Duplicate Equipment in the Mechanical Room

Many dental offices wisely choose to purchase mechanical room equipment, such as compressors and suction machines, with dual heads. The theory behind this is when one compressor head or vacuum motor fails, the other motor has enough power to keep the office running while waiting for service or parts. It’s a great idea, but for some offices it just isn’t enough.

As your clinic grows past approximately eight operatories, the demands placed on your mechanical room equipment begin to grow exponentially. I have seen many 10 room clinics run on an MC-202 suction machine with good success – but when one suction motor fails, the office slows to a crawl. An old Copeland headed MDT compressor can easily run a clinic of this size – until one of the heads locks up. When that occurs, the compressor runs continuously, trying to keep up with the demand placed upon it.

Having major equipment breakdowns are costly, not just due to the repair cost, but also because of lost productivity in the office. To mitigate some of the risk of failed equipment, many large dental offices are now doubling up equipment in the mechanical room. Two compressors, two suctions, plumbed independently of each other, with a crossover valve in between them. This works best in a dental office with divided operatories. For example, an office with operatories on each side of a long hallway could plumb each side into its own suction machine. This effectively reduces the demand on the suction by one half. In the event of failure, you can simply turn a valve, and restore full vacuum to the clinic.

This is easiest to accomplish during the construction phase, but most offices can be refitted in some manner at a minimal cost. Spending twice as much money on equipment isn’t appealing to everybody, but compared to the cost of having a large practice sit idle for a day due to breakdown, it just might be one of the best investments you can make.