R.M. Headlee Restores Working Condition To the Fountain at Cobbs Hill Reservoir, Rochester, NY

The Client: The City of Rochester, NY

The City of Rochester’s drinking water comes from the Cobbs Hill Reservoir located near the center of the city. It is fed thru a 36” main by gravity from the Hemlock Water Plant 30 miles away. The iconic fountain, in the middle of the reservoir (built in 1908), utilized a gate valve in the fountain structure and operated by the hydraulic power system located in the gate house, to create the back pressure necessary for the fountain to work.

The Challenge: Sizing Control Valve for the Fountain

The gate valve and hydraulic system served a long service life of over 100 years. When it became inoperable, the city searched for options to keep the fountain in service.
The requirements were:
• Vendor needed to size valve to create the required backpressure during summer and
winter months
• The solution required the valve and actuator to be capable of total submergence.
• Valve actuator needed to be throttled from the gate house

And of course, this solution needed to be cost effective, and implemented quickly.

The Solution: A Red Valve® Pinch Valve with 24″ x 20″ Cone Sleeve

Using Red Valve’s sizing program, the optimum size was determined to be a Type A Pinch Valve with a 36” x 20” cone sleeve. To save considerable cost, R.M. Headlee proposed using (2) 36” x 24” ductile iron concentric reducers, (1) upstream & (1) downstream of the valve, with the 24” Type A pinch valve with a 24” x 20” cone sleeve.

Actuation of the Type A, the PINCHING action, is accomplished by air or hydraulic pressure placed on the elastomeric sleeve. The valve body acts as a built-in actuator, eliminating costly and hard to submerge pneumatic, hydraulic or electric actuators.

Modulating the air/hydraulic pressure within the annular space between the body and sleeve will open, throttle or close the valve. RM Headlee proposed using city water, that was readily available, to actuate the valve.

The Result: On-Time Project Completion with Long Term Maintenance Flexibility

R.M. Headlee’s solution was accepted, installed and to this day still proving the spectacular view of the 115 year old fountain that is enjoyed by hundreds of daily walkers, bikers and joggers!

About Red Valve

Established in 1953 and having over 57 patents, Red Valve is a manufacturer and leader in valve flow technology and mixing systems. Red Valve is based out of Pittsburgh, PA and now boasts a newly upgraded North Carolina production factory.

Starting out in the mining industry, Red Valve solved valve issues using an elastomeric pinch design and worked to create improved products including flexible duck-bill check valves. These check valves open in proportion to system flow and pressure and won’t ingress contaminants when the system is not running. Mixing water in storage tanks using the pump pressure is an advantage compared to competitors who must bring in electrical power. Learn more about RM Headlee’s suite of Red Valve products here.

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