Long Term Savings
Prudent materials selection is critical to the success of any public water supply and must involve a study of long-term economy.
Ductile iron pipe affords long-term economy unequalled by any other pipe material.
Low Maintenance Costs
Design engineers can predict ordinary earth loads, traffic loads and internal pressures to be encountered by underground pipe, but there are unpredictable influences on pipe loadings: swell pressures in certain clay soils; subsidence of support soil; uneven settlement; excessive water hammer; construction influences, i.e., removal of support by adjacent construction (beam loads); vibrations; seismic activity, and, in colder climates, frost penetration loads. Ductile iron pipe, because of its unusually high strength, ductility and impact resistance, has a proven history of handling all of these factors better than any other underground pipe material, thereby greatly reducing maintenance costs.
Flow
The larger than nominal diameters and internal lining smoothness of ductile iron pipe significantly reduce pumping costs. The comparisons of actual inside diameters of 24-inch pipe in Figure Three were developed by the Ductile Iron Pipe Research Association. The fact that more water can be moved through a ductile iron pipeline for a given amount of energy may make it possible to specify a smaller nominal diameter to accomplish a required flow. Cutting and Tapping Pacific States ductile iron pipe is completely field efficient. It can be cut to fit without loss of joint tightness and tapped directly for services without the use of tapping saddles, which means even greater savings.
Location
Underground ductile iron pipe can be easily located with standard pipe locating equipment - an advantage in emergency situations.
