The Impressive Product Line of Hose Solutions, Inc.
H
ose Solutions, Inc., (HSI) provides specialized hoses designed to move water, wastewater, concrete slurries, fuels, and other liquids. Its products are durable, flexible, and noncorrosive, providing an alternative to rigid pipes made of traditional materials like steel or PVC. In this interview, Jim Lowry, HSI’s business development and operations manager, tells us about the distinctive qualities and advantages that make HSI’s products attractive to customers from Alaska to Antarctica. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Jim Lowry: Prior to joining HSI, I worked in the heavy equipment industry. This afforded me the opportunity of interacting with a wide variety of manufacturers, distributors, and end users. Interestingly, I continue to work with companies and contacts from these sectors in my position today. Understanding the selling cycle from my experience with those market segments really has benefited me with regard to the responsibilities I have at HSI. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about HSI and its history. Jim Lowry: HSI was founded in Arizona in 2000. The business is the product of an international history dating back to the late 1800s; the family has a history of involvement with weaving, which is a critical part of manufacturing the company’s specialized high-pressure hoses. While remaining focused on technological improvements, the company has always emphasized working with suppliers and customers to form longterm and strategic relationships. Today, HSI is internationally recognized as a leader in innovation, quality, and responsiveness. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about HSI’s product line.
28 | IRRIGATION LEADER | April 2021
lowering their pump on one continuous length of pipe—in some cases, down to a depth of 1,000 feet. While its major advantages include ease of installation and resistance to corrosion, the real benefit of Boreline is that it will reduce energy consumption considerably and make a massive contribution to your bottom line. HSI has also developed an amazing tool, the Pump Puller, to assist with installing submersible pumps on Boreline. The unit is a trailer-mounted hydraulic spool system designed to install and retrieve pumps at the push of a button. The advantage of this Pump Puller is that work can be performed off site in the controlled environment of your yard. When ready to install, you simply drive out to the site, back up to the well, and install and retrieve pumps at the push of a button. This is ideal for remote locations or locations at which you encounter overhead or other site restrictions, or for customers who just want to get their pump in or out of the well quickly, safely, and efficiently. This Pump Puller is available from HSI for sale or rent. Mineflex is a high-pressure dewatering hose used extensively in the mining and fracking industries, where miles of hose need to be deployed and retrieved quickly and efficiently. Our Fuelflex hose is a fuel transfer hose that is used for civilian and military applications and has been deployed in Antarctica for ship-to-shore refueling. In addition to water utilities and industrial and mining users, we have agricultural customers who use our products to pump water from rivers, to irrigate fields, to pump water from one pond to another, to fill stock or storage tanks, or to supply farm implements like sprayers. irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF HSI.
Jim Lowry: The best way to look at our product line is to consider the applications our products are used for, including potable water transportation, dewatering, irrigation, firefighting, and fuel transfer. Our hoses can be anywhere from 1 to 12 inches in diameter, depending on the product line and the specific uses they are designed for. The tensile strength of the different types of hoses varies according to the product, and it is the tensile strength that determines a hose’s pressure rating and how it can ultimately be used. The company’s most popular products today are Boreline FlexiRiser and Mineflex. Boreline FlexiRiser is a flexible drop pipe designed to replace the rigid pipes used with submersible pumps. Rather than install submersible pumps on threaded 20-foot sticks of steel pipe that corrode and scale over time, Boreline offers water utilities the option of
A cross-section of smaller-diameter Boreline with two types of fittings—stainless and glass-reinforced nylon.
