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Viega fittings and solar thermal heating – it’s a combination that for AET Solar has proven to be a perfect match.

AET Solar, one of the oldest solar manufacturers in the United States, worked on the largest solar thermal project in the country at the time in 2018. Viega played an integral part. The project was in Hawaii at the U.S. Army’s Schofield Barracks. AET installed solar water heaters to provide hot water for a portion of the barracks.

There are eight buildings with a total of 560 solar collectors and seven mechanical rooms with custom skid-mounted pumping stations. The installations were done exclusively with Viega ProPress, copper and stainless, and AET was pleased with its choice of Viega.

“For us, it has been phenomenal to use the Viega components,” said Carlos Fernandez-Aballi, Ph.D. and Engineer with AET. “It’s a natural fit between a press fitting and the huge challenge of collecting the energy that the sun provides. Using Viega reduced our installation time and cost significantly.”

AET’s Executive Vice President, Andrew East, was aware of Viega prior to the Schofield Barracks job, and the company was looking for a more secure and labor-savings connection for its collectors.

“There are two attractive things about Viega for us,” Dr. Fernandez-Aballi said. “Once you set it up, there’s a huge savings in labor – thousands and thousands of dollars in savings in labor on a project of this scale. For a big solar collection system like this, you need large flow rates, which means using large-diameter tubing. When you’re talking about sweating large-diameter tubes on the roof in the sun and the wind and everything else, it’s very cumbersome, so a press solution is the ideal way to go.”

Using solar energy for the barracks will provide the Army enormous financial savings. Dr. Fernandez-Aballi explained that solar thermal solutions can provide 70- to 100-percent of water heating, creating huge energy savings over a traditional system. Solar collectors are seven times more efficient than photovoltaic panels and are the most economical alternative to water heating. In a location the size of a military base, the savings are phenomenal. 

Who wouldn’t want to save nearly 500 man-hours on a project?

That’s what CSM Mechanical did on a job for the City of Dearborn in Michigan – thanks to Viega’s MegaPressG fittings. By reworking plans to make the natural gas piping distribution system 4” or smaller on the police and courts buildings, and by choosing to press instead of weld, the CSM Mechanical crew calculated a savings of 491 man-hours.

“The job just went in absolutely phenomenally,” said Craig Mortz, owner of CSM Mechanical. “We saved so much. We took an estimated 30-day project and finished it in 12 days!”

CSM Mechanical has been working for the past four years on an upgrade and update of the mechanical systems campus-wide for the City of Dearborn’s five municipal buildings. Originally constructed in the 1950s, the buildings all had one central powerhouse with heated and chilled water. The renovation plans included disconnecting the heating plant from the central source, upgrading the central chiller plant and giving each building its own individual boiler plant for improved efficiency and energy savings.

None of the buildings were plumbed for gas, and original plans for the police department building included a 6” gas main that was to be welded. Mortz and his team took a look at the project and knew they could improve on the design.

“In working with the owners and with Viega, we got concessions from the natural gas provider to increase the supply pressure so that we were able to get the system down to a 4” line,” he said. “We told the customer we could then also press it instead of welding, which would be faster, safer and save money.”

CSM Mechanical put in almost 1,000 feet of 4” gas pipe, using MegaPressG fittings. CSM Mechanical’s team was the first in Michigan to have the jaws and tool for the larger-diameter MegaPressG fittings, and they were excited to put them to work.

A four-man crew (instead of the six that would have been needed for welding), led by Field Operations Manager Tyler Pryzwara, completed the job. The workers put eight air handlers and four gas-fired boilers in the police and courts buildings, connecting everything with MegaPressG.

Specifications and assistance from Viega were vital in getting MegaPress – and the smaller-diameter pipe – approved for the project, Mortz said.

We showed the owners all the pressure test ratings and standards that MegaPressG is capable of,” Mortz explained. “When we increased the supply pressure and decreased the plumbing size to 4, we were well within any operational and conditional limits for this installation.

