Plumbing & Piping

Pride & Quality

Between coordination with the preconstruction departments and state of the art equipment, the HPE plumbing and piping fabrication department achieves an exceptional level of consistency and productivity.  The employees that form this department are trained to capitalize on these processes and tools.

Equipment

The fabrication shop also utilizes various pieces of equipment to further the efficiency of these processes.  A five ton capacity overhead crane with full mobility across the shop provides the freedom to resituate anything on the fly.  The handheld plasma cutter is capable of cutting up to 1-1/2″ thick steel and does not generate residual slag, which amounts to clean system start ups due to less wear and tear.  Additionally, the plasma cutter interfaces with CNC plasma tables and fits in a beveling machine for flawless bevels.

A streamlined welding process is a vital part of pipe fabrication, which is achieved through the use of STT Pipe Pro Dual Feeder welding technology, which is twice as fast as stick roll weld and four times faster than stick position weld.  Appearance is not sacrificed for this speed.  It is, in fact, improved with this technology due to a more even distribution of wire deposit and a more even penetration across the weld.  These welds consistently pass x-ray, bend and tensil tests.  This technology is not exclusive to black iron, but in fact provides these same benefits to stainless.
All operators of these welders are certified and experienced in welding black iron, stainless and aluminum for jobs of all sizes.

To see the 15 minute Miller promotional video for RMD Technology, click here.

What We Produce

So what do all of these coordination efforts and investments in equipment amount to?  Complete systems, often called groups, that are fabricated in one controlled environment with little to no hand-off.  All of our groups are built into a framed system.  This framed system is shipped to the field and the installers build them into the walls.  Afterward, the only thing left to do is connecting water and waste/vent to the main.  Toilets are bolted after drywall is done and the system is installed.

A bathroom group consisting of ten toilets and two urinals, mirrored for use in two adjacent bathrooms, can be built in two days.  This is a task that could take up to two weeks in the field.  Furthermore, each fabricated system is leak tested before leaving the shop.

Copper is another material that we commonly work with, whether grooved, silver solder or soft solder, we can ship out hundreds of feet of copper in a single day.  And because of the controlled environment during fabrication, the integrity of the end product is increased drastically.

We also build mechanical rooms of all sizes from 2″ copper to 24″ steel pipe, all systems from hot water, chilled water, condenser water, geothermal, steam, etc., and each system is built the same way our other groups are built.  In the shop and in position.  Coordination with CAD also allows for little to no rework.

Other fabrication services performed in the shop include the manufacturing of brackets and structural elements for supporting cooling towers.  The materials used can be carbon steel, stainless steel, or aluminum.

Safety

The plumbing and piping fabrication shop also boasts a clean slate regarding accidents in the workplace.  There have been zero accidents thanks to a number of safety features including smoke extraction systems over each welding station, welding screens at each weld station, and our five ton capacity crane for heavy lifts.