Trenchless pipe repair equipment: five systems, one rig

Chapters

Each chapter opens the video at that point on YouTube. Read the script under each chapter. Transcript based on the published explainer script. Product specifications and selection guidance should be confirmed with Reliance.

1. 010:00What a point repair rig does under the road

   Trenchless pipe repair equipment is five systems, not one tool. Miss one, and the repair fails inside the pipe. Under this street, a sewer joint has opened, and groundwater is going in. Nothing is dug. The rig works from the manhole above. A packer carries a resin patch down and presses it onto the wall. It holds the patch while the resin cures, then comes back out.

2. 020:23Why a bigger repair packer runs at a lower pressure

   The press is a force: pressure times area. Pi times diameter times length gives this packer 0.309 square metres. 2 bar over that is 61,800 newtons, about 6.3 tonnes. The rating belongs to the model, not to the family. This one is built for 2 bar, and the console has to hold it there. A bigger packer is built for less pressure, because its rubber is larger. The 70 to 150 packer is rated 4 bar; the 600 to 800 is rated 1.2. Thirteen times the area, so 4 times the load: about 21 tonnes. That is why the rating falls as the packer grows.

3. 031:05The five systems on a trenchless pipe repair rig

   System one: air. An oil-free compressor at 8 to 10 bar, and at least 150 litres a minute. System two: the console. A dual-stage regulator, a gauge scaled 0 to 4 bar, and a relief valve. Set that relief valve 0.2 bar above the packer rating, and the rubber cannot be over-pressured.

4. 041:26Wheeled packer, flexible packer or Instant-Lock sleeve

   The hose takes at least 20 bar burst, with locking pins and cable restraints. Insertion: rods 9 to 11 millimetres to DN250; a winch and rim rollers to DN800. The tool: a wheeled packer for DN200 to DN800, a flexible packer for DN100 to DN250 through bends. Or a stainless sleeve, which locks in 5 to 10 minutes with no cure wait. The rig also carries sleeves: stainless steel with an EPDM jacket. The packer opens it, a toothed strip locks it, and it seals. No resin, no cure: 5 to 10 minutes.

5. 052:06How to match a rig to the pipe before buying

   Before you buy, use the survey you already have. The measured bore at the defect, and the defect length with its chainage. The access opening the tool has to pass, and whether the flow can be stopped. Send the pipe data, and we will size the packer, the sleeve and the plugs around it.