CASE STUDY: City of Phoenix Tests More Efficient Water Distribution With Permaseal Valve

Photo Credit: Permaseal

The City of Phoenix Water Service Department (CPWSD) provides water for 1.5 million people and is always looking for effective solutions to ensure water continues to reach more than 460,500 service connections. To limit customer shutdowns and reduce non-revenue water loss, the City of Phoenix agreed to be a part of the first live installation of the PermaSeal insertion valve and test the capabilities and benefits obtained from utilizing the wedge gate valve design.

“We first started off as a trial when Mueller was in the final customer validation testing phase of the PermaSeal Insertion Valve,” explained Keith Mojica, Water Services Deputy Director at the City of Phoenix Water Service Department. “As part of this testing program, we chose a location in the vicinity of a hospital, doctors’ offices and a dialysis center — an area which would be problematic if a lengthy shutdown occurred. Typically, to replace the broken valves in the area, we would have had to turn off the water supply to these key locations and it would affect a la

rge number of customers. To ensure the impact to these important businesses was kept to a minimum, we gladly agreed to be a part of the first live installation of the new valve to see if it could provide us with the solution that we needed.”

Mueller contracted Tap Master Inc. to conduct the installation of the 6-inch PermaSeal Insertion Valve on an older cast iron watermain at the chosen site. The area was excavated the day prior to the installation, the main was plated, and then the live installation of the valve took place the next day.

The design of the new valve integrates the functionality and performance of the Mueller A-2361 Resilient Wedge Gate Valve and Mueller H-600 Series ductile iron tapping sleeve in 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12-inch standard (DI, CI, PVC pipe) and oversized (A-C pipe) variants. With its “clean-seat” technology, the insertion valve provides users with reliable and repeatable watertight shut off, suitable for an exercise program, by having the gate seated on the precision cast surface of the valve body and not the host pipe. With a 350 PSI rating, the valve allows for insertion into existing water mains with minimal service disruption and dependable functional service life.

The new valve was successfully installed in approximately three hours, and the team was able to flush the water line and perform a brief shutdown to test that the line was dry, confirming that the installation was successful. Overall, the valve reduced service downtime to customers.

Since the initial installation in March 2020, CPWSD has installed 15 more PermaSeal Insertion Valves around the city. Through the multiple installations, the City of Phoenix has found the valve to be an effective solution that also helps save on time and personnel resources. Because of the time, cost, maintenance, and customer downtime savings realized, CPWSD plans to make the PermaSeal insertion the valve of choice for future installations.

Dave Shelton is the Las Vegas Territory Manager for Mueller Water Products.