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<< Continued from page 27 equipment. Geberit’ s new facility, where design meets function, enables installers, specifiers, and end users the opportunity to experience this new world for themselves.
System description At 9.5m in height, the tower is the tallest one in Africa. It was designed specifically for the South African plumbing market and the challenges it faces.
Currently it is programmed to run 11 different scenarios, demonstrating the incorrect and correct way of doing things. The plan is to have red and blue coloured water in the system to illustrate the difference between the incorrect and correct scenarios further.
The scenarios are all numbered on the tower. They show things like swept entry versus non-swept entry. Scenario 9, for example, is all about showing cross-contamination of water. You can run any scenario with the touch of a button on the preprogrammed tablet screen.
The system is fitted out with clear CAB piping. It is exactly the same size and dimensions of normal HDPE pipe, except that it is see-through to allow you to see what is happening with the water inside.
“ People often think plumbing is just removing water and solids, but the water-to-air ratio is so important and thanks to the clear piping, we can now show people just how important,” says Da Silva.“ It’ s clear pipe and you can’ t fool hydraulics; what you see is what you get.”
Installation Once the design was complete, the MPW team moved onto site and worked quite quickly, starting on 14 February 2017, with completion on 30 March 2017. They were selected for the job based on their knowledge and understanding of the Geberit project.
Patrick Masongweni, project manager on the job for MPW, and Dean Cane, operations manager at MPW, both have seen the Hydraulic Tower at Geberit’ s head office in Switzerland and were very impressed with the design. Also, MPW has been working with Geberit for many years.“ So when we were invited by Mark Schurr to be involved, the decision was an easy‘ Yes’ for us!” explains Cane.
Installation was pretty straightforward once the tower’ s design was signed off by head office.“ Once we had the drawings for the water and drainage we could work with these, applying normal installation practices,” Cane explains.
“ The Hydraulic Tower offers such a great opportunity for plumbers, architects, and engineers in southern Africa to experience the flow of water and change a few dogged mindsets of what is wrong and what is right,” says Cane.
“ The Hydraulic Tower challenges the status quo. No architect, engineer, or plumber can visit this and not appreciate the significance of plumbing, water, and water flow,” says Cane.
The tower offers training for all different kinds of professionals in the industry. It covers from installers to architects and specifiers— even quantity surveyors and wet service engineers – anyone can go there and experience the tower to see how it works.
While the main function of the tower is to show the workings of drainage, it has been fitted out with a Pluvia syphonic roof drainage system at the back to show how the system works – something that was never possible before.“ Usually you can’ t see such detail on the Pluvia systems. You only see the ends; you don’ t see what happens inside the pipe,” explains Da Silva.“ Once you see how it works, you understand it better.”
Hilti was used for the framework of the system, and Geberit cisterns, new toilets, and basins from the Geberit Bathroom Collection, together with Geberit urinals and traps, were mounted onto the system and connected to the clear CAB pipe. Grundfos pumps are used to pump the water, enabling the running of various scenarios.
All about training Training commenced in May and the idea is to keep groups relatively small( about 12 people at most) to keep the focus of the group, explains Da Silva. The training will be done by the various Geberit sales consultants who have market experience and have been trained on the tower themselves.“ The consultants know exactly what their clients need to be trained on, as they’ re the ones out in the field all the time,” explains Da Silva.
From when the company opened its doors locally, training has been essential for Geberit. They initially started training in a small container at first, and now they have come so far. This is one of the key aspects about Geberit and why they are so successful.“ The Hydraulic Tower is the next step to show our commitment to training,” said Da Silva.
“ Geberit’ s commitment to training is well known, and the tower will enhance the training visually as well as practically,” says Cane.“ For us again, and for industry, the mere uniqueness of the project is special.”
Continued on page 30 >> www. plumbingafrica. co. za June 2017 Volume 23 I Number 4