BROEN Ballomax® replaced three old underground pre-insulated valves in a hot water loop in Paris. The BROEN valves are all trunnion mounted ball valves with Double Block and Bleed (EN488:2015 EHP003).

Proven valve technology
A hot water loop on the PARIS IDF heat network (max. 10 bar and max. 120 ° C) was constructed below ground level in order to replace three old underground pre-insulated valves DN400 - DN300 - DN250 (floating ball valves) with great difficulty of maneuvering.

The customer chose to create a valve chamber with an installation of proven valve technology from BROEN A/S in Denmark. 

The BROEN Ballomax® valve technology featured proven Double Block and Bleed (DBB) trunnion mounted ball valves (EN488:2015 EHP003) - equipped with a BROEN manual gearbox for remote and leak-proof operation.

Underground valve chamber project
Three insulated underground valves in service (under pressure) were replaced. The valves had to be installed without depriving customers in the area of the hot water. In this particular distributed area of Paris you find names like the Stade des Parc des Princes (Paris Saint Germain football team) and Serres d'Auteuil – the Botanical Garden of Paris and many other businesses, which would all be impacted severely if the water supply stopped.

New BROEN Ballomax® trunnion mounted ball valve DBB being installed (EN488:2015 EHP003)

A hot water loop solution based on proven valve technology
There are several advantages to the chosen solution in Paris:

• No operating loss and no water drain from the hot water loop network (cost, environmental protection and inconvenience)
• Low force of activation means that a smaller gear requiring less space can be installed and this improved the maneuverability of the whole installation considerably
• Extended spindles make the remote activation of the valves easier
• Security of supply and component choice using the worldwide well proven brand BROEN Ballomax® with decades of experience in district heating

Flexible solution of operation of three underground BROEN Ballomax® Trunnion ball valves in a tight space.

Description of the solution:
Valve replacements in a hot water loop incorporated a defined set of actions:

- Installation of the drilling equipment, fillings and bypasses
- Draining of three portions of tube and valves
- Cutting out the three old pre-insulated valves
- Welding in three new BROEN Ballomax® trunnion mounted ball valves with DBB.