“Just the logistics of welding 6” carbon steel pipe and manually distributing it across the various building roofs is where our biggest time savings came from,” Mortz said. “As opposed to 4” pipe that is lighter and can be cut and prefabricated – that saved a lot of time.”

The safety aspect on this project was also a huge benefit. Because the police building is occupied and active 24 hours a day, welding posed significant safety and fire hazards since there were no “off hours” to do the work in. Plus, the buildings have a tar/pitch roofing system.

“We didn’t have to weld on the roof, so we didn’t have sparks and flames and fire blankets and all of the associated PPE,” Mortz said. “Safety was a huge win for us on that building and on the project overall.”

Once installed, CSM Mechanical pneumatically pressure tested the system, which included 1,811 mechanical joints, to 150 psi with no issues or leaks. As winter temperatures set in, the buildings were heated via the new boilers and natural gas line without a problem, providing the City of Dearborn with substantial energy savings and improved efficiencies.

Spanning 305 feet across the I-15 freeway, the 17-foot-wide Utah Valley University Bridge soars up to 35 feet above ground and provides access to and from campus for up to 6,000 students a day. The structure includes a pedestrian path, bicycle lanes, and elevators to make it ADA-compliant, in addition to a radiant-heated deck to keep snow and ice off the walkway during the winter months.

When the project first began, the university and the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) felt that a snow-melt system was imperative to ensure the safety of those crossing the bridge as well as those commuting underneath.

Aron Frailey of Thermal Engineering LLC recalls the day he first heard about the project. “My salesperson walked into my office and said, ‘How do you feel about quoting a snow-melt job for a thousand-foot bridge?’ Wow, I thought: A bridge? Can that even be done?”

Thermal Engineering began communicating with engineering firms, WSP and Kraemer, submitting load calculations based on the engineer’s initial design concepts. However, it took some time for the project to gain traction.

“Looking at the project in its initial stages on paper, it was difficult to see how we would do it,” says Frailey. “Even with 3D models, we struggled to understand how we would thread roughly 2,000 feet of pipe through all the girders of this bridge structure. There is a whole steel truss we had to work around and through, and I feared it could be a disaster from the standpoint of safety.”

Changing the spec

Part of the challenge was the structure’s height. Then there was the original specification, which called for 4″ steel pipe for the hydronic distribution piping. Because a standard length in that diameter weighs more than a ton, it would require numerous installers and a lot of welding.

So, Thermal Engineering began investigating — and eventually recommended — PP-RCT as a worthy alternative. A non-corrosive polymer would be better able to withstand the salt and magnesium chloride Utah uses for snow and ice melting on its highways. Even with the bridge more than 30 feet in the air, this was a major concern, because the hydronic piping would be installed in the structure’s underside, facing fast-moving traffic below.

Moreover, PP-RCT would be far easier to handle and therefore less labor-intensive than steel. Shipped in 19-foot lengths, a stick of 4″ PP-RCT weighs a mere 63 pounds — a fraction of its steel counterpart. Plus, PP-RCT uses heat fusion for connections as opposed to welding with an open flame.

PP-RCT also offered one other critical advantage over steel: the ability to move in unison with the bridge. “The structure is intended to move as much as 18″ in every direction all the time — left to right, backwards and forwards, up and down,” says Frailey. “I was concerned about the joint integrity of a steel piping system with all that movement, and I really liked the flexibility of PP-RCT to handle it.”

For all these reasons, Thermal Engineering formally asked the engineer to change the specification to PP-RCT. After due consideration, the change was made.

“The engineer understandably had lots of questions,” says Frailey, who came to appreciate the “high level of trust” that flourished among his firm and Kraemer North America, WSP, and the rest of the build team.

“We sent samples and demonstrated how to make a heat-fusion connection,” he says. “We also cut some joints apart, so the engineer could confirm how completely the materials bonded. When we began reviewing the flow and weight characteristics, as well as the integrity of the joints and the ability to flex with the bridge, PP-RCT won the day.”

