Their Challenge
“We had problems regulating pressure,” says Ron Lauw, a mechanical maintenance supervisor with East Bay MUD who is now retired. “And we had valves that wouldn’t close when they were supposed to so that caused a lot of problems.” When Kari Oksanen, Singer’s general manager, visited East Bay MUD’s office in Oakland, they found Lauw and his team at the drawing board, trying to create a new valve with standard components.
Our Solution
Oksanen decided to build a valve, too. “We left it up to them to decide which valve—theirs or ours—worked better for that application,” he says. Oksanen adapted a standard pressure-reducing valve to include an integrated backup system with a second diaphragm and a secondary pilot system that did not require electricity. Several months later, he returned with a prototype of the first-ever Pressure Reducing Valve with Integral Back-up (PR-SM) valve. The four-inch valve was installed with excellent results.
The Result
East Bay MUD chose Oksanen’s valve and as a result, they have 100 per cent surge protection and huge cost savings due to no emergency repairs. Singer’s PR-SM valves, which are now patented, have been installed in water districts around the world.
