What do you do when the gas line serving multifamily housing is compromised and shut down on a Friday afternoon? Well, Phoenix-based Air & Water Mechanical Services would tell you to reach for Viega, of course.

Air & Water Mechanical Services was called in for some speedy help in the area. Approximately 100 feet of pipe needed to be replaced, so the gas line was to be shut down until repairs were completed. Understandably, no one wanted to leave residents all weekend without gas service.

“The property owner was thankful we were able to minimize downtime,” says Christopher Baldi, executive vice president of Air & Water Mechanical Services. “We coordinated with Southwest Gas to have the service turned back on at 5 p.m. the following day. We swung into action and were able to get the fittings we needed. Getting the job done and the gas line back in 24 hours — from my perspective, that’s a big success. That’s why they call us. They have a problem and want it fixed correctly and quickly.”

Baldi explains about 40 feet of pipe was buried in the ground, while the other 60 feet of pipe was above ground. While it was a “small project in the grand scheme of things,” it was the timing that was big.

Crews were on the job from late afternoon until about 1 a.m., then back at it at 4 a.m. to get the project completed. Baldi says none of it would have been possible without MegaPressG fittings.

“It’s good for us that a lot of our competitors don’t use ProPress or MegaPress,” he says. “We are standardized on Viega products. We have four press tools in the shop — we’re not a huge company, but those tools are constantly in use. It allowed my guys to finish a repair quickly, charge a similar rate and be off to the next job. The amount of tickets from a technician goes up for the same amount of time.”

Being able to work in a safe environment is important to Baldi. He recalled a construction project down the street from his home that caught on fire because of a soldering iron being left on, burning the building to the ground. Cutting that kind of liability out of his work means something.

“We want to work in a safer environment — safer for the client, the company, the environment and the technician,” Baldi notes. “We do a lot of work in wet environments in mission-critical applications, such as assisted-living facilities. Maybe a boiler or chiller needs repaired and you can’t wait to drain the system. With Viega, we can meet the customer’s requirements a lot quicker and get them back online faster.”