PP-RCT and PEX

The UVU project is the largest use of PP-RCT with 1,900 feet of 2½” to 4″ PP-RCT for supply-and-return piping, and it is also the first full-scale use of PP-RCT from Uponor North America. In addition to PP-RCT, the project also included 36,000 feet of ⅝” Wirsbo hePEX™, also from Uponor.

Frailey’s crew threaded the majority of the PP-RCT through the bridgeworks while it sat on the ground in the pre-fab steelyard, located roughly a mile and a half from the job site. Using a lift truck fitted with a winch for moving the pipe laterally, the team created a workstation for the McElroy Acrobat™ heat-fusion machine to connect the 19-foot lengths of PP-RCT.

Although the heat-fusion process normally requires only two fitters, according to Frailey, “we needed a three-man team for this job” to reach the underside of the bridge. The first pipefitter’s task was to maneuver the 19-foot piece of PP-RCT off the ground and up into the bridge’s girder diaphragms.

Project superintendent Scot Layland was in an airborne workstation, hooking each length of pipe to the fusion machine and butt-fusing it to another length ahead of it in the line. Meanwhile, a third person operated the boom truck and the winch, pulling the pipe assembly through the bridge.

“Our men ran a rope through the girders and attached it to the pipe, pulling it through the girders while working on opposite ends of the bridge, rather than right over the highway,” says Frailey. Because of the PP-RCT’s weight, “the crane pulled the pipe easily — no big deal,” he says.

After the challenges of the hydronic piping, the PEX portion of the snow-melt job was smooth and easy. “For us, PEX for snow-melt systems is a known entity and installed without any problems,” he says.

Once the project was complete, Frailey was pleased with the results. “PP-RCT is an awesome product — the flow characteristics of the pipe, its light weight and flexibility, the ease of lifting and maneuvering it — all these benefits are huge compared with steel. In fact, we’re already using it on other projects.”

To learn more about Uponor PP-RCT, visit www.uponor-usa.com/pprct.

A contractor’s first installation of Aquatherm brings 21^st century pipe to a 1925 structure

There is a first time for everything, and that includes contractors installing Aquatherm pipe. Aquatherm is the industry leader in training and support, but for a contractor there’s still nothing quite like successfully completing that first project.

For Service Tech Inc., a heating and air conditioning firm in Birmingham, AL, that is celebrating its 30th year in business in 2020, its first experience installing Aquatherm came at a historic landmark building in Birmingham.

At the risk of a “spoiler,” how did the project go?

“It was great, man,” said Brandon Henley, Operations Manager at Service Tech. “Everyone on the installation team was impressed with how well-engineered the Aquatherm pipe was and how easy it was to work with.”

THE MAGIC CITY

Birmingham was founded in 1871, the result of a merger of three farm towns. It didn’t remain a farm town for long. It grew so rapidly between 1880 and 1920 that it earned the nickname “The Magic City.” In the process it became a primary industrial center of the southern United States based on mining, iron, and steel. More recently it has become one of the largest banking centers in the South.

Today Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama and is the seat of Jefferson County, which is Alabama’s most populous.

Since 1925, the city’s skyline has been graced by the 10-story, 120-ft New South Federal Savings Building. The art deco structure originally featured a brick and terra cotta façade; its current Texas granite and white Alabama marble façade was installed during a renovation completed in 1959.

The building’s first two floors have been occupied for many years by a banking tenant, but the building recently took on a new life when the United States Census Bureau chose to make it the area office for the 2020 U.S. census. To prepare for this new tenant it was necessary to rehabilitate four of the building’s floors, including replacement of its old heating and cooling system.

OUT WITH THE OLD

The building’s owner decided to do away with the old system of rooftop units, and invest in a new (and much more efficient) chiller-based system. This meant installing pipe in places where there hadn’t previously been pipe.

The firm of Zgouvas, Eiring, & Associates, Consulting Engineers, chose to spec Aquatherm pipe for the new chiller system at the New South Federal Savings Building. The firm specified the polypropylene pipe because of its safety profile when working in an existing (and occupied) building.

