Ken Rickvalsky, ENV SP, NACE CT

It's been a fascinating 3-decade run for me serving the water and sewer industry. Beginning with 14 years at Griffin Pipe Products as their National Product Engineer, then developing that role further over the last 15 years with the McWane organization, I have been blessed to see the entirety of North America and much of Canada time and again for too many interesting scenarios to ever list.
I've met and worked with countless wonderful people across all aspects of utility design, manufacture, construction, troubleshooting, and professional development. Through the years many of them have become personal as well. I've loved every day of it, even the bad ones because those are the ones where your character, communication skills, and desire to productively assist are not only required but tested. That's what makes it fun. Stepping in when others are compelled to step back.
Outside of work I enjoy quiet time with friends and family, sports of all kinds, and my greatest assignment ever ... being a Grandpa, courtesy of my son Kyle and his wonderful wife Erin.
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Ask the Ditch Doctor - What About Residual Water in Cold Temps?
Dear Ditch Doctor
We recently installed a 15,000-ft 12-inch diameter Ductile iron pipeline with several 6-inch branches off two hydrants. The average depth of cover is 4 feet. The city engineer has expressed a concern that residual groundwater might have entered the pipeline during our installation activities.
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How Does Proper Bedding Allow a Pipe to “Sleep Well?"
Did you know the mattress industry is one of the oldest continuous industries in the world? The first mattresses were believed to have been manufactured in 37 BC in Persia. Today, more than 35 million mattresses are shipped world-wide to replace those that have been in service for an average of seven years. So, what does this have to do with Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe), you ask? This article will discuss how setting improper bedding in a pipe trench can cause sleepless nights for the water company and its crews due to pipe failures, seemingly always at night — as it is my experience that most large main breaks typically occur after dark!
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Cyclic Pressures - What's the Difference Between Ductile Iron & PVC and How Do I Accommodate In Pipe Design?
This entry in the Iron Strong Blog compares the performance of Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) to Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipe against cyclic pressure variations in piping systems. Cyclic loading, or more accurately, cyclic surges, is a phenomenon where pressures in a pipeline frequently vary due to changes in demand, operating conditions, storage tank levels, treatment plants, and pump starts and shutdowns. Surges can also occur during common field operations such as exercising or flushing fire hydrants or valves within the system, which can drastically change flow parameters, causing surges or water hammers.
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How To Perform The Double Bump Test – A Diagnostic Procedure From McWane Ductile
What to do when your hydrostatic PROOF goes POOF? All too often, the tester becomes a prisoner of the gauge, wistfully hoping that somehow, someway, each time the pipeline is pumped back to the same pressure, it would bring a different or better result. On the other hand, in less than 2-hours, the McWane Ductile Double Bump Test (DBT) offers these benefits:
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HDPE and DI Pipe - Differences That Matter - A Comparative Narrative
When choosing an appropriate utility piping material for your water or wastewater project, there is so much more to consider than just the purchase price alone. This comparison between two popular piping materials – HDPE and Ductile iron pipe – demonstrates the need for more than just a cursory review or habitual choice. At McWane Ductile, we are always available to run through the matrix with you. Some installations or conditions do favor alternate materials, yet it’s hardly ever a cut-and-dried deal. Let’s take a closer look to find out why.
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Another River to Cross: Milo, Maine, The Town of Three Rivers
Forty miles north of Bangor, Maine, at the confluence of the Piscataquis, Pleasant and Sebec Rivers, is the town of Milo Maine, a charming enclave founded in 1802. The early history of Milo was dominated by iron works and railroads where it soon became home to the second largest railroad car and repair facility in the New England territory at that time.
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Exorcising Restraint: Deleting the Demonology
Gaskets Are Great
Rubber gaskets are the reliable workhorse of any Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) joint. They provide long-lasting flexibility and a watertight seal against internal pressures upwards of 1,000 psi.
What they don’t do, however, is bind the joint longitudinally against such forces. In fact, without assistance from other variables, a push-on or mechanical joint of any diameter would calmly separate lengthwise against pressures as low as 50 psi.
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Can McWane Ductile Provide Bonded Coatings?
Can McWane Ductile provide bonded coatings? A good question recently posed and more frequently asked due to a greater recognition of potential corrosive environments. To correctly address this question, some other questions need to be answered first.
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What Are Mill Certs and Why Are They Needed?
Accountability through traceability. That’s the cornerstone of Quality Assurance in any manufacturing process.
Often referred to by the abbreviation QA, if you don’t have firm control of this, you don’t have a product worth using. Quality products where lifetime warranties and reliability begin.
McWane Ductile is dedicated to continuous improvements in both product quality and personnel safety throughout all aspects of the process, in our foundry as well as the end-users’ systems.
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McWane Ductile Participates in Career Development with Palm Beach County Water Utilities
On July 24, 2018 the ½ Day of Water event took place at the state-of-the-art training facility in West Palm Beach Florida. The utility’s sprawling and beautiful center has significant space for hands-on training, large dual-screen high-resolution digital presentations, individual and group computer skills and software training, and so much more. Nearly 40 Palm Beach County utility workers, ranging from field personnel to design engineers, plant operators, and department managers were in attendance.