Pentagon's drinking water and heating installations are made with Viega pressed copper systems
Forty-five kilometers of pipelines are installed to serve the Pentagon's sanitary and heating needs. When the building underwent a complete renovation between 1994 and 2011, the contractor of the major repairs has chosen the Profipress copper piping system of Viega, a German manufacturer. “The technology they have chosen in this case uses pressing that makes it robust and sustainable. And security is of key importance when talking about a kilometer network and an area of 344,000 m2,” commented the Bulgarian company Eurocom 2000, a partner of Viega in Bulgaria.
To refurbish the Pentagon
The powerful US military forces are run from one of the world's most spectacular buildings – the Pentagon, Washington. The US Department of Defense has been there since 1943. Each of the five external facades of the Pentagon has a length of 280 m. Numerous offices connect to each other with 28-kilometer labyrinth of corridors; thanks to its efficient design, moving between any two points in the complex takes no more than 8 minutes.
“You can imagine what sizes and quantities are involved when the goal is to refurbish the Pentagon. Its total renovation took 7 years and costed 5.3 billion dollars”, Eurocom 2000 added. After an intensive study of the water and sewerage and heating systems, the contractors decided on the Viega’s system solution. Quality and efficiency are leading factors in the project implementation.
Viega's press technology
“On the Bulgarian market, the company is mostly known for its capillary and copper pressfittings for water supply, heating and gasification. The German manufacturer has been a leader in press technology since 1994. The range of mounting and connecting elements is wide and covers dimensions from 12 to 108 mm. In this way, Viega provides practical solutions for piping systems in the field of potable water, gasification and heating without the need for welding or thread cutting.”
Marv Wheeler of Southland Industries, the company that performs the Pentagon repair work has also high opinion of press technology. “Press technology means that pipe connections are much tighter and safer than soldered”, he says.
What is the reason for the outstanding robustness and security of Viega's press technology? “The instruments of the German company make simultaneously double-pressing”, commented from Eurocom 2000 and added: “One pressed coupling is made before the compensatory expansion and the second behind it. This ensures a long-lasting bond, both tensile and torsion resistant”.
The Profipress system
This is a system of fittings and copper tubes that are connected by pressing. Viega offers more than 550 products of different sizes and applications. A special waterproofing sealing ring of high quality EPDM rubber is built into the fittings, which in practice has life as much as the building itself.
“In conclusion, we can say that it is a pleasure for us to work with a partner like Viega, because the high quality of their solutions has been proven many times with similar large-scale projects,” the Bulgarian company said.