MAY | 2023

MUELLER INNOVATION NEWS

Innovating for the Future with our New Decatur Lead-Free Brass Foundry

For 165 years, Mueller has led through innovation and today is no different. We’re excited to announce our new foundry producing high-performing C87850 lead-free brass waterworks products is up and running.

Protection from lead exposure and access to sustainable materials are important for water utilities to continue delivering clean safe drinking water, while also protecting installers. That’s why Mueller has made a significant investment in building our new lead-free brass foundry where products will be made from a more durable and environmentally friendly brass alloy.

We built our Decatur, Illinois foundry from the ground up to better meet customer needs by increasing our capacity and bolstering our ability to deliver scalable solutions. And it’s the largest of its kind in the world!

Protect your community from potential lead exposure with Mueller’s new C87850 lead-free brass alloy, providing an even stronger version of the products you already know and trust.



For more information on C87850 lead-free brass Click Here

Sentryx™ Platform Continues to Evolve with Customer Feedback

At Mueller, we are committed to the continuous discovery and improvement of the Sentryx user experience. One of the many benefits of a cloud-based platform is that we can continue to increase functionality and keep up to date with best practices and security. Here are some of the recent updates:

  • Security Improvements → Introduced role based access control to Sentryx Metering Users. This allows administrators to exercise finer control when assigning roles to users based on the actions each user should or would need to perform.

    • Roles introduced:
  • Metering Admin-Utility
  • Metering User
  • Metering Read Only

  • UI/UX Improvement → Introduced Remote Device Messaging Status bar on Sentryx Meter Page, which gives users quick insight on their in-progress remote messages [On Demand Reads & Remote Valve Control]. This bar also links to the Audit history table, if the user needs more details on these in-flight remote messages.

  • UI/UX Improvement → Introduction of multi-select using SHIFT Key on Sentryx Tables. In addition to the existing multi-select feature using checkboxes, users can now select multiple entries on the table by holding down the Shift key and clicking anywhere on a table entry. This enhancement allows users to quickly select a group of entries instead of selecting entries individually.

  • UI/UX Improvements → Additional filter are added to Notes on the Metering Alerts page. Alerts Notes are now filterable by “Empty” and “Not Empty”. Another improved user experience enhancement is the new shaded Note icon that indicates there is text in the note. The plain Note icon now only indicates an empty note. The new filtering feature affords users quicker insight into their Alerts’ Notes with the ability to see only Alerts that have written notes attached. The new shaded icon contrasted with the plain icon gives users an easy and accessible visual representation of the status of any Note.

  • UI/UX Improvements →The content section(accordion) on the Meters details page (i.e., Alerts, Meter Information, and Billing Information) is set to Expand by default. This lets users quickly access necessary information about a meter without scrolling through & opening the desired accordions.

  • On the Insights page, the Alerts information is now divided into Unacknowledged Water Meter Alerts and Total Communication Alerts. This allows users to have a better understanding of the types of alerts and take the appropriate action.


    • For more information on Sentryx - One Platform. Simple Workflows. Powerful Insights. Click Here

    Check out Echologics ePulse® Discovery™ and ePulse® Optimize™

    ePulse Discovery condition assessment service determines the average remaining wall thickness of pipes across 60-200m and if required, ePulse Optimize condition assessment service gathers more granular data by finding the remaining wall thickness of pipe sections across 10-30m. This technology is designed to help utilities manage assets, optimize budgets, and increase sustainability through condition assessment of all pipe lengths to custom levels of data detail, without the need for digging up buried assets. Using ePulse technology, utilities can monitor, rehabilitate, or replace pipes based on actual measurements – not an estimate.

    ePulse Discovery condition assessment service has supported utility asset management for over a decade with over 200 third-party validations of our results - 40 third-party validations for ePulse Optimize condition assessment service and growing. Managers can reveal accurate pipe condition information tailored to their requirements non-invasively, helping to create a more resilient, reliable, and efficient network using ePulse.



    For more information on ePulse condition assessment service Click Here

    Mueller Ships Singer® 900mm Pressure Reducing Valves to Malaysia Water Utility

    This Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) with an integral flow measurement device provides a two-in-one solution. It comes with a Single Point Insertion (SPI) electromagnetic meter to quantify the flow passing through the valve and reduce pressure accordingly. Having an integrated flow meter in the valve saves on the cost of installing a large electromagnetic meter and the footprint in the valve chamber. With the SPI meter installed on the upstream port of the PRV, only one chamber is required to house the PRV and flowmeter together.


    To learn more about Singer PRVs Click Here

    Water Utilities Can Better Manage Flow Fluctuations with Singer® Single Rolling Diaphragm Valves

    A west coast utility recently changed all the pressure-reducing valves (PRVs) in its water distribution system. The five-year PRV upgrade was designed to address the fluctuations and ensure redundant pressure and flow control through SCADA automation. By moving to Singer® PRVs with redundant pressure control (PR-SM) and single rolling diaphragm (SRD) technology, the new system was designed to provide smooth, steady, and precise pressure control from maximum to virtually zero flow, without the need for low-flow bypass valves.

