Water Main Break Prevention: Valve Selection Is Key

Water main breaks, no matter where or when they happen, inevitably result in a significant burden on utilities’ resources. In this Water Online Radio interview, Tim Fallon, product manager with Henry Pratt Company, shares why improper valve operation and selection is often the cause of water main breaks. Closing the valve too fast can result in a pressure surge that is similar to “trying to stop a freight train in half a second,” explains Fallon.

“What we try to do is educate utilities that you're looking to try to close the valve as slow as possible,” says Fallon to Water Online radio hosts Todd and Todd. “What we try to do is provide the right amount of mechanical advantage for the size valve, so that you can have a very slow operating product, and also it helps that you don't employ a closure rate that would almost look like, on a graph, a 45-degree angle.”  

To hear the rest of Fallon’s interview click the link below.