June 11, 2001 -- The new PNC Park baseball stadium for the Pittsburgh Pirates requires a great deal of water - especially for the bathroom breaks during the "seventh inning stretch". To meet these water supply demands, the builders of the stadium turned to Bell & Gossett to help design and supply the pumps system.
After spending 30 years in Three Rivers Stadium, a dull cookie cutter stadium, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a new home. PNC Park, the new ball field for Pirates opened in spring 2001. The ballpark reflects a trend towards building inner-city stadiums that become part of the urban scene as in the early days of baseball. PNC Park has just over 38,000 seats, making it the most intimate of any of the newly constructed parks. The playing surface has natural grass and asymmetrical fences with the Pittsburgh City skyline serving as an outfield backdrop.
PNC Park is the first ballpark with a two-deck design to be built in the United States since Milwaukee's County Stadium was completed in 1953. Because of its design, the highest seat is just 88 feet from the field, giving every fan in the park an ideal sight line.
Even though the ballpark was designed to feel like an older stadium, its facilities and support systems are squarely in the 21st century. Other features of the new facility include 69 luxury suites with their own concourse level, club seating at both the field and mezzanine levels with their own respective lounges, many concession stands, an outfield barbecue pit, a restaurant with a party deck that overlooks both the playing field and the city, and an outdoor river terrace and river walk.
Nostalgic Look With Modern Systems
All of these facilities, as well as the modern locker rooms and the many rest room facilities all need a reliable water supply. As Larry, Larkin, of Thermoflo Equipment Company, a Bell & Gossett distributor recalled, "The contractor was looking to do some creative engineering on this project. We reviewed the original specifications and made some changes. We ended up recommending a skid-mounted Bell & Gossett Pressure Booster powered by three B&G 1,000 GPM pumps.
According to Larkin, the benefits of the skid mounted system are that the pumping system is piped and wired in the factory which saves labor and time on the construction site.
Larkin noted that the construction schedule of this new stadium made this was a fast track job. "There was not a lot of floor space for the equipment, so we were able to help the plumbing contractor locate some of the components up above so that they were able to fit everything into the equipment rooms."
The Super Flush
With the B&G booster package supplying the total water supply for the new stadium, there was some rigorous testing ahead. According to Larkin, testing the ability of the water supply system is a traditional procedure in all new stadiums. Prior to the facility opening, the health department of Allegheney County wanted to witness this test.
On March 11, 2001, more than 170 volunteers showed up at PNC Park for what was a very "draining experience". They were all dispatched to simultaneously to hit the flush valves of all public restroom facilities located at the ballpark and turn on the concession stands to see if the B&G pressure booster could handle the peak loads for water supply.
Called the "Super Flush," the volunteers were recruited by Limbach Company, the stadium plumbing contractor. They were escorted by company officials in groups to various levels of the new ballpark. When they arrived at their appointed stations and the signal was given, the volunteers reached out and flushed and flushed again on command from the test coordinators.
About 600 public toilets and 400 urinals were flushed almost simultaneously and repeatedly for 20 minutes while the amount of water being drawn into the PNC Park system soared to a rate of more than 2,000 gallons a minute.
While that was going on, engineers and manufacturer's representatives gathered to watch pressure gauges, digital readouts as the three pumps responsible for making the system work turned on and off as needed.
Water pressure to all facilities except the restaurants in the ballpark should be about 100 pounds, engineers said. As the pressure dropped, the pumps began to turn on one by one to send it back up again. Bill Larkin, also of Thermoflo, was observing the Super Flush from up on the fifth floor concourse, recording pressures at that point. The pressure ranged from between 60 to 80 psig at all the measured fixtures.
When it was over, officials pronounced the test a success. Larkin recalled that, "We recorded a peak output of 2.200 gallons per minute during the first test and 2,250 gallons per minute during the second test. The system draw was maintained for just over two minutes and the pressure booster package kept up." Operating all three pumps simultaneously, the booster package has a total capacity of approximately 3,000 GPM.
"The test had two purposes," said Jim Youden of Dick/Barton Malow, the stadium general contractors: to determine whether the sewer system was capable of handling the outflow and whether the in-house pumps could maintain water pressure to the upper levels of PNC Park.
Authorities learned the value of testing when the old Three Rivers Stadium opened in 1971. During that sell-out opening game, everything went well until the seventh-inning stretch when a lot of the beer and soda pop consumed during the earlier innings took their natural effect on the fans. During that peak period, there was no water above the second level. The problem was traced to one of the main waterlines feeding the stadium, which had not been turned on.
PNC Park is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates since their inception in 1887. Some of the additional amenities of the stadium include a Pirates Hall of Fame, and a life-size replica of a pirate ship, which will contain virtual reality pitching and batting cages, rope courses and other games, giving parents and their children another form of recreation besides attending baseball games. The Roberto Clemente bridge next to the ballpark is closed on game days to allow fans to walk from downtown Pittsburgh across the river to the ballpark.
PNC Park opened on April 9, 2001 against the Cincinnati Reds. Unfortunately, the season opener resulted in an 8-2 loss to the Reds. However, thanks to Bell & Gossett pumps and control systems, the fans had a steady and reliable supply of water during the game.
For more Information: www.bellgossett.com
