SamTrans District Headquarters, CA

The San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) is a public transport agency in the San Francisco Bay area. They have provided bus service to San Mateo County customers since 1976. This 180,000 square foot building is currently a part of The Gateway at Millbrae development, which will house a mix of transit-adjacent apartments, office, and retail space, as well as serve as the new location of the SamTrans headquarters.

The HVAC contractor on the job was All Temperature Service Air Conditioning Inc. (ATS), a 40+ year old award-winning company with operations spanning San Jose, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and the Greater Bay Area. ATS has previously used Gripple products to hang ductwork, but this was their first time using Gripple to hang their piping and VRV (Variable Refrigerant Volume) system, where they opted to utilize Gripple’s Fast Trak® system along with FlexiStak™.

Fast Trak®, the fastest way to trapeze, consists of horizontal strut-like brackets that slide up two vertical tracks attached to the ceiling structure, and lock into place at any height needed. With various lengths of tracks and brackets available, the prefabricated Fast Trak® system removes the need to cut rod or channel, and brackets can be height-adjusted with the push of a button. The same goes for the FlexiStak™ hangers, which also utilize the Fast Trak® tracks and are available in two sizes: 3 in. and 6 in. According to the Piping Superintendent at ATS, the Gripple Fast Trak® system proved very useful with its easy-to-install method, especially on a job like this one that has a fast-paced schedule. In addition, the FlexiStak™ supports worked equally well. Being able to stack multiple line sets in a single hook, along with being able to stack multiple hooks on a single track, made it a very versatile solution. Those features were especially advantageous in the crowded overhead areas.

Overall, ATS was extremely pleased and will continue to use Gripple products on upcoming projects going forward.

Using Fast Trak® and FlexiStak™ allowed us to install piping and VRV systems faster than traditional methods. The ability to stack multiple line sets in a single hook and multiple hooks on one track was a huge time saver and made working in tight overhead conditions much easier.