WATER LINE FAILURE
OF HOPKINS
010 FIRST STREET SOUTH PHONE: 935-8474
HOPKINS, MINNESOTA 55343
o
INTER-OFFICE
MEMO
TO
BILL CRAIG - City Manager
DATE JANUARY 13, 1984 19~
FROM EVERETT BEECHER - Public Works Operations Director
SUBJECT Water Line Failure at Archies Bar
In reference to the report furnished youe by.Mr. Perkl, from Cerro Copper Products
Co., I observe the fOllowing. The statement about the copper quality is most likely
true.
The statement about the deburring of the copper end is unfounded..for the following
reason: The deburred portion;j of the tubing becomes a portion of the flare itself
and in no case is it ever exposed t6. the water flow. Furtbermore, if :.the de-
burring had not been properly done the flare joint would not have held at the time
of installation. In my past experience I have made many like connections personally
and know full well that with ' improperly cut or deburred tubing, a water tight
joint cannot be made.
o
In my opinion the following would seem to be the Jreason for failure of the service
line:
The errosion inside the tubing is caused by the change in direction of the flow
from the Main into the building service line. This direction change causes heavy
turbulance causing excessive wear internally at the junction of service and Main.
Outside damage to the tube:iS3probably caused by large No. of electric equipment
grounded to water service. This type of corrosion could occur because of the
connection of dissimilar metals.
This is not the first time that we have had failures of this type, all of which were
the same type of service, heavy usage and many electric appliances grounded to same.
The following are the like cases I am talking about. Tremont Plaza (3), Wendy's
Restaurant, Hiawatha Appartments, Royal Appartments (2), Dental Office - 19th and
Excelsior, Campridge clAppartments, Kennys Laundromat and Market (2), Arches Appt. .(3)
Ric's Car Wash, Poppin Fresh (2), Precious Metals, VFW Club.
I have~~o seen many like instances in other water departments where I have been
employed in the past 28 years. I hope this will be of help to you when you
consider this matter.
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cc John Strojan
Mike Lauseng