Most Popular East Jordan Trench Drain Grate Series

6950 Trench Grate Series
The East Jordan 6950 Trench Grate Series feature 1 1/2"  deep Grates. These grates are rated Heavy Duty.  The grate come in various widths from 8" To 24" and Frames Available. These are slotted grates made of Heavy Duty Cast Iron.

6900 Trench Grate Series
The East Jordan 6900 Trench Grate Series feature 2" deep Grates. These grates are rated Extra heavy duty.The grate come in various widths from 8" To 24" and Frames Available. These are slotted grates made of Heavy Duty Cast Iron.

V7300 Trench Grate Series
The East Jordan V7300 Series Trench Grate Series feature 1 1/2" deep grates. These grates are rated Heavy Duty. These are Replacement grates for Vulcan Foundry 7300 Series. The grates come in various widths from 8" To 24" and Frames Available. These are slotted grates made of Heavy Duty Cast Iron.

V7380 Trench Grate Series
The East Jordan V7380 Trench Grate Series are ADA Compliant Grates. They are 1 1/2" deep grates. These grates are rated Heavy Duty. The grates come in various widths from 8" To 24" and Frames Available. These are Slim Slotted ADA Compliant grates made of Heavy Duty Cast Iron.

Other East Jordan Grate Series

V7500 Solid Cover Trench Series
The East Jordan V7500 Trench Grate Series are ADA Compliant Grates. They are 1 1/2" to 2 1/2" deep covers depending on width. These Covers are rated Heavy Duty. The Covers come in various widths from 8" To 48" Wide and Frames Available. These are Trench Covers made of Heavy Duty Cast Iron.

24" X 24" Square Trench Series
East Jordan offers several types of 24" X 24" Square trench grates including pedestrian rated and traffic rated. The series also offers one piece frames for installation.  These Grates are Pedestrian to Heavy Duty. e and Frames Available. These are made of Heavy Duty Cast Iron.

Larger Square and other size grates
East Jordan offers many types of larger Square grate such as a 38 1/4" X 38 1/4" Grate. They offer many size and styles that we can quote on an individual basis. Please contact us with your information and we can make a quote for your job.

Brief History of Load Bearing Criteria as it applies to construction castings

Pre 1940's:  The need for cast iron construction castings was met by local foundries. Castings were made from gray iron and nearly every town had its own foundry and each foundry had their own designs. Usually the foundries did not complete in depth loading calculations, casting design was an educated guess. There was trial and error and safety factor consisted of adding more iron. This is one reason why so many old cover designs are so heavy, when in doubt more material was added.

Post 1940's: H-20 Loading: American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) bridge design criteria was published. This design standard is commonly known as H-20 or HS-20. This design criteria consisted of truck axle loading of 32,000 pounds, or wheel loading of 16,000 pounds. This design criteria did NOT specifically address loading on construction castings, but due to casting size, usually only one tire can be on a casting at a time. When someone asks for H-20 or HS-20 loading they are ONLY asking for a casting to meet the design criteria of 16,000 pounds. If someone does not ask for safety factor in construction castings they may not get the quality they are expecting.

General Services Administration Specification RR -F-621: This specification was put out by the federal government and is the first widespread specification that directly addressed construction castings performance. There are many versions of this specification (i.e RR-F-621b, RR-F-621e, etc.). This casting has since been renamed the CID (Commercial Item Description) A-A-60005, and is the latest version of this specification.

This specification is important because it is the first specification to state that all castings must be able to maintain a 25,000 pound load applied in the center of the casting on a 9” x 9” pad. The casting is rated as heavy duty if it meets those criteria. There is no direct correlation between the H-20 design load and the 25,000 pound proof load.

AAS HTO M306: This specification is the newest specification, first published in 1989 and completely republished again in 2005. This specification was put out by  ASHTO and it requires castings to maintain a proof load of 40,000 pounds applied on a 9” x 9” pad in the center of the casting. This 40,000 pound proof load represents a 2.5 safety factor over the H-20 design load of 16,000 pounds.

FAA AC: 150/5370-10, item D-751 and FAA AC: 150/5320-6 Appendix 3:  These are FAA guidelines that provide design load criteria for aircraft. This guideline basically states that items need to be able to accept a wheel load of 100,000 pounds, with a wheel pressure of 250 psi. There is no proof load specification or
safety factor specifically mentioned.

Traditional East Jordan Iron Works, Inc. load bearing approach

East Jordan Iron Works takes pride in the quality of our castings. As standard operating procedure in order for an item to be listed as Heavy Duty (which is rated for roadway use), the castings must past a proof load in accordance with AASHTO M306. This is the most demanding of the three common methods of rating
roadway use construction castings. Most specifying bodies do not even realize these loading standards exist and have never really addressed the difference between casting design load and proof load; they just use what they have always used.

What is the difference between design load and proof load?
One common issue that comes up is what casting to provide when a loading specification is unclear. It is very common for a project to have loading criteria for a manhole frame and cover. Often this loading criteria is just listed on a drawing. Some examples of these loading criteria are: “must maintain H-20 Loading” or “must maintain 25 kip loading”. There is no safety factor listed, so it is unclear if the safety factor must be added by the casting supplier. Traditionally EJIW has assumed when someone asks for a specific loading that it is a design criteria, and we add a safety factor to that criteria and identify a product that has an appropriate proof load.

The problem with this approach is that the safety factor may have already been incorporated into the loading requirement by the engineer, and with the additional supplier safety factor we are providing a product that is significantly more expensive that what is actually desired.

What are EJIW loading definitions?

One common issue that comes up is what does EJIW load bearing designation mean. Typically EJIW uses the following loading criteria: Non Traffic (NT), Light Duty (LD) Medium Duty (MD), Heavy Duty (HD), Extra Heavy Duty (EXHD), and Extra Heavy Duty Airport (EXA). A brief description of each is listed below

Non Traffic: Casting either due to the strength or physical characteristics, should not be placed in traffic. Thisusually refers to decorative items such as tree grates, or items that stick up such as beehive grates and ditchgrates. Generally nothing over 2,500 pounds should be expected to be placed on item. Duty rating 0 - 2,500 pounds.

Light Duty: Casting may be able to withstand some loading, but should not be placed in traffic if at all possible. Item can accept loading from 2,500 - 16,000 pounds. An example of this type of product is a meter boxes. Usually meter boxes are placed in grassy areas and are run over by lawn movers although they often end up in driveways and parking lots.

Medium Duty: Casting is able to accept loading from 16,000 – 40,000 pounds. As mentioned above the 16,000 pounds is the H-20 design loading criteria. These castings can accept traditional loading, but do not have the most up to date safety factor. Many castings with medium duty designation have been safely used in
traffic areas for years.

Heavy Duty: Casting meets the AASHTO M306 proof load. Loading criteria is 40,000 – 100,000 pounds. All EJIW designed heavy duty castings meet these criteria. This loading designation is appropriate for traditional traffic loading. Extra Heavy Duty: Casting is able to accept loading from 100,000 – 200,000. This meets the design loadingassociated with the FAA wheel loading.

Extra Heavy Duty Airport: Casting is able to accept loading from 200,000 pound and up. This includes additional safety factor over FAA design loading.

Exceptions: There are some EJIW castings that have a heavy duty designation even though casting may proof load testing in the medium duty range. This is because the casting design is from a specification agency that defines the casting as heavy duty. This situation is not common and generally these castings have been safely used in traffic for years and years and where put in production before the AASHTO M306 specification was first published.

 The important items to keep in mind are this:

1. Construction castings are tested using a proof load testing process. It is recommended that castings have a proof load test that is at least 2 times the expected wheel load.

2. Try to educate people on the difference between proof loading and design loading.

3. When in doubt, always provide a stronger casting.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us