Water Project Saves $1.7M By Installing Air Valves Without Manholes

Articles > Water Project Saves Installing Air Valves

Published: Tue, Mar 15, 2016

Manholes have high construction costs and maintenance costs. The typical traditional manhole for an air valve costs around $15,000 each. Maintenance in this manhole will requires confined space entry, which necessitates a 3-person crew and a service truck costing $500 to 1000 per maintenance trip.

In a new water supply pipeline project in 2011, a municipality in Central Alberta saved the cost of building and maintaining a manhole for every single air valve. They used the ARI D-090 direct-bury self-contained air valve kits to install air valves on the line without manholes.

Total cost savings:

Using the ARI D-090 direct-bury self-contained air valve removes the need for a manhole chamber. The compact and lightweight air valve design saves time and installation costs for the contractors: the initial cost of a D-090 (including installation) is about $8000. We saved capital costs for the owner and engineers, lowered the installation costs for contractors, and drastically reduced maintenance costs for the pipeline operators.

Total savings: $7000 x 100 air valves = $700,000 in two years for Alberta Central East (ACE) projects. In 2011, we saved more than half million dollars in project capital costs for Urban System and the ACE. Our people met and trained the contractors to make the installation easier and faster. The savings in each air valve maintenance trip is more than $500 (no confined space access costs!). The total maintenance cost saving is $500 x 100 air valves x 20 years = $1,000,000 (and this is based on a conservative estimate).

Using the ARI D-090 air valves is saving this Alberta municipality more than $1.7 million in capital and maintenance costs.