To revive a quote from the Clinton/Bush election era, “It’s the economy, stupid!” Businesses in backflow prevention and construction are reacting to the shift in the economic realities of the last few years. Those that are waiting for a return or rebound to old levels are in for a long wait. Business as we know it has changed and so, too, must we — and the products we sell. The hydraulic conditions of backflow (backpressure and backsiphonage) are still running rampant in our piping systems. Products are being influenced by two key economic factors, the economy and legislation.
Recent legislative changes have led to a dramatic change in products being brought to market. In California and Vermont, new laws requiring a lower percentage of lead in bronze were enacted on January 1, 2010. Federal and state governments have always known the hazards of lead and have required lead free products. The problem was that the definition of “lead free” was not clear. Some federal requirements for backflow preventers and other plumbing products stated that bronze “shall contain less than 8.0% by composition to be considered lead free.”
In an effort to further remove exposure to lead, California and Vermont defined “lead free” at the lower level of 0.25% of the exposed wetted area. Although many people may say, “Who cares what they do in California?” the problem is that on January 5, 2011, the 112th Congress of the United States passed an amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SB-3874) requiring the federal definition to mirror the California and Vermont legislation. The federal requirement takes effect January 5, 2014; all bronze plumbing products, including backflow preventers, will have to change by that date.
Since before the Roman Empire ruled the world, lead has been used in bronze to improve the alloy. Lead has certain properties that make bronze a well-rounded, usable alloy. The reduction in allowable lead content has caused manufacturers to look for new metals to replace the 8% of lead to form an economical and easy to use bronze alloy. Some manufacturers are even looking at alternative non-bronze alloys, such as stainless steel and engineered polymers, to assure that their products are in compliance. These new materials, however, require significant increases in machining and manufacturing costs.
Backflow prevention manufacturers have always been under pressure to produce a reliable product more economically. Anyone can design something cheaper, but the product must still work to prevent hydraulic backflow. To assure their reliability, an approval process for all backflow prevention products has become mandatory. The Foundation for Cross Connection Control & Hydraulic Research at the Engineering School of the University of Southern California has become the internationally recognized expert on approval of these products. Their work and research have guided manufacturers in developing reliable products.
Once the products are approved, cost must be taken into consideration. Manufacturers have tried to provide features that reduce installation costs. Making these products lighter and more compact means that they require less physical space and equipment for installation in a piping system. This smaller, more compact size makes it possible to use smaller valve enclosures and freeze protection when needed, thus lowering the average installation cost.
Historically, backflow preventers utilized a horizontal installation orientation. This caused the larger assemblies (4" – 10") to take up several running feet of installation space in a piping system. New approvals allow certain assemblies to flip that horizontal body into a vertical orientation, following the piping up a wall. This sounds simple, but many assemblies arbitrarily taken from a horizontal to a vertical installation hydraulically will not prevent backflow. The demand for vertical orientation has caused manufacturers to address this feature in their designs.
The cost of maintenance is becoming another factor that contractors are evaluating and manufacturers are addressing. It is labor and material intensive to repair most older designs in the field. Field repair of newer designs is becoming far less labor and material intensive. Unfortunately, when business was good, some contractors, not well trained in backflow preventer repair, would mistakenly tell their customers that it is cheaper to replace small assemblies (1/2" – 2"). As the economy has shifted, these same customers are questioning these statements and finding better educated contractors who can repair, rather than replace, installed assemblies when possible.
For a couple more years, backflow preventers will contain leaded bronze. For decades, bronze has been recycled through scrap dealers. The ever-increasing cost of copper (the major ingredient in bronze) has led to a proliferation of theft of installed backflow preventers and of other copper and bronze plumbing and electrical items. The most common theft has occurred on irrigation installations. Thieves remove the assemblies, and nobody realizes the irrigation is off until the sprinkler system is needed or until plant material dries up. Many new theft prevention devices, such as lockable enclosures, are coming to the market.
In any industry, trends can be short or long. The trend for more economical manufacturing, installation and maintenance of backflow preventers will continue beyond good and bad economic times. The education of contractors who install and repair backflow preventers will help them to be more efficient. In the past, manufacturers produced products they could make easily and economically. New design features are forcing manufacturers to talk to their customers and to provide the product features they want to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment