Occasionally, Installers in the water industry may experience difficulties when attempting to assemble cut lengths of large diameter pipe. This is sometimes due to ovality issues with the pipe material, especially when installing large-diameter, thin wall pipe. Inexperience with handling the occasional oval pipe can lead to a rather frustrating day. Utilization of proper materials and installation practices can resolve the issues more easily and help to ensure the pipeline will function as intended well beyond the designed expectations.
Is every piece of Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) round? The short answer is no, but most of the time, a piece of pipe may be so slightly oval that it is not even noticeable to the end user. In fact, the way pipe is manufactured today, out-of-round issues are rarely a concern. At our foundries, there are quality assurance procedures in place that help safeguard this from occurring. However, there are occasions when you may encounter a piece of pipe in the field, typically on a field cut, that is too oval to facilitate an easy assembly. This #IronStrong Blog provides step-by-step instructions on how to round an oval ductile iron pipe using a field rounding kit.
Those involved in the construction of water and wastewater pipelines are probably aware of the installation methodology of Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD). HDD is a trenchless technique that provides an installation alternative offering several benefits over traditional open-cut. HDD can be implemented with minimal disruption to surface activities, requires less working space, and can be performed more quickly than open-cut methods. HDD can be used to install new pipelines or replace existing ones. Also, it can simplify or eliminate certain permitting processes. Although there are currently no national standards regarding HDD installations of municipal underground infrastructure systems, HDD has seen a dramatic increase in recent years and is becoming more common for any pipe material. HDD may be the fastest-growing trenchless construction method today.
Welcome to the first edition of The Ditch Doctor, where we provide answers to your most-often-asked questions about Ductile Iron pipe. These are real-world questions coming from real-world, hard-working professionals in the water industry… just like you.
Steve From Steubenville Asks… Can I Install a TR Flex® Plain End in a Tyton Joint Bell?
Have you ever been on a Ductile iron pipe (DI pipe) installation with restrained joint gaskets and needed to uninstall a previously assembled joint? This is normally prompted by the need to replace a displaced or a “pinched” gasket. Proper gasket placement and attention during assembly is the best way to avoid such conditions, as detailed in a previous blog by McWane Ductile. Unfortunately, the problem often does not arise until the pipeline is hydrostatically tested. In today’s Iron Strong Blog, we will examine the “Dos & Don'ts" of uninstalling with DI pipe restrained joint gaskets.
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