Globe Life Field pipes pass Super Flush test

Arlington ISD students help test new ballpark's toilets

February 18th, 2020

Construction on the future home of the Rangers, Globe Life Field, is progressing on schedule, ready for its opening date in 25 days. On Tuesday, the construction team, along with help from Arlington ISD students, flushed out any potential problems as part of the Super Flush event.

Every toilet, urinal and water facility at Globe Life Field was flushed for the first time during Tuesday’s Super Flush. The Super Flush was a stress test on Globe Life Field’s plumbing system, making sure the venue can handle maximum usage during critical windows like the seventh-inning stretch.

“Today was an opportunity to fire up all the systems,” said Matt Terry, TDIndustries senior vice president for major projects. “Again, [this is] really to simulate the seventh-inning stretch where 20,000 fans or so take a break from the action.”

TDIndustries, the HVAC and plumbing subcontractor on this project, installed 860 toilets and 260 urinals, all of which were tested as part of Tuesday’s event. Facilitating over 2,600 total plumbing fixtures in the building takes 26 miles of water transfer pipe, nearly enough pipe to travel from Globe Life Field to Downtown Dallas, and back.

“Part of what we do as a stamp of quality is to come in and go validate that the systems we put in place are fully commissioned, they function as designed, and again support that ultimate fan experience,” Terry said.

Over 300 students from Arlington ISD’s Dan Dipert Career and Technical Education Center participated in the Super Flush. Dan Dipert Career & Technical Center students are juniors and seniors from AISD’s six traditional high schools.

“Today we brought the students in and tested more than 2,600 fixtures,” said Rob Matwick, Texas Rangers executive vice president of business development. "They turned on water, flushed urinals and commodes to make sure that the pressure in the lines was correct, that the pumps were working, and make sure that when those first crowds come in for Chris Stapleton, the Cardinals or Opening Day with the Angels, that all of the plumbing systems work."

The CTC prepares students for the workforce or college with state-of-the-art courses in a wide variety of career and technical fields. The students who participated in the Super Flush were in construction, architecture design, sports and entertainment, engineering, graphic design, sports medicine and entrepreneurship classes at the CTC.

In addition to the CTC students, employees from Manhattan Construction, HKS, TD Industries and members of the Globe Life Field ADA Committee participated in the event.

“[We had a] great experience today, great results, validation of the quality of the systems TDIndustries and Manhattan have put in place so far on this project,” Terry said. “I’m really proud of our team to be able to come in and commission 2,600 fixtures in a matter of 15 minutes without a single glitch along the way is pretty special validation of the quality, effort and commitment to this project from all players.”

The construction of Globe Life Field is 94% complete. The 1.8 million square foot facility will open on March 14 with a Chris Stapleton concert.