The FloodSafe® Inflow Preventer is a revolutionary system that works with air valves and provides unrivaled protection of potable water systems from contamination. Watch our video to learn more about the FloodSafe®...

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Since the 1990s, two types of epoxy coatings have been commonly specified and used for iron valves in the waterworks industry: fusion-bonded epoxy and liquid epoxy. Both coatings are based on thermo-set epoxy systems with similar corrosion resistance and are...

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Check out Val-Matic’s Air Today, Gone Tomorrow video on their YouTube page. The useful video demonstrates the importance of using Air Valves in water and wastewater pipelines. The presence of air in pipelines often raises many questions for Engineers and Operators, many of which have never been answered. Many problems in pipelines are caused by a failure to deaerate the line. Deaerating the pipeline will safeguard these from various air related problems. The video determines how Val-Matic’s Air Release Valve, Air/Vacuum Valve and Combination Air Valve solve such problems...

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A working environment for valve testing is similar to the saying, “A picture is worth a 1000 words.” Val-Matic was fortunate to test four of their 2-inch 802A combination air valves, each with different coatings on a trial installation at the Salt Creek Sanitary District Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant in Villa Park, IL...

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It’s not often that you run into a valve problem on the 17th hole of the Blue Monster at Doral. But that’s what happened one day around dusk when Jim Wickman and yours truly were trying to squeeze in 18 holes before dark. (Jim and I ran an engineering consulting firm many years ago. He’s still at it but I am more of the...

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It’s hard to believe but it’s already time for us to look ahead to 2018. This past year was an interesting year for water: we saw an uptick in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), more fallout from Flint, a focus on smarter water technologies, lack of government investment in water, and an increasing number of weather events impacting on water infrastructure...

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Hurricane Harvey produced widespread flooding in Houston putting the safety of the City’s drinking water system in serious jeopardy. It can happen anywhere. Drinking water pipelines are equipped with air valves that function to to vent and admit air as the pipelines are filled and drained. Air valves are critical to the safe and efficient operation of water systems.

But during severe flooding, contaminated flood water can be drawn into the distribution system during normal system operation. One solution for mitigating this risk is to install inflow preventers on the outlet of the air valves. An inflow preventer is a cross connection device mounted on the outlet of an air valve or vent pipe to allow normal flow of air in and out of the water system but prevent the inflow of contaminated water into a system as a result of flooding or malicious tampering. For more information on these AWWA C514 devices, read the white paper, “Protecting Drinking Water Pipelines with Inflow Prevention”...

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As told by the legendary Duke Waters....It was late on Friday, almost 4:30, when I got the call. With Miller Time on my mind, I picked up the receiver, and strained to hear Jim Wickman tell me about his latest woe. Jim and I go way back. Jim was Project Engineer on water projects up and down the coast for Watson, Price & Woods Engineers during the 60's and 70 's. Back when a deal was a deal and a full days work was 12 hours. My job was to bail Jim out when he started up projects and created sparks and steam. Yep, we go way back...

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Val-Matic Valve & Mfg. Corp.’s Air Valve Quick Sizing Calculator is a handy pocket tool to assist in the correct sizing of air valves for use on water pipelines, sewage force mains, pumping stations, treatment plants, booster stations and industrial process water and waste water systems. This calculator greatly reduces the amount of time necessary to size valves...

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The presence of air in a pipeline and it's impact on operations is probably one of the most misunderstood phenomena in our industry today. Many operational problems are blamed on inadequate thrust blocking, improper pipeline bedding, etc. These problems include broken pumps, valves and pipe, as well as faulty instrumentation readings. In reality, many of these problems are not caused by improper installation of the line, but by failure to de-aerate the line. It has been said that if a pipeline is properly de-aerated, you can't guarantee against a line break. However, if you don't properly de-aerate a pipeline, you should be prepared for one...

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