After a recent inspection, a property management company in NYC was issued a curb valve violation. The building was summonsed for not having a curb valve exposed on the sidewalk which is required for all fire sprinkler mains. The management company had 90 days to rectify the issue before appearing in court.
When contacting Harris water they explained that the fire sprinkler main was 42 years old. The buildings super distinctly remembered the curb valve being utilized within the previous five years when the changed a non-functional OS&Y valve inside the building. The property manager was extremely confused when Harris explained that this was a common occurrence. If the sidewalk has been resurfaced with new cement, the curb valve box may have been covered with concrete.
Installing new curb valve |
Curb box used to expose valve |
Harris began an exploratory excavation to locate the old curb valve and began digging within 3’ of the sidewalk. After digging 4’ deep the crew was able to locate the old valve. After testing the valve it had become apparent that it was no longer functional and had to be replaced to bring the building up to code. Harris now had to turn off the water from the city wet connection. The wet connection was located 4’ below ground level in the roadway and was turned off within 2 hours of excavating. Shortly after the old curb valve was removed and replaced with a new 4” curb valve. A DEP inspector showed up around 3PM and passed the new curb valve inspection. The sidewalk was backfilled with clean soil and permanently restored with concrete the very next day
