ADMIRAL FARRAGUT ACADEMY
St. Petersburg, Florida

Admiral Farragut Academy is the only Honor Naval Academy in the United States. Founded in 1945, Admiral Farragut Academy is a co-educational, boarding and day college-preparatory military school with full Naval Junior ROTC status in grades 9-12 and military exposure in grades 6-8.

The 80-year old facility was experiencing system-wide plumbing failures in the hot and cold potable lines. Pinhole leaks, low water pressure and discolored water were all rampant. The academy required repairs to occur during operations so cadet safety was a high priority. As added safety, all contractors and their staff required Level 2 security clearance including background checks and fingerprinting.

You are the Director of Public Works and your Maintenance Director for the school district has been telling you that the District’s main middle school facility has a failing piping system. The school is a 2 level full facility building servicing around 400 students and was constructed in 1968 with an addition in 1988.

The repipe option, upon examination, was not so simple. The local water supply is low in Ph, making the water corrosive to copper pipe. The school is in operation year round, cant be closed for a conventional repipe and there were asbestos abatement implications. To further complicate matters, no one was really sure where the piping system ran and what branch lines serviced what fixtures.

The short-term fix was to wait for a leak, track down it down and repair it. The longer-term plan was to repipe sections of the piping system, a section at a time. A costly and inconvenient way to tackle the job.

Returning from the National School Board Annual Convention in San Diego, where it was learned that a modern approach of protecting piping systems had been on demonstration, the Director of Public Works called ACE DuraFlo® Systems to see if pipe restoration was the answer to his piping challenges.

The project consisted of the complete restoration of the water supply mains, risers and branch lines for the atrium style, 90-room facility. The project took approximately four months to complete. Using ACE DuraFlo’s ePIPE, the academy was fully functional and completely safe throughout the process.

“The cadet’s safety is our number one priority above all else and ACE DuraFlo’s epoxy lined piping solution for pinhole leaks and pipe restoration exceeded our need for health and safety concerns,” Randy Pike spokesman for the Admiral Farragut Academy says. “Pipeline Restoration Technologies was exceptionally courteous and professional and did not disrupt our school’s curriculum and activities even though the restoration took place with school in session.”

“We are extremely pleased with Pipeline Restoration’s workmanship and the speed with which they completed the job,” Pike says. “Our plumbing works great and we won’t be worrying about leaks anymore!”