Q: The opening that I want to protect is 8 feet wide and the water height never exceeds 5 inches of standing water. I am interested in buying a flood barrier panel made by Zero and I also just viewed your YouTube video by Richard Howard. My thanks to Richard for the informative video. It is the only available hands on pictures of the product that I can find on the internet. My question is about the seals. How long do they last before they need replacing? Also will there be some leakage or do these panels seal 100%? The opening that I want to protest is wide but not too high. I am afraid that there might be some deflection of the panel that might cause leaks. What is the widest I can go without this deflection being a problem? Thank You
A: A few things with our FBS,
1) We have a warranty and guarantee of three years. If the shield is stored inside you have should have limited problems with the neoprene. The neoprene in the brackets however should be replaced when they are damaged. This can clearly vary based on temperature climate, weather damage in some areas may be worse than others.
2) If want to buy an 8ft wide shield, we suggest the use of a post in the center of the shield. We sell that post, part number (22070-IS (inner sleeve) and 22070-OS (outer sleeve)), these posts help minimize the hydrostatic deflection experienced on a wide plate. We do have a solution to your customers deflection problem, and the video of the installation can be seen here:
View Video
3) The shields are not designed to seal 100%, the idea is to stop excessive water flow into the house or garage and to prevent water damage. The shields are made of a marine grade aluminum to prevent rust. This is the same aluminum they use in submarines.
4) There is deflection on all of the shields of course, but it becomes a solvable problem when the shield is over 4 ft, over 4 ft we suggest the use of the sleeves, this will minimize deflection and therefore allows for wider shields to be installed.
Is there a follow up question that we can perhaps attempt to answer? We take pride in our technical expertise so don't hesitate to ask.
Please reply to this email or contact our sales department here:
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if we can assist you by answering further questions or with entering this order and please let us know if there is anything else we can help with.
Q: Richard, I appreciate all the information help you have provided. I am still undecided if I want to chance spending a few hundred dollars on a barrier that will not seal out water 100%, that almost defeats the purpose of having the barrier. This barrier is easy to install, not too expensive, but without complete sealing I really don’t know if this is right for me. Thank You,