Investigative Integrity

We provide what we consider to be the highest level of professional service available, and strive to exceed a client’s expectations in every ultrasonic investigation.  Foremost is the need to answer every question raised, but equally important is in providing a final report entirely independent of any external influences that may exist.  Accuracy, scientific curiosity, investigation, and the pursuit of excellence on your behalf is our one and only interest.

We do not sell pipe, install pipe, repair pipe, line pipe, clean pipe, contract water treatment services, sell water filtration equipment, design piping systems, receive commissions, nor hold any interest other than to define the condition of your piping system and advise the best options and actions needed to correct a corrosion condition, if it exists.

• Political Issues And Self-Interests

Yet, political and personal influences, as well as fraud and outright corruption, exist in this field similar to every profession and to the smallest niche of all human endeavor.  A building manager or plant engineer neglecting the water treatment for the first 2 years of operations obviously does not want that information revealed as the cause of a piping failure or widespread system deterioration.  The chemical treatment contractor, nor his or her allies, will not want it known that low chemical residual levels may have taken 30 years off the life expectancy of the building’s main cooling system.  Water treatment consultants, well paid and entrusted with a supervisory role to ensure that no corrosion problems develop, will react quite defensively at any ultrasonic investigation showing that in contrast to years of favorable reports and excellent news, a high 12 mil per year (MPY) corrosion condition actually existed.  Given that estimated corrosion coupon rates will never agree with actual corrosion rates calculated based upon true measured wall loss, disagreement often follows.

A devastating report showing widespread potential failure may be hidden and ignored by those soon leaving the property or selling it; even hidden from others, shredded, or thrown away – as we know to have occurred to our reports on many occasions.  A test report predicting a catastrophic piping failure months or years prior to such an event will be shredded and sanitized from having ever existed; the failure to act never known to the insurance carrier now paying out millions.

“Please tell me that the pipe will last just long enough until I retire from here” is a not surprisingly frequent comment we hear from many property managers / engineers – itself suggesting the underlying cause of the problems experienced.  In fact, the frequent relocation or rotation of plant engineers and building managers to different properties, as well as the quick turnover of some properties to new owners, prompts the interest to delay repairs or pipe replacement long enough until it is the next person’s problem.

Errors in piping system design, installation, and operation often exist, as do other causes contributing to a piping failure or high corrosion condition – information the responsible parties would much rather keep quiet.  A contractor substituting thin wall or low cost foreign produced pipe against building design criteria specifying only schedule 40 USA produced products can expect expensive legal action in court if that information is documented.  Such finding also suggests a lack of oversight by the construction or project supervisor, and at every upper supervisory level; introducing additional individuals into an even greater controversy that no one wants.

Water filtration representatives interested in selling additional high priced units to address a corrosion problem may take issue to a report showing that the existing filtration unit has been installed incorrectly – thereby providing no useful benefit.  Mechanical contractors will take offense to a report showing that the pipe they just installed is undersized, even though they have no control over its manufacture.  Certain operational decisions, often the fundamental cause of a corrosion problem, raise issues those same individuals would prefer to remain unexplored.

Due diligence investigations are always difficult, with both sides holding substantial financial interest in the assessment and potentially negative findings for a property mid-acquisition.  With buildings and their piping infrastructure aging closer and closer to the end of their useful service, the underlying interest to limit any investigation while appearing seeming helpful and cooperative is a common element we encounter.

• Scientific Fact vs. Misconception

A common cause of the corrosion problems we document is related to the many misconceptions which exist.  Over the years, these misconceptions have reached “factual” status – thereby leading property owners and managers down the wrong pathway.  Some of the many misconceptions are:

• • • Corrosion coupons represent the wall loss occurring to the pipe itself
    • Filtration units drawing from the top and sides of a pipe are more effective
    • Side stream filtration will clean a fouled condenser water system
    • Small by-pass lines will stop sediment from accumulating in a header
    • Cross connecting futures at a condenser water riser will prevent higher corrosion
    • System-wide high corrosion is caused by the lack of dielectric fittings
    • Fire piping systems can be flushed of deposits
    • Low micron particle retention is the best criteria for water filter selection
    • Fiberglass insulation and its foil covering provides an effective moisture barrier
    • Soft foam insulation is the best choice for chill water pipe
    • A dry fire sprinkler system is actually “dry”

Documenting that the new dielectric insulators installed at every brass valve did not and could not resolve a systemwide higher corrosion condition, and then further explaining that they were all installed at the wrong side of the valve at significant cost is never a finding which will be well received.

• Total Independence Is Always Guaranteed

In short, an ultrasonic investigation performed by CorrView International, LLC does not only provide a basic measurement of pipe wall thickness, but also uses that factual raw data in concert with all other gained information and observations to produce a more comprehensive and useful report free of any outside influence.  Our only interest when ultrasonically investigating a piping system is from a corrosion perspective.  To our knowledge, none of the results to our over 1,060 investigative reports have been shown in error.

We do not submit draft copies of our ultrasonic pipe testing reports for review, editing, or modification prior to its formal submission.  A sample report is available Here.

© Copyright 2023 – William P. Duncan, CorrView International, LLC