To contribute to our Main Features, contact Ian Clarke
ian@nodigmedia.co.uk
Rather than simply going over the latest offerings across the UK in the high- pressure water jetting equipment market, the thought this time was that it would be good to look at what the options are in a more generic sense and how and why the UK industry in particular works in the way it does.
In essence the jetting options available for pipe cleaning are High or Ultra high pressure/low volume or Low Pressure/High volume cleaning systems. There are other systems that are extremely high pressures that are designed for removal of build-ups of very hard deposits or metal, but these are used in very specific circumstances, usually operated by experienced specialist contractors. There is no real need to go into who supplies what system as most people in the sector know the important names and pretty much what they have to offer and any simple web search will provide a list of manufacturers and their equipment that is as long as your arm.
Whilst there are various pressure jetting options for most pipelines from petrochemical networks to water supply mains, with the main focus of Drain Trader being on the wastewater side of the market we will concentrate on options for drains and sewers.
It should perhaps be pointed out here that some of the points made (if not all) have come directly from industry participants both on the equipment supply side and the contracting side – but to ‘protect the innocent’ as it were they have been amalgamated from the broad range of responses to provide a generalised yet useful overview of how the industry sees itself and how the world might see it in terms of what it achieves and where it perhaps should be looking to move forward. So where do the main options fit into the broader scheme of things?
SYSTEM OPTIONS
First perhaps it would be useful to look at what is required of any pipe cleaning system. According to what little research this author has been able to find there is no specific standard that explains how ‘clean’ is clean when it comes to pipelines. The best that can be found is that cleaning results are measured in terms of the end result of the cleaning process or to put it another way a pipe is clean if, after cleaning, it performs as expected of it.
To some extent this is probably as would be expected for an industry that relies on remote visual access (CCTV) or using man-entry at larger diameters to inspect a pipeline supposedly before and after cleaning. There is currently, unless someone knows different, no real way to measure how clean a pipe surface might be simply by looking at it and no measurement systems are available, at
least to the utility sector, that can sample and show how clean a pipe surface is, at least not one that would be cost effective to the sector. So the premise is that a cleaning system has to get the pipe working to the expected/design flow rates etc. to be deemed clean.
Looking specifically at the water jetting cleaning options, how this is achieved depends it appears very much on the circumstances in hand at the time. Some information from Europe highlights research that says that Low Pressure/High Volume systems are preferred, but this seems to come only from the plastic pipes sector. However, other feedback indicates that there is a general use of High Pressure/Low Volume systems overall that is continuing to grow.
There has been research done that shows that in general, provided a solid wall pipe is the product being cleaned, there is little to choose ultimately between them in that solid wall pipes tend only to be damaged to any greater or lesser extent when the wrong and significant over-pressure is applied in the wrong circumstance. There has been a query or two raised against structured wall type pipes that question the ability of this design of pipe to withstand jetting at higher pressure due to the thin inner wall of the pipe. However this is perhaps an article in its own right and will not be discussed in great depth here.
The difference might be that historically with most if not all European water operations being local government, if not nationally, owned there has been an ongoing programme of works to ensure that pipe are cleaned on a regular basis. There also seems to be indications that in general pipe diameters across the EU tend to be of larger diameters than in the UK so tending to block less readily. This would usually mean that Higher Volume/Lower Pressure systems could be just as effective at removing build-ups as Higher Pressure/Lower Volume systems over time. This would be due to regular cleaning and that deposits that are found are less likely to be large and so removed more easily.
Where pipe diameters are smaller and where regular cleaning is not undertaken there is perhaps a greater likelihood of blockage. This can also be for a number of reasons of course such as age of the asset, surrounding ground conditions, quality of installation, effectiveness of jointing etc.
Within the selection process of High Pressure/Low Volume and Low/Pressure High Volume for jetting of pipelines there is also the choice of what might be termed ‘open circuit’ jetting and recycle jetting.
Jetchem Drain Jet
Open circuit jetting is simply the use of a jetter that whilst in operation uses a supply of jetting water that is, once it has left the jetter nozzle, allowed to exit the work site through the pipeline being cleaned
follow us on twitter @draintrader | February 2016 | drain TRADER 5
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