    The effective area of the single rolling diaphragm remains constant, so the bonnet is much smaller and lighter than the previous flat diaphragms that were experiencing seat chatter. The SRD provides a measured quantity of water in the bonnet control chamber and maintains the same smooth movement of the inner valve through the entire stroke. By eliminating the seat chatter at low flows, the SRD avoids injecting small pressure pulses into the piping, which, over time, may increase leakage, losses, or pipe bursts. Eliminating the seat chatter with the SRD technology means the new Singer valves are much quieter.

    The new valves were fitted with electronic primary control with a hydraulic pressure reducing backup on the loss of power or failure of the pilot system. Typically, the City pulsed solenoids in a flow meter to provide a constant flow rate from each PRV. The hydraulic pilot and secondary chamber operate independently of the main electronic control chamber, so if there is a failure, it can override the main valve body and maintain downstream pressures. In the event of a failure, there is also a limit switch on top of the valve that sends an alarm to the City, so they know that they are running in backup mode.

    Sites that did not have inline flow meters were fitted with the Singer SPI-MV, a Single Point Insertion electromagnetic flow meter that provides accurate flow data within 2% of the actual reading. These flow sensors come pre-calibrated from McCrometer’s NIST traceable calibration lab, so they require no recalibration in the field. With a single-piece design and no moving parts, the electromagnetic sensor contains nothing to wear or break, and is generally immune to clogging by debris. The SPI-MV can also tie back into the existing SCADA system for complete flow-based valve control.

    Each valve replacement was uniquely specified. Depending on the consequence of failure, the redundant valve body was either selected or not. If power was available in the vault, the City could also add transmitters to the pilot and valve stem so that the percentage open was available through SCADA along with real-time pressures and flows. The redundant valve body was also provided with a limit switch on a battery power supply so that the City can now receive an alarm as soon as there is a main chamber failure.

    Optimizing the hydraulic integrity of a water distribution system is one of the most beneficial ways to extend the life of assets. With less maintenance required on the new PRVs and less possibility for failure, the City is confident it can continue to supply a steady flow of water, regardless of fluctuating demand.



    For more information on Singer Single Rolling Diaphragm Technology Click Here

    Pratt Shifts to a Safer and More Reliable Elastomer for Valve Seats

    As water utilities are looking for ways to do more with less, Mueller is investing in research and development to improve products by using new materials to extend product life and value. A simple choice of material can impact the design life, function, and performance. One change that has all three beneficial outcomes for water distribution is moving from Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (Buna-N) to Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) for valve seats.

    We know contaminants are on the rise and municipalities are having to do more testing and look at a broader spectrum of treatment solutions. One treatment that is becoming more common and in increasing quantities is the use of Chloramines to disinfect drinking water. This has been standard practice in other parts of the world, and as a result, they have discovered that increased chloramine use leads to substantially higher rates of valve seat failure. It became evident that chloramine usage was the cause of Buna-N elastomer degradation characterized as mass change, which is due to the rubber swelling up in the presence of chloramines. Mass change is the result of excessive water absorption. It is believed that other failure modes are increased susceptibility to breaking stress and strain, along with increasing hardness, where the rubber is simply losing its elastomeric properties.

    When the integrity of any elastomer is compromised, chemicals or additives can leach into the drinking water. When certain standard minimum concentrations are detected, the rubber compound is designated unworthy for use in drinking water applications, per the guidelines set forth through NSF/ANSI 61: Drinking Water System Components – Health Effects. In order to ensure the rubber compound is safe for use in drinking water or wastewater applications, the rubber compound should be thoroughly evaluated to the NSF standards as appropriate.

    As the trend in Chloramine treatment increases in North America, a new approach will be needed to ensure drinking water is safe and that valves continue to perform their important function without having to send out crews to replace failing seats. EPDM is appearing to not only become a suitable replacement, given the changing water environment but a superior performing elastomer, in general, when compared to Buna-N. However, not all rubber compounds perform the same. There are some Buna-N compounds that perform very well under adverse conditions, as noted in AWWA M75 - Elastomers for Waterworks: Pipes, Valves, and Fittings. The same can be said for Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), natural rubber, and neoprene rubber.

    Given significant research and our mandate to continuously innovate the functionality and extend the product life of water infrastructure solutions, Henry Pratt Company is moving to EPDM seats as the standard seat configuration for all Pratt® butterfly valves. EPDM is also readily available and globally sourced, reducing the challenges of supply chain issues.

    “By standardizing on one seat material, which removes some of the decision-making processes through providing an EPDM seat, the physical properties are better when held up against chloramine attack. We anticipate water utilities will welcome the upgrade. Once maintenance crews see the improvement in durability, we anticipate EPDM will be the preferred choice for replacement seats,” said Tom Velkovich, Sales Director for the Henry Pratt Company.



    To learn more about Pratt valve products Click Here

    Mueller will be at the Following Shows, we would Love to See you there



    ➤ Ozwater ‘23 | May 10-12 | Sydney, Australia Learn More

    ➤ SWAN 13th Annual Conference | May 9 – 11 | Glasgow, Scotland Learn More

    ➤ ACE 23 | June 11-14 | Toronto, Canada Learn More

    ➤ NFPA 2023 Conference & Expo | June 19-21 | Las Vegas, Nevada Learn More

    ➤ Hydrovision 2023 | July 11-13th | Charlotte, NC Learn More

    ➤ Vod-ka 2023 | Prague | May 23-25 | Czech Republic Learn More

    ➤ WEFTEC 2023 | October 2-4 | Chicago, Illinois Learn More

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