One of the most frequently asked questions I get as a sales rep is, “What is the lead time for Ductile iron pipe?” For example, “I need two pieces of 12-inch TR Flex® Class 52 Protecto 401™ lined zinc coated pipe. Do you have it in stock? If not, what’s your lead time?” Sound familiar?
Whether it be a search for offbeat items that another manufacturer or supplier has dropped the ball on, or a contractor starting a new job, lead time promises and delivery dates are more critical now than ever.
It is very common to get certain questions from our customers regarding the interchangeability of push-on or compression type gaskets that are typically supplied with Ductile iron pipe. These questions are usually easy to answer in a very definitive manner, but there are some exceptions. In this edition of Iron Strong, we will address the three most common questions about gaskets and why this can sometimes be confusing to our customers.
The normal, stocking item for Ductile iron pipe products is lined and coated with a sealcoat that comes in your choice of black. Many water professionals wonder about the purpose of this coating, or paint, that gives Ductile iron pipe it’s familiar appearance. In this article we offer some explanation and history behind the application and advancement of the sealcoat.
Visitors who tour a McWane Ductile facility are often surprised by how much work goes into making Ductile iron pipe. The pipe starts out as scrap metal from old cars and demolished buildings that is melted down and given a new lease on life. Up to 95% of our product is made from recycled material.
Once this metal is in its molten state a crane carries it to centrifugal casting machines where it is spun into a pipe. Next it heads to the annealing oven, an important step in transforming the iron into ductile.
Gaskets are a critical component in your ductile iron piping system. To get the full benefit of your gaskets, they need to be stored in a manner that minimizes deterioration. We don’t always work in favorable conditions, so no matter if you are in the field or in a warehouse, utilizing the best storage practices and locations are key to the performance and the effective lifetime of your gaskets.
In this article, we will cover some guidelines on how to store and care for your gaskets. We will cover the “what to do” as well as the equally important,”what not to do.”
It is pretty much a daily occurrence here at McWane Ductile for our sales staff to receive price requests on a variety of ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) products. Usually this request is for a specific project, but occasionally design engineers will also ask for “budget pricing” for future underground utility projects. This is typically a pretty simple task, but to provide the most accurate and cost-effective pricing, there are a few items that must be addressed that will ultimately determine the final cost to the customer. This article will review some of those variables that determine the final pricing for your DI pipe needs.
Ductile iron pipe (DIP) is one of the most widely used pipe materials in North America. The Design Life is second to no other pipe material due to its robust design. This pipe material is the strongest and most resilient available for water and wastewater utilities providing unparalleled Life-Cycle value.
In many areas, utilities need to consider how to protect these valuable pipelines from corrosive soils. The question is “How can we economically protect these pipelines to meet or exceed the 105-110 year average design life of DIP?”
Even in this modern era, we are still concerned with many of the issues that early civilizations faced when providing water to our communities, such as supply and demand, pipeline construction and upkeep, cleanliness, conservation and cost. In the fall of 2018, McWane Ductile’s Senior Regional Engineer, Roy Mundy, had the opportunity to interview Consolidated Utility District General Manager Bill Dunnill. The two gentlemen, both with utility management experience, had a candid conversation about Bill’s day-to-day challenges, successes and his preferred choice of pipeline material. The following are excerpts from their discussion.
When talking about ductile iron pipe in sewer applications, many times Induron’s Protecto 401™ comes to mind. Protecto 401 lining has often been the specified lining for ductile iron pipe in sewer applications more than 50 years.
Common uses for Protecto 401 are for a sewer force main that may not be fully running, where trapped air may exist, where chemical resistance is required, or for abrasion resistance. There may be occasions in the field when patching of the Protecto 401 lining may be necessary.
“It was a normal day on the job while working for the city of Hayward, California. Later that morning, I got word that an earth moving contractor hit our transmission main. My stomach turned because it is one of two feeds that supplies water all the way up the hills of Hayward in a series of 250-foot lifts (elevation gains)…”
The following article was recently featured in McWane Ductile’s Modern McWane magazine and tells of one water professional’s experience when faced with what could have been a catastrophic event, and the decisions he made to resolve a very large pipeline problem.
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