Having managed water and wastewater systems for most of my career, I have engaged with interest in the operations of specific water systems. Many times, those conversations have lead into areas beyond the engineering criteria for daily operations and into areas such as customer satisfaction. The great majority of these systems meet all required regulatory quality standards each day. Then why do customers become dissatisfied with the utility? One notable answer: SERVICE.
It’s a great day on the job site, and your crew is running hard—you're making up for lost time, possibly due to weather delays. You're expecting your next load of Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) any minute, and your goal is to unload your pipe as safely and quickly as possible. Before you let the truck take off, you need to understand and follow these guidelines before receiving your pipe.
So, you have an existing water distribution system feeding a small hospital and a military post. Now you need to branch off the pipeline to feed another 30 new houses under construction nearby. How do you do it without interrupting service to the critical facilities already being served? In this Iron Strong Blog, we’ll discuss three common pipe tapping methods used in the water and wastewater industry and the variables to consider when choosing the best method for your waterworks project.
Most people commonly think the answer to this question is relatively simple. “All I need to do is make sure the Inside Diameter of the casing pipe is larger than the outside diameter of my carrier pipe.” While that is a correct answer, it isn’t necessarily the best answer. Within this Iron Strong Blog, we will closely examine what you need to consider when selecting a casing pipe to fit your application.
You’re Asking. We’re Answering
There are so many questions that our consumers have about ductile iron pipe and one of the biggest categories is the HOW: “How is it made? How is it done? How can I fix this?” And there’s even the “How much does it cost?”
As a manufacturer of Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe), we often field questions from water professionals regarding DI pipe, its uses, and how to install it properly. We even receive numerous questions about alternate materials, their differences, their uses, and the best choice for the application. And of course, when you ask, we answer…honestly, even when the answer doesn’t include Ductile iron. In this Iron Strong Blog, we’ll cover a few of our frequently asked questions (FAQ) and provide some solutions. We will continue with this FAQ series in the upcoming months.
A question often asked in our business is “Why did the Ductile iron pipe manufacturers all seem to get there start or have roots in Birmingham, Alabama?” If you look back at the history of Birmingham, it is easy to understand why these companies chose this area to establish their businesses. The resources, infrastructure, and manpower all came together to drive the City’s growth and make Birmingham one of the most productive industrial cities in the South.
So, the site plans say, "… connect to existing iron pipe." Now that we’ve dug down to it, I can’t tell if it is gray iron or Ductile iron pipe. Are there ways to reliably distinguish between the two without some physical testing on a sample? In this blog, we'll take a closer look at the characteristics and differences between the two types of pipe.
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Looking for answers to your DI pipe questions? Find decades of Ductile iron expertise with installation guides, videos, tip sheets, training resources, and more in our Learning Center.
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