Aspen Mountain Plumbing CEO Lance Ball was called to a job requiring some creative solutions.
He was tasked with taking out an old boiler with a holding tank from the private residence, but there was no prebuilt manifold. Plus, he was faced with a number of tight spaces in which to do the work. The team eventually had to create its own manifold from scratch, out of Viega parts, before finishing the job.
Even with those tight spaces involved, Ball was able to quote the customer a reasonable price, knowing he could lean on Viega’s quick and clean press fittings to get the project wrapped up in a hurry.
Ball and his field manager, Tanner Palacios, said they used about 120 feet of copper pipe, from ¾” and up. “We used so many 90-degree elbows I can’t even remember,” Palacios said. “I mean, we used 90s, 45s, Tees and unions. For gas, we used Tees, 90s and unions. We used well over a hundred fittings.”
““It took Tanner and Plumbing Technician Jake Reed 20 hours to do all the work,” Ball said. “If we were sweating and threading, we probably would have been looking at close to 40 hours. We cut our time in half.”
Some of the fittings ended up in some difficult-to-reach areas, with the gas coming in from under the floor joists.
“It was right up against the floor joists where we were doing some of the fittings,” Ball said. “And we were right up against the wall.”
“Bringing the gas over, we wanted to run it on the right side,” Palacios continued. “We probably couldn’t have done it without pressing. Being able to go that direction – with MegaPress fittings – was huge. With the jaws, there was no real challenge getting into tough places. The jaws eliminated issues getting to press fittings in the ceiling as well. That also helped a lot.”
And Viega’s Smart Connect technology came in handy on this job too, helping the team locate an unpressed fitting quickly and get it pressed.
“We had two of us working on this project,” Palacios said. “Reed pressed one side of the boiler and I pressed the other. Through the confusion we missed one, but we found it right away when we turned the water on for pressure testing.”
ProPress, like any Viega press system, allows for connections to be pressed without draining. It’s another time-saving measure offered by Viega in situations like these, as compared to traditional methods.
Ball noted that he was first introduced to Viega and press technology nearly 20 years ago, when he was just getting started in the business in Las Vegas.
“It was fairly new in the industry at that time,” Ball recalled. “Ever since I opened Aspen Mountain Plumbing here in Rock Springs eight years ago, I’ve been using Viega.
“It’s just so easy,” Palacios said. “I mean, when customers want to do something down the line, threading is so difficult. With Viega you just cut in and branch off. It’s simple and fast.”
