Pre-fabricated Fitting Covers Reduce Complex Cutting and Assembly of Insulation at 600 Massachusetts Avenue, DC

Grooved mechanical pipe joining systems are great for fast and flameless installation of piping systems, but they can also add complexity to the insulation process. The fittings add dimension to the pipe at connection points and this limits the length of insulation that can be installed in one step. The joint fittings must be insulated separately, in a piece-by-piece fashion, which can add hundreds of labor hours of measuring, cutting and gluing insulation. On large projects it can even disrupt construction schedules.

The pre-fabricated covers, engineered specifically for Victaulic fittings (as well as grooved fittings from other manufacturers, like Gruvlok®) eliminate an enormous amount of cutting and gluing at the jobsite.

This was the dilemma faced by Old Dominion Insulation (ODI) when the company was chosen to insulate the chilled water system at a large redevelopment project at 600 Massachusetts Avenue, NW in downtown Washington D.C.

Armaflex flexible closed-cell foam insulation was selected to insulate the chilled water system at this 400,000 sq. ft. mixed- use facility. Rather than hand-assembling covers for nearly 300 grooved connection points within the system, ODI opted to use AP Armaflex® Fabricated Fitting Covers, a decision which saved the contractor hundreds of hours of labor and helped bring the project in on time.

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