“I thought it would be easier to work with because you wouldn’t have to be welding steel pipe in the building,” explained Jay Eiring, a partner in the firm. “I proposed it to the building owner and he gave us the green light to proceed.”

The project began in February 2019 and was completed in May 2019. It ultimately called for approximately 5,000 ft of ½-in. through 6-in. SDR 11 Aquatherm Blue Pipe^® MF.

TOUGH CHALLENGES

The project came with its share of challenges. The installing contractor had to work in very tight quarters because of the building’s age and the fact that the original mechanical chases weren’t designed to accommodate hydronic piping. Some of the piping itself had to be relocated to exterior walls because of site constraints. To add to the fun, the chases that the pipe needed to run through were filled with the building’s electrical and telephone wiring. Finally, the incoming government tenant wanted to get the office up and running quickly, resulting in a compressed timeline.

These challenges would have been significant no matter how experienced the installation team was. For first-time Aquatherm installers Service Tech, however, the combination of Aquatherm training and support, the product’s inherent ease of use, and strong local support from Ferguson Enterprises helped the installation go smoothly and successfully. Ferguson is the largest wholesale distributor of residential and commercial plumbing supplies and pipe, valves, and fittings in the U.S.

“We had eight of our technicians trained by Aquatherm, and Ferguson’s support throughout the project was great,” Henley said. “Anything we needed from Ferguson they delivered, all we had to do was ask.”

SAFE AND FAST CONNECTIONS

Henley noted that while welding steel pipe would have been dangerous in the tight quarters of an existing, occupied building, all the connections with Aquatherm were made safely thanks to reliable heat fusion, which creates virtually leak-free connections without welding, sparks, or open flame.

The Aquatherm installation also went much faster than welding steel. During installation it wasn’t unusual for Service Tech to have two McElroy Spider^™ 125 fusion machines and two socket fusion irons in use at the same time.

“After we completed the training we were really feeling good about doing the heat fusions ourselves,” Henley said.

Ferguson stepped in to fabricate (on site in one day) the 6-in. lines from the chiller, which connected to the 3-in. and 4-in. lines Henley and the Service Tech team were installing throughout the building.

LIGHT WEIGHT AND CLEAN

The light weight of Aquatherm pipe earned rave reviews from Henley and his crew. He noted that this project was very labor-intensive: Service Tech had to remove 16 old rooftop condensing units along with all of their refrigerant piping, replace the old air-handling units with new hydronic fan coils units, install the new Daikin 200-ton air-cooled chiller on the building’s roof, and pipe the system. In most cases piping the system may have been the most difficult part, but after all the other heavy lifting on this project Service Tech’s crew found Aquatherm pipe to be a pleasure to work with.

“One person could pick up a 19-foot length of three-inch Aquatherm pipe and carry it to the next floor,” he added. “There’s no way someone would be able to that with three-inch cast iron or steel pipe. And the light weight was a huge factor where the pipe had to be relocated to the building’s exterior walls.”

Henley’s crew also appreciated the cleanliness of the Aquatherm pipe compared to steel pipe, and he noted that once the system was up and running the pipe’s resistance to rust, scaling, and corrosion added to the system’s ease of operation and maintenance.

“We barely had to use any kind of corrosion-resistant additives in the chiller water,” Henley noted.

A SUCCESSFUL FIRST PROJECT

Jeff Long, Southeast District Product Manager, Ferguson Enterprises, noted that this project represents a first-time Aquatherm contractor successfully field-fabricating and installing a complete system on a complex project.

“That speaks well for both Service Tech’s personnel and the ease of working with Aquatherm pipe,” he said.

Eiring added that Aquatherm is a natural choice for existing buildings.

“It’s easy to work with, it’s lightweight, and there’s no welding on site,” he said. “And Aquatherm’s 10-year warranty is something a building owner definitely doesn’t get with steel pipe.”

Summing up his company’s first experience with Aquatherm, Henley said it was the pipe’s toughness that impressed him the most.

“It was so much more durable than I initially thought,” he said. “After working with it I’m convinced that pipe will still be there even after the building is gone.”