Queen Creek, Arizona is a town of approximately 26,000 located 40 miles southwest of Phoenix. Brian Quill is Queen Creek’s Utilities Supervisor, Water Production and Compliance, with more than 35 years’ experience within water utilities.

Queen Creek had a range of solid steel piping that was connected on one side of a booster pump for water suction and on the other side for water discharge. After 20 years of use, the piping needed to be replaced as it was rusting. The problem was that each of these connecting pipes were custom-made and varied in length. To replace each pipe, a new customized pipe would need to be constructed on site with high associated costs in terms of money, time and effort. The utility was looking for a more cost-effective solution to replace the rusted sections without using tailored pipes for each repair.

Queen Creek Utility had used HYMAX® products before to repair their pipes and approached Mueller to find a solution to the problem. HYMAX’s VP of engineering and R&D Avi Chiproot consulted his engineering team to see what they could design and manufacture to solve the problem.

“We were looking to not just provide Queen Creek with a product, but rather a solution that addressed Brian’s specific pain points,” said Chiproot. “Making customized pipe repair products takes up a lot of time, and we were looking to create a telescopic product with the flexibility to make the repair, regardless of the distance between the connections.”

After considering the project’s specifications, Chiproot’s team developed a unique eccentric dismantling joint with flange connectors on either end that could be telescoped to be anywhere between 10” to 14” in length. Instead of fabricating each connection on site, a costly and manpower intensive process, the product could be adjusted exactly to match the length between the booster pumps and the discharge piping and installed by just one person in about 30 minutes.

The two ends of the coupling could also be rotated independently of each other so that the holes of the joint’s flange could match up with the holes of the connecting pipes flanges. Once the design was completed, Chiproot sent the plans over to Brian to review who gave the thumbs up. Within a few weeks, a prototype was shipped to Queen Creek and the team was immediately able to install the easily adjusted product for a perfect fit and ensure a strong and solid connection.

An added benefit of the new dismantling joint was that water flow increased approximately 40-60 gallons per minute with the new installation. “We found that the design featured better hydraulic flow as the old pipe was very rough on the inside due to rusting,” said Quill. “With better water flow, less energy is required to ensure proper water movement.” With the successful prototype, Quill ordered finalized versions of the product so that future repairs could be made immediately as the need arose.

Most HYMAX products are standardized solutions but sometimes custom-made solutions are required. This is made possible by an in-house R&D department that has developed numerous unique and patented technologies, including a progressive pressure-assisted hydraulic gasket that allows dynamic deflection to absorb pressure caused by ground shifts, and a gripping system with universal teeth, to easily restrain connections without thrust blocks or rodding. All products have a lightweight yet durable construction featuring a simple design to enable easy and safe installations by one or two people in order to minimize time in the ditch.

“Avi and his team helped us enormously,” said Quill. “They took a very hands-on approach to solving the problem, and the results were great. Now we have a ready-made solution to replace these pipes anytime we need to.”