DAE think the push for all-stainless fittings on freshwater systems is overkill?

I had a brass coupling on a feed line in a Cincinnati plant fail after 15 years, but swapping it for another $8 brass part got us running in 20 minutes, while waiting for a custom stainless piece would've cost $200 and shut the line down for a day.

3 comments

3 Comments

river1831d ago

We had a pump station in Toledo that ran on brass fittings for thirty years. The maintenance log was just a list of dates when we swapped a ten dollar part during routine checks. Replacing the whole system with stainless for "best practice" would have cost more than the pump itself. Sometimes the right answer is the one that lets you go home on time.

sam_harris6811d ago

Exactly, and you hit on the real cost that gets ignored. It's not just the part price, it's the downtime and labor. How many brass fittings could you buy and replace for the cost of one shutdown? The push feels like it's coming from people who don't have to keep things running on a Tuesday afternoon with production breathing down their neck. Sometimes good enough is actually the best choice.

leebrown11d ago

Yeah, "good enough is actually the best choice" is spot on, I've kept stuff running for years with simple brass swaps.