Cranston-based heating supplies manufacturer Taco, Inc. has a new invention on its hands, a product thought up, designed and developed by Rhode Islanders.
The invention, called the WAGS valve, which stands for Water and Gas Safety, is the brainchild of Cranston’s Paul Almberg. WAGS is a small device designed to shut off the water supply in water heaters, or the gas supply in gas-fired heaters, in the event of a water leak from a hot water heater. It is designed to minimize water damage and possible gas leakage, The device, they say, can be installed on all styles of water heaters. It measures about 10 inches and weighs about 8 + pounds and sits in a drip pan under the water heater. It is activated when leaking water accumulates in the pan to a level of three-quarters of an inch.
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Taco officials said purchase and installation of the WAGS costs anywhere from $180 to $200.
Almberg, who said he first thought of the WAGS in the 1980s, and acknowledged that it has been a long journey bringing the valve to market.
He said that in 1992 he told a co-worker Clyde Baragwanath of his idea, and that Baragwanath agreed it could work. The two were working nights for the Providence Gas Company, and got together during the day to try to come up with a plan to actualize the invention. After four years of working with patent lawyers and other companies Almberg refers to as “if you have an idea then call this number,” companies, the two decided to try to take matters into their own hands.
“We wanted to try to build it ourselves but also realized that it’s David and Goliath out there,” he said.
The two then went to Fielding Manufacturing and Steve Fielding, president of the company, to see about building a prototype so people would take the invention more seriously.
Fielding was not impressed — at first.
“I did think it was a brilliant idea, but the key to really believe in an idea is to know that it can be designed, engineered and manufactured,” said Fielding. “As we did our market research and really started to understand the size of the market, the excitement level grew.”
With the assistance of Fielding in 1997, Almberg and Baragwanath received a $3 million grant from the Agility Alliance, which is now known as the Slater Center for Progressive Manufacturing. Fielding had joined the two in forming a limited liability corporation called Aquagard.
Engineer Mark Miller then helped redesign the valve with fewer parts for ease of manufacturing, and by July of 1998 the first prototypes were completed and successfully tested.
“Once we did the market research we realized the real key was the distribution channel,” said Fielding. “The problem with trying to do our own distribution was that it would be very easy, despite having a patent, for some company to come along and make the same product, and if they had better distribution, they would literally clean our clock.”
Later that year Aquagard met with Taco.
“We opted to change our strategy and find a partner who already had the distribution established,” said Fielding. “And what was ideal about Taco is that they also did their own manufacturing.”
“And they’re a Rhode Island company,” he added. “It turned out to be a great Rhode Island success story and there are not many of those these days in manufacturing.”
Mark Chaffee, residential product manager for Taco was among the first to meet with Aquagard.
“This is truly a breakthrough,” said Chaffee. “There aren’t a lot of opportunities to solve a major problem in the industry. It’s not a very glamorous industry.”
Explaining his current involvement with the product Chaffee said, “it’s been my life for the past 18 months.”
Fielding explained the process of bringing the product to market.
“We proved the concept, moved it from an idea to a product and Taco is now moving it from a product to a company,” he said.
Almberg said watching the product come to market has been a learning experience.
“It’s one thing to have an idea,” he said, “it’s another to do something with it.”
