989, I started a small misting business with the intention of installing patio cooling systems for residential customers. Within a few years, we were able to develop a retail packaged product that we sold to retailers throughout the Southwest including Home Depot, Home Base, Price Club, Wal-Mart etc…
In 1996, we began developing a high pressure (1,000 psi) system in order to provide a wider range of uses for the concept. By atomizing the water to micron sized droplets at 1,000 psi, we could provide outdoor cooling up to 30 degrees; increase humidity up to 95%, provide unique visual effects for landscaping environments, and suppress dust. The move from line pressure to high pressure expanded the appllications of our products exponentially.
Over the years we have continue to develop unique and proprietary products to serve all of these applications and we maintain a strong presence and brand awareness across multiple industries. Our products have been used in over 100 countries around the world in industries including climate control, horticulture, wood and metal processing, indoor and outdoor cooling, and dust and odor suppression. ,
We pride ourselves on being innovative in creating unique products to serve specific industries. We focus on engineered systems that can accomplish very specific results while maintaining a high quality product and extensive customer support.
How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?
Funding a small start up is always a challenge. We were unable to get any assistance from traditional banking options and were forced to utilize personal capital and solicit funding from family and friends. We were highly focused on efficiency and careful in our use of available capital to maximize the impact while minimizing any capital shortfalls.
Beyond any start-up capital, we made the sacrifice to eliminate any personal income and utilized the company’s revenue to grow the business until it was sustainable with normal business expenses, including personal compensation.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Related to the topic above, the first 3-5 years was very difficult. However, we were determined to make the company work and made whatever sacrifices needed to keep the doors open. We were fortunate enough that our spouses were working and able to support our efforts as we worked through the initial stages of starting a company.
Additional challenges including the financial implications of the recession of 2008 which further solidified our commitment to the business as additional sacrifices to our personal income were required.
As long as one is fully committed to the concept and willing to think outside the box, hard work and sacrifices will go a long way to ensure success.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fogco.com