Your pipeline is probably one of the most damaged parts of your home. Replacing these pipes could be your worst nightmare as it needs tons of work and digging around the house. But there is an easier remedy even if these pipes are heavily damaged.
Pipe Relining is a method of replacing your pipelines without digging up and replacing your current pipeline. It will attempt to repair the pipes by curing the pipes of the inside with a special resin. This method takes time, allowing the resin to form a new durable pipeline.
In this method, the resin is the primary material in repairing the pipe. A felt tube that is saturated in resin that is made of either fibreglass or polyester for resin impregnation will be inserted into the damaged pipe. Once the resin hardens, it will form a new pipe inside the damaged pipe.
The insertion of the tube will begin from an upstream access point. Inserting the tube from a downstream entry point can be done. However, it is dangerous, thus, mostly avoided.
Pipe relining is a trenchless technology as it requires minimal to no digging in the process. This is why relining is cheaper and easier compared to the old “dig and repair” method.
Stages of relining a pipe
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The plumbers will check and inspect the pipe to see the damages. They will do it by using a forced electron leak location equipment (FELL) to examine the damages and design the best solution.
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The blocked pipes will then be cleaned, which has two steps. First, they will clean the pipes using conventional methods, removing any blockage using robotic cutters. Then they will flush the pipe with a high-pressure water jet, cleaning the pipe walls to allow the resin to set.
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They will then check the pipes one more time, using a closed-circuit camera, making sure that the pipes are well prepared to be relined.
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They will measure the length of the lining from the length of the pipeline and see how bad the damage is.
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Once they have determined the length of the pipeline, they will saturate the pipe with epoxy resin. It means that the plumbers will fill the entire length of the pipes with resin, which is going to become the new pipe after curing. Wider and straighter sections of the pipeline are easier to work with compared to the T-sections and joints.
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And then, the curing process will begin. It is the longest part of the process. This can be done by letting the lining to cure by itself, but normally, they are using hot water to make the process faster. Lastly, UV radiation will be applied, bringing the lining into complete hardness.
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Before ending the process, they will remove all the inspection and junction pits and robotic cutters used in this process.
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Once the pipe relining process is complete, the plumbers will perform final checking to make sure that the pipes are working correctly.
While this method of repairing the pipe doesn’t need new pipes to replace the old ones, it has been found that relining the pipeline provides a longer-term solution. It has a life expectancy of 50 years, which could give you an idea of how good this method is. Moreover, it could save the landscape lying over your pipeline, so it is a win-win!
Author Name: Carmel Issac
Carmel Issac is a blogger and writer. She loves to express his ideas and thoughts through his writings.
