We have a customer experiencing pinholes, about a dozen over 3 years, in black steel dry system 11 years old. We took a water sample thru the main drain without shutting down the dry system, got results there's MIC. Got 45 PSI on static, 40 PSI demand on placard, so we're not going to be swapping the DCDA for an RPZ and think it'll work. So we can't put the treatment chemicals in there. It was suggested by a vendor of the stuff that we could ask the water company to just allow us to keep the DCDA and use the stuff, I replied the water co isn't going to make your liability go away in court if you've got 3 sick residents, you've got burden of proof- I'd rather point to an RPZ and say "Not Me!". So we can't treat the pipe, leaving us with ultrasonic analysis on the extent of pipe wall degradation and identify how much existing needs to be replaced, balance cross your fingers and hope the $20k or so spent on an N2 Generator (or a DAP, more likely for $10k) slows the growth of additional pinhole producers.
Frankly, unless your customer is in the mindset that they are looking at a total system replacement for a zillion dollars, the price of the treatment, for what you get, isn't something I'd be jumping at if compared to just fixing pinholes. I have not found a better solution to their problem and while I realize this side of our industry is in its infancy, there's no nice answer that is thorough in solving the problem to offer and that bothers me. I find this hard to internalize and then sell, sad this is the best our industry can offer at this time. So that's been my limited experience to share with Tommy, and I'd be happy to listen to any advice others have to offer us. I would say leaving the dry system in service, possibly with additional Band-Aids as needed during installation of parallel systems, while doing CPVC below and replacing dry or maybe using AF and CPVC to avoid re-installing steel. I sure don't have the confidence in galvanized for dry as I used to have, after replacing a whole dry system exhibiting 3 pinholes after only 3 years in service. It was domestic sch 10 galv 2" lines, 3" mains, saw water in acceptance test, that's it. Pipe pitched properly, etc. I believe the industry is likely heading for dry systems with black steel, and a DAP or N2 air supply to keep the innards clean. George L. Church, Jr., CET Rowe Sprinkler Systems, Inc. PO Box 407, Middleburg, PA 17842 877-324-ROWE 570-837-6335 fax [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tom Duross Sent: Friday, December 16, 2011 8:22 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: Changing Code Standards in an Existing Bldg. "Opinion" I've looked into prepaid test kits for testing for MIC. Looks like it's going to involve removing a section of the existing dry system piping. Has anyone out there gone through testing an in-service dry system for MIC? Has anyone out there developed a treatment plan for a dry system? I'm thinking the wet-dry condition changes how you treat it. I'm also wondering if the fact that this building in on the seashore has any effect on this. Thanks. TD _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://fireball.firesprinkler.org/mailman/listinfo/sprinklerforum
