Will the valves in the valve chambers of buried circulating water pipes be flooded?
Thread Content
Will the valves in the valve chambers of buried circulating water pipes be flooded? In the south or in areas with high groundwater levels, the valves in the valve chambers of buried circulating water pipes often get submerged in water, especially during the rainy season. Have you encountered such a situation? How is it best to solve this? Could an expert share their experience? Thank you!
When working on projects in Jiaxing, I’ve encountered situations where submersible pumps were installed in valve chambers for the purpose of pumping water. After being in use for a year or two, the valves in the instrument well became severely corroded; they were all moved to the surface, which only added a few elbows.
Is the water intrusion caused by poor construction quality of the valve chamber, leading to seepage from underground? Is it still water leaking in from the top? I wonder if it can be solved through the design and construction of the well?
In Jiaxing, Zhejiang, the environment is such that digging with a shovel will yield water. We also construct concrete valve chambers, and water starts to appear in them after some time; this is mainly due to severe rusting of the valves inside. And then the subsequent modifications followed
Water ingress into valve chambers is a common phenomenon, usually caused by flooding during the rainy season which allows water to enter through the manhole covers. Most of the valve chambers located on roads here are made of cast iron; to facilitate opening, holes are provided in the manhole covers for inserting rods. In those valve chambers where the groundwater level is low, as long as the chamber walls are properly sealed and waterproofed, the valves generally won’t get soaked by water. However, there are cases where the valve body or stem rusts and becomes unusable!
1. The valve chamber shall be poured with impermeable concrete. 2. The height of the valve chamber shall be increased by 500 mm above the ground level. 3. Emergency drainage using pump units shall be prevented in the valve chamber.
I specifically inspected the water inlet channels in the valve chamber, and it was determined that water accumulated in the valve chamber due to leaks at the junctions where the pipes met the concrete, which caused the valves to be submerged. As a result, we had to remove the valves, instruments, etc. from the valve chamber, and in some cases even eliminate certain instrument monitoring points.
In the northern regions, this is done to prevent freezing, but during the rainy season in summer, flooding is inevitable; it is necessary to pump out the water from there promptly
It’s normal for water to flood in, unless you install a pump or your well has a downstream flow. Buried pipeline valve chambers are generally similar. Make every effort to ensure good waterproofing in the initial stage; carry out seepage prevention measures around the well during its construction, and use a cover on it on a daily basis. But generally, that leakage is unavoidable.