SCHOOL LABORATORY: SLAB-ON-GRADE
Meriden, CT

The new middle school in Meriden, CT is planned as a "magnet school" to attract top students from the surrounding area. There are six science laboratories in this modern three-story building under construction on Main St. Four of the labs are on the first floor with slab-on-grade construction. Piping of natural gas to the table mounted burners throughout each classroom laboratory presented a challenge to the mechanical contractor.

National Fuel Gas Code (NFPA 54) requirements dictate that gas piping located under buildings be protected from corrosion with a sleeve and that the sleeve must be vented to the atmosphere. The use of conventional black iron piping for these ground level laboratories and the connections to multiple Bunsen burners becomes a logistical nightmare because of the required venting of all underground sections.

The contractors were presented with the option to use TracPipePS, the patent-pending underground version of OMEGAFLEX' stainless steel flexible gas piping.

TracPipe, in sizes through 2-inch is now specified routinely on commercial jobs across North America. Underground TracPipePS is available in sizes up to 1 ¼ inch in 100-foot coils.

TracPipe is listed in Masterspec® section 15194 as an alternative to black iron for fuel gas piping. TracPipePS includes a polyethylene outer pipe, which fulfills the sleeve requirement and the available vent tees provide a quick, reliable method to vent underground portions outdoors. Heat shrink cuffs provided with each length of TracPipePS are utilized after laying out the system to enclose and isolate the underground portion for venting.

After a presentation to the Specifying Engineers, the use of TracPipePS was added to the plans and a design was chosen that looped the flexible gas pipe from lab table to table in "daisy chain" fashion. The venting was designed similarly with two vent tees below each gas stub-out (see photos).

The school piping was the first flexible gas-piping job for this Mechanical contractor. And it provided a valuable learning experience in the time and money saving value of TracPipe. The labor and material for the TracPipePS portion of the school was thousands of dollars below the projected cost to run conventional rigid pipe sleeved and vented per code requirements.

As a result of their positive experience with TracPipe the decision was made to use flexible gas piping in several other areas of the Middle School including the cafeteria kitchen.

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