Posted on April 19th, 2024
Christopher Garofoli, Business Development Regional Manager at Victaulic, recently discussed the latest industry innovations and Victaulic solutions at AHR Expo 2024, the essential event for HVACR professionals.
Garofoli shared his insights as part of an interview series hosted by PHCPPros, publisher of Plumbing Engineer and a leading industry resource that covers all aspects of the plumbing, heating, cooling and piping industry for 100,000 professional engineers, distributors and contractors.
During the booth tour, Garofoli discussed the value Victaulic is providing the industry including product innovations, productivity savings, total installed cost savings, and the design aids available to assist engineers and owners in optimizing their projects. Read on for a recap of the booth tour with Garofoli and Plumbing Engineer editor Amalia Deligiannis or watch the full interview below:
What mechanical pipe joining solutions does Victaulic offer for the plumbing, heating and air systems (PHA) market?
One of the products we’ll want to cover today since we are at the AHR Expo, is our QuickVic™ Style 107V Rigid Coupling which is a coupling available in sizes 2-12” that is designed for prefabrication and modular systems. As projects become more complex and have compressed schedules, everyone is trying to find a way to meet and exceed expectations of those scheduling and construction goals.
This coupling is part of our line of pipe fittings and couplings that feature our Installation-Ready™ Grooved Technology. We have a center leg on the gasket that allows for ease of installation as well as a shift-limiting bolt pad that allows for us to use a power tool to tighten down with one touch on each side for faster installation. It’s also designed for visual verification which allow for higher quality assurance and quality control, knowing that you’ve installed the product correctly the first time just by looking at it.
Does Victaulic provide virtual design or BIM services and support during preconstruction and installation? What about piping system design and engineering to accommodate for thermal and seismic movement?
When facing complex construction processes there are a lot of things that can be done on the front end of your design to ensure you are meeting the proper parameters on those designs. With Victaulic, we have a Virtual Design and Construction group, which is a Building Information Modeling (BIM) group that works to help lay out all the systems.
We also have a Piping Movement Design group within Victaulic that provides the engineering for thermal expansion and seismic movement. With over 20 experts including mechanical engineers, structural engineers and piping designers who help to analyze the system and calculate how much movement will be occurring in the system in terms of thermal expansion or seismic drift. From there, we will provide what the anchor loads are going to be, placement on those anchor loads and then we will optimize the design for movement on that project.
For a lot of mission-critical facilities, there is a lot of growth in those horizontal buildings and so what we are making sure we are doing is we are placing our products in specific areas to accommodate for that movement that is going to occur. Mission-critical facilities require the highest reliability that we can deliver and by doing all of those analytics and working with the installers and contractors we can ensure it is laid out in the proper way to last the designed life of the system.
What products and solutions or equipment modules does Victaulic offer for plumbing and potable water systems?
One of our AHR Expo displays this year highlights some of our potable water solutions including a pressure reducing valve (PRV) station as well as the different piping materials we can accommodate including stainless steel, copper as well as non-metallics like PVC/CPVC. Depending on which way the designer or contractor wants to go and the economics around that, we are able to provide a solution for that system. This includes not only the couplings but also valving, fittings, and modular solutions. We also offer a range of hydronic balancing solutions, and our team can help appropriately size the valving and the flow of each project.
What’s in store for Victaulic in the year ahead?
With all the complex projects going on around the country, we look forward to engaging with our customers on prefabrication, modular ideas and a lot of the design aids we talked about today including leveraging our Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) and Piping Movement Design group’s expertise to optimize the designs of their projects.
