Industry In Action

In 1993, Cary and Karen Austin established Cycle Stop Valves in Lubbock, Texas, as an addition to their water well service company that had been in business since 1989. "We needed to find a product that would solve our variable flow headaches without the problems involved with electronic flow controls and were not happy with the products that were currently available on the market." says Cary. "I set out to design the product and look for manufacturers to make it. We filed for a patent and began to sell the first products through our own pump company and installed them on our own pump systems. After all that leg work, we began to market the valve nationwide In 1994!"

"The product we provide, Cycle Stop Valve," continues Cary. "is a flow regulating valve designed to keep a pump from excessive on/off cycling that destroys pumps, motors, and controls while utilizing smaller pressure tanks. These valves are available in flow ranges from 30 gpm to 10,000 gpm."

Cary, a licensed driller and pump installer. Is also a certified Cla-val technician. Karen has a degree in business management and twelve years experience in the water drilling and pump Industry. Rob Smith, a licensed driller and pump installer with Cycle Stop Valves for the past ten years. has recently picked up outside sales, including the trade show circuit. "We have more than doubled our sales each year for the past four years," adds Cary, "and are optimistic that the trend will continue. We currently employ fifteen and foresee adding to that in the near future as the demand increases. We have added several distributors that will be stocking our product this year and look forward to working with them. The biggest obstacles we have had to face is changing the old way of doing things. I would imagine the first bladder tanks were accepted at about the some rate."

Most rewarding for the Austins has been the ability to solve a problem they had not been able to solve previous to the invention of the Cycle Stop Valve. They had been in the pump industry for many years and faced this problem with almost every pump they sold. Although they always tried to educate their customers on the correct way to run their pump systems, spring and summer meant burned motors from drip systems; poorly-sized sprinkler systems; and, unhappy customers demanding to know why that expensive pump didn't last any longer than that. "What did we mean, running a little water in the yard could burn up the pump? Now we just thank them for their business and tell them to use water any way they need to," says Cary.

The increasing demands on pumps to stand up to large variables in flow has created a demand for a product to protect the pump while supplying the different needs of each customer. There have been several attempts at correcting the problem through electronic means, such as variable speed controllers and electronic butterfly valves, etc; however, those solutions can create a whole new set of problems and repairs are tricky and expensive.

Cycle Stop Valves solves the problem with a mechanical valve that is easy to install. easy to set, and easy to troubleshoot in the field. Most installation questions can be answered over the phone. If you can set a pressure switch, you can set a Cycle Stop Valve.

"Our future goals include nationwide marketing efforts to inform the water well customer about our product and to continually improve our service as well as product quality," says Cary. "We also hope to expend into new markets as new applications for our product present themselves as they have in the past".