Achieving sustainability

Victaulic chief officer Larry Thau talks about the role that sustainable design plays in infrastructure development.

Sustainable design involves more than just site orientation and energy-saving construction techniques.

What goes into a building in the way of infrastructure is equally important. Well-planned HVAC, plumbing and other mechanical engineering systems are essential to making a building sustainable over its lifecycle. Mechanical grooved piping systems are rooted in sustainability.

Grooved mechanical piping was developed by Victaulic during World War I to rapidly deploy essential resources like fuel and water to the allies. It was first made available to the commercial piping industry in 1925.

Through the years, mechanical piping systems were increasingly used on HVAC, plumbing and fire-protection applications due to the time and labour-savings associated with installation.

Today grooved piping systems are being used as an effective alternative to soldering and brazing for potable water distribution, equipment connections on pumps, water softeners and filters, as well as drain, waste and vent piping, and other industrial applications.

Grooved systems employ a proven roll grooving process to join pipes, valves and other components. Using a two-bolt coupling design, pipe fitters can make rugged, secure joints quickly and easily, using only basic hand tools.

And with a union at every joint, contractors have maximum field flexibility for on-site decision making. All couplings are sealed for optimum integrity, with a durable elastomeric gasket designed to withstand years of sustained high compressive and cyclical loads.

Grooved pipe joining technology is rooted in sustainability; its inherent qualities naturally make it environment-friendly. Even before the evolution of green building, the grooved piping system has been providing a more efficient, cleaner and safer system when compared with other pipe-joining methods such as welding, soldering or brazing.

Reducing the need for welding, soldering or brazing means better air quality, less particulate matter released into the atmosphere and decreased fire risk.

Material waste is less, reducing site impact. Indoor and outdoor air quality is preserved as there are no fumes or particulate matter to endanger workers or the environment.

Most critically, Victaulic products are made from a combination of natural and recycled resources using lean, responsible manufacturing processes. In fact, 90% of the steel used is recycled, and the products are manufactured using natural elements of fire, sand, water and air. At Victaulic, products are painted using a dip-coating application that, unlike spray painting, does not atomise, so they are not sources of regulated pollutant emissions. In addition, dip coating eliminates the need for volatile solvents that are used to thin paints in the spray-painting process.

The manufacture of mechanical piping systems requires sand molds. The re-use of sand by Victaulic for the molding of its products limits the use of additional raw materials. Its sand-reclamation programme has reduced the quantity of sand sent to landfills by up to 70 tons a week from its US operations alone.

Sustainable job sites

During installation, mechanical grooved pi-ping systems significantly reduce or eliminate waste, emissions and noise pollution on the job site, providing a safer and healthier environment. The reduced need for soldering also reduces emissions on the job site. By-products of solder fumes can contain lead oxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and hydrochloric acid in addition to many other harmful particles and gases.

In 2007 alone, the use of Victaulic grooved mechanical pipe couplings in lieu of welding on HVAC piping systems reduced airborne weld emissions by 145 metric tons of particulate matter – which is equivalent to eliminating the airborne pollution of a million cars on the road for a month.

The elimination of these harmful pollutants means less air-borne pollution, providing for a more sustainable environment, but also a safer job site during construction, maintenance or retrofit work.

A grooved mechanical pipe joint does not require the use of electricity during installation, reducing the draw on burdened power resources. Pipes that are joined by welding or soldering require the use of vast amounts of electricity for prolonged periods of time, consuming up to 4 000 watts of energy per hour on a 200 mm (DN200) joint.

The installation of a grooved mechanical joint is cleaner than soldered joints, and therefore reduces on-site job waste. Unlike soldering and brazing methods, grooved mechanical joints do not require flux to seal the joint, which must be flushed and cleaned from the system prior to operation.

Additionally, soldered systems often need as much as 35% re-work for failures discovered when pressurising and testing the completed system, which requires additional resources. Victaulic grooved mechanical pipe joints can be inspected visually for proper installation, so re-work is minimal, saving energy, resources and time on the job. And grooved systems are easier to align and rotate.

Energy costs typically represent 30% of a building’s annual budget, and are the single largest operating cost (Energy Star). The Energy Systems Lab at Texas A&M University indicated that energy use in buildings could be reduced from 10% to 40% by improving operational strategies in buildings, including maintenance strategies. In a plumbing system, booster pumps and strainers need routine maintenance to operate efficiently, and less deferred maintenance means a higher level of energy efficiency.

With soldered or brazed piping systems, accessing valves, strainers, pumps and water softeners is often a time-consuming and inconvenient process due to system shutdown and drainage. The more difficult the process, the more likely maintenance will be deferred.

Mechanical pipe joining systems provide an optimal way to effectively maintain piping systems in structures, thereby reducing the deferral of maintenance and promoting operating efficiency and saving money.

Their ease of installation and ability to disassemble and reinstall the same components make them a simple solution for the frequent performance of both routine and unscheduled maintenance. For access to a grooved piping system, a maintenance person simply loosens the two coupling bolts.

Grooved piping systems can also be installed wet or dry to speed the maintenance process.

Additionally, mechanical pipe joining systems are a safe alternative for maintaining piping systems in specialty facilities where open flames could potentially create a hazardous environment.

Aside from routine maintenance, it is sometimes necessary to join two existing systems within a structure. In space planning and refurbishment projects, the grooved system is easily re-routed due to a union at every joint. There is no time required to drain the piping system, and grooved mechanical pipe joints can be installed on wet lines.

Operating efficiency can be maintained during retrofit work, and systems can remain live as properly-placed butterfly valves provide ‘dead end’ shut-off service for isolation.

Additionally, owners can engage in retrofit projects in occupied buildings without having to vacate the space because mechanical grooved piping re-work does not negatively affect indoor air quality, and neither does it introduce a fire hazard.

Less deferred maintenance means peak energy efficiency and operation of buildings, and reduced overall costs. Organisations that have implemented comprehensive maintenance programmes find that their total costs can be as much as 50% lower than the costs for those organisations that continue to defer routine maintenance.

Facilities in which proper HVAC maintenance is completed will use at least 15% to 20% less energy than those where systems are allowed to deteriorate. (Source: Piper, James P.E. ‘HVAC Maintenance and Energy Savings’, Building Operating Management, March 2009).

Repairs for equipment and buildings that have not been well-maintained are often higher than the estimated maintenance costs. Given the busy agendas and budget constraints in today’s industry, it is easy to see why familiar procedures are replicated.

In reality, tried-and-tested alternatives to welded, soldered or brazed pipe joining can have a huge impact on both the immediate and future economic and sustainability returns.

Victaulic has supplied numerous patented piping-related products that are in use today in multiple markets around the world. For further details, visit www.victaulic.com.