Openchannelflow: Manufacturers of Fiberglass Parshall Flumes

Pure and simple, Openchannelflow makes fiberglass Parshall flumes. We aren’t resellers, we aren’t distributors, and we don’t job shop production.

What we are is manufacturer of premium quality, dimensionally accurate, and corrosion resistant fiberglass Parshall flumes that are backed with the industry's longest and most comprehensive warranty!

Openchannelflow makes fiberglass Parshall flumes from 1-inch to 160-inches in size with a dizzying array of end connections and flow / parameter monitoring accessories.

Why This Matters

Catalog companies and “design” resellers simply don’t have the close-coupled integration of sales, design, and production that a true manufacturer enjoys. For Openchannelflow, the ability of each department to interact on a daily basis results in a feedback loop of continuous quality improvement.

Not a Commodity

Since our founding, Openchannelflow has always sought to redefine the products that we sell. While the Parshall flume is standardized in ASTM and ISO standards, the product is not a commodity.

No one should confuse standardization with commoditization. Just like no one would confuse a Yugo (for those that remember back that far) to a Porsche. While both may have four wheels and can get you from one place to another, no one is going to confuse the two.

Dimensionally Exact

A properly manufactured Parshall flume requires strict dimensional tolerances as a baseline for accurate flow measurement.

The tolerances of a finished flume are a result of a long list of factors that a quality manufacturer takes into consideration, including:

• Selection of resin and gel coat chemistries for strength, corrosion resistance, water absorption, and material processabilty
• Development of the laminate schedule to withstand the anticipated load forces
• Structural analysis of the flume for the sizing and placement of external reinforcing ribbing, bracing, and flanging
• Development of molds to accommodate for the laminate cure exotherm and material shrinkage while providing a maintenance free, gloss flow surface

Application Expertise

While some “manufacturers” may tout their “experience” (e.g. having in business X number of years), this misses the mark with regards to the understanding and experience of applying the products.

At Openchannelflow we rely not only on our own experience (almost 20 years of engineering and designing of flumes, weirs, manholes, shelters, and enclosures) but also on the wealth of public research information on the devices we design which stretches back to the 1920’s.

On our site, you can see the fruits of this research and experience. When it comes to open channel flow, we cover more topics, and in more depth, than another other site…period!

Manufacturing

To provide you with a maximum of configuration flexibility, Openchannelflow fiberglass Parshall flumes are manufactured with open molding (spray up and hand layup) techniques on dimensionally exact master male molds.

Open molding allows a wide range of accessories to be molded directly into the part, including:

• Molded-in high visibility staff gauges
• In-wall cavities for recessed mounting of stainless steel bubbler and sampler tubes
• Grooved recesses for tranquilizing racks, flow straighteners, energy absorbers, and perforated baffle plates
• Sidewall modifications

Continual Improvement

One of the hallmarks of a good manufacturer is their understanding that improvements can always be made. This knowledge, and the passion to improve, is what drives Openchannelflow. Other flume manufacturers rely on baseline designs, materials, and approaches to construction that haven’t change, in most cases, for decades; and while this may work for them, at Openchannelflow, we won’t let it “work” for us.

We rely on, and actively solicit, feedback from our customers. For us, in many respects, it is more important to hear what we have done wrong or could do better than it is to hear that we've exceeded our customers’ expectations. By focusing on those issues at that require extra effort on our customer’s part we consistently move the quality bar forward.

Ultimately, our goal is to make flow measurement as simple as using a toaster. We want our customers to be able to focus on the data that they collect….not how they collect the data.

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