When installed in manholes or potential pedestrian traffic areas, flow monitoring flumes can be a hazard.  A typical flume installation is an open trough that that an operator can inadvertently step or fall into.

On large flumes with large pipe stubs, the danger can be even greater.  Here if an operators falls into the flume they could very well be swept out of the flume and into the downstream pipe system...a potentially fatal event.

To help make installations safer, Openchannelflow offers Fiberglass Grating Covers for its line of flumes and Packaged Metering Manholes.  Using a unique narrow opening grating, Openchannnelflow molds in a support channel at the top of the flume.  The fiberglass grating is then cut to size and nestled into the flume. 

Unlike competitions products that have a framework sitting on top of the flume, Openchannelflow's recessed grating option doesn't present a trip hazard. 

Narrow opening grating also means that tools are less likely to fall through the grating if the operator drops them while maintaining the site. 

For applications where an ultrasonic flow meter is used to measure the level in  the flume, a rectangular cutout is made down the flume centerline - spaced to as to leave as many load bearing bars as possible in the grating.

In Packaged Metering Manholes, when used with our molded diamond plate surface, recessed grating creates a safe, stable working environment for the operator to work from.

In applications where the grating may need more support than that offered by the molded in recesses at the top of the flume, Openchannelfow installes tube supports at the inlet / outlet of the flume for the grating to sit on to provide additional support.

Weighing about 2.5 lbs square foot - about the same as 1/4-inch think flat sheet fiberglass plate, the grating over the flume is cut into sections so that it can be easily removed. Handholds are then either cut into each section or a bar of the grating is removed at one end of a grating section to allow an operator's gloved hand to lift the grating section out of the way.