CITY OF HAWKINSVILLE, GEORGIA
Summary
- Broken fire hydrants require repair
- 4” to 12” lines
- Installs in under an hour
- 40 to 50 more valves to be installed over the next 12 months
When officials from the City of Hawkinsville in Georgia identified the need to repair, maintain and swap out a number of its inoperable fire hydrants they knew they had a responsibility to the 5,000 plus residents to ensure the work was carried out without shutting off their water supply.
Local water professionals have previously installed an AVT EZ Valve, an insertion valve that can be fitted to water mains without the need to shut off the water, to deal with a recent emergency repair job, and knew the valve was flexible and small enough to be fitted to the small sections of pipe that feed their fire hydrants.
The city was so confident in the AVT EZ valve that they chose to purchase AVT’s install toolkit which includes an EM (end milling) machine that is used to create a small 120o slot in the water pipe enabling the resilient wedge gate, that forms the water stop, to be lowered into the pipe.
To ensure the AVT EZ Valve is installed correctly every time, the city has accessed AVT’s robust training program, which includes both on-line and face to face training. Six City of Hawkinsville water operatives are now fully trained and certified to install 4”-12” AVT EZ Valves on a variety of pipe materials.
So far three valves have been successfully installed on 6” cast iron pipe, each one taking just a few hours. The installers are confident that this time will soon drop to between 45 minutes and an hour per valve.
The City now has plans to install between 40 and 50 valves over the next 12 months on cast iron and thin wall PVC pipe. With both the install toolkit and valves in stock, they can plan their maintenance and also feel safe that they have an insertion valve option available to them should an emergency arise.
A representative from the City of Hawkinsville said: “we are very happy with this product and the quality of the work it does.”
AVT’s Sales Director Shawn Petty added: “We are seeing more and more water companies and municipalities accessing the EZ Valve to assist with their fire hydrant repair programs. With just a small section of T line available to install valves, the AVT EZ Valve is the logical option due to its ability to be installed using just one relatively small excavation.”
Typically fire hydrants are supplied by a ‘T’ line.
This is a small section of water line that is fed by the main line running along a street. Conventional water valves require a large section of pipe to be available when installed due to the need for at least two excavations for the fitting of line stops and a valve, but the AVT EZ Valve requires just one small excavation allowing them to be fit on this small ‘T’ line and isolate the hydrant without effecting the rest of the local water supply.
