How to Seal Water Pipes from the Inside?

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How can I detect where ruptured water pipes made of high-density polyethylene (HDP) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) need fixing? 

How can I fix HDP and PVC pipes from the inside? 

Can I use some kind of liquid which solidifies at the point of rupture? 

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25 Answers

  1. How about Nu Flow patented process

  3. HDPE pipe is easily and dependably joined using the standardized butt-fusion procedure. In this process matching ends of the pipes to be joined are aligned and heated with standard tools until the surfaces have become molten. When engaged under moderate pressure, the melt faces flow together forming a monolithic, homogeneous joint that, as the material cools, yields joints that are as strong as or stronger than the pipe itself. There are several other well established heat fusion procedures used to join HDPE pipe such as electrofusion, which is exceptionally well suited for the assembly of pipe to fittings, or for making tie-ins or repairs, and saddle fusion which is used for the attachment of service fittings to HDPE mains. More details of some of these heat fusion procedures can be found in ASTM standards such as F2620, Standard Practice for Heat Fusion Joining of Polyethylene Pipe and Fittings,  Apart from the heat fusion process of joining HDPE pipe, it can also be joined successfully with a variety of mechanical style fittings. 

  6. Some 10-15 years ago, a company in the UK proposed a technology to address this exact problem. I believe the name was 'Brinker'. The concept was to inject polymer 'shapes' into an upstream hydrant. The 'shapes' would then be carried downstream in the flow. If a leak were present, the shapes would be drawn into the leak orifice, and interlock to block the leak.

    OK so far.

    But realistically, what about the excess 'shapes' that were not drawn into a leak? Are they going to go on to  block customer's connections - i.e. ferrules?

    Will the inevitable 'escapees' appear in the customers water supply?

    Nice idea, but would I risk it?................ Not at all!!

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  7. Estimado Gulliermo:

    To fix a pipe from the inside, is in general very costly and demands a lot of labour, can  recommend a cloth impregnated with resin that can resist aprox 220Cent, 150kgcm2 and is approved to use in contact with food, his application is very simple can be done in a short period of time, after 30' the pipe can go in line. 

    If you need further details, contact me by my personal email ciriaco69@live.com, by the way where are you located.

    Best Personal Regards.

    Roberto

     

     

    1 Comment

  12. I agree  with Donald Young, but it will depend on the size of the pipe.

  13. I have seen fiber optic cameras mounted on a small self propelled sled that runs down the pipe.  Not easy to fix from the inside.  I have seen sleeves inserted inside the pipe but then you have to have a way to get the sleeve in. 

  14. Good Day, 

    There are various options for repair, you can reline the pipes or dig them up depending on where they are located, would determine the most cost effective repair methods

  15. Dear Colleague, my experience is change the pipe section with rupture in waterworks and sewerage.That is best and safety solution. HDP and PVC pipes are good for easy replacement. That is best and safe solution.

  16. Dear Colleague, you can use CCTV procedure in combination with laser technique, that is usually use in waterworks and sewerage network. After that you can use pressure testing procedure for waterworks or sewerage system. Best wishes.

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  17. Leak noise correlators might work, also ground microphones to help detect the leaks.

    Why can't you repair from the outside? What are your constraints? There are unusual ways to isolate a pressurised watermain in very difficult to get to locations, but repairing reliably from the inside doesn't sound ideal. You could line through the break to two accessible ends and make water-tight.

  19. Dear Guillermo,

    My experience with HDP has been to transport Natural Gas. When a leak happens it can be detected by odor, gas detection, pressure loss, marks in the ground or the flow reconciliation is not closing as usual. It those cases a mechanical sleeve (full-circle band clamps) is used as a first measure. Later on, after further analysis, the pipe is replaced. 

    For water applications, I think a mechanical repair should suffix. 

    In the following site you can find some info: https://plasticpipe.org/pdf/asce-pipelines-2014-hdpe-repair.pdf.

    Regards

    1 Comment

  20. Hello Guillermo

    I note that Leak Noise correlation has been mentioned in one answer, you are also able to use this utilising hydrophones within the water flow as the plastic materials are not good for noise transmission. From my experience leaks on plastic pipes tend to be on the joints which have s gasket in them. The can be repaired by cutting out the joints and replacing with a small section of pipe with mechanical repair collars. However some PVC pipes in the past were manufactured and the compounds tended to create a brittle pipe which could easily crack and break if not laid and bedded correctly, this was corrected with the development of new standards some years ago.

    Hope this helps

    Ashley

  21. Hi Guillermo, to build on what others have advised and answer your question it depends on the size and strategic nature of the pipeline. Sahara as Anthony advises sends a line through and a microphone picks up the sound of the leak. Very well used and effective. Smartball is an emerging technology and you need points to launch and catch the ball. 

    You can set up a test to look at head loss through the pipe which might help quantify the leak. 

    PE is a very difficult material to adhere anything to - fusion by melting the material is the only way to achieve a bond. Electrofusion or mechanical jointing is the normal way to joint pipes. 

    To achieve a long term solution you may consider sliplining another pipe inside the parent pipe. Alternatively you may consider pipe bursting, if you nee the capacity which entails breaking out the old pipe and pulling another on in - essentially you make use of the hole in the ground. 

    Lots of detail on these technologies and fixings can be found at the ISTT (International Society for Trechnless Technology) web-site. 

    Hope this helps? 

    Steve

     

    2 Comments

    2. Hi Steve, I just have one question, if you put another pipe inside the parent pipe either the flow will decrease or pressure will increase, correct?

  22. Hi Guillermo, 

    Have a look at Aqualiner - it's a trenchless technology which totally seals the pipe from the inside by adding a thermo-composite sleeve. www.aqualiner.co.uk It has been utilised by a number of water companies in the UK  on drinking water and sewer lines made of various materials including PVC. See a helpful video here http://www.aqualiner.co.uk/videos/animation-aqualiner/

    Hope this helps. Sarah

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  23. Some of practice - detecting of very small leakage in mechanical pipe joints from inside during pressure test. After desperate  efforts with various patented devices we decided to cover joints by some jelly (vaseline) from inside before pipe filling and cheked it after - found some places where jelly was washed out by water under pressure and repaired.   

  24. The answers will depend a bit on the diameter, length and pressure of operation.

    For short lengths and smaller diameters operating at a few bar (10s of psi) and above you may have success locating leaks using a modern leak noise correlator. In it's simplest form this requires access to the pipe at two points - one either side of the leak location - where sensors are attached to the pipe. It detects the noise generated by the leak and calculates how far it is from each sensor point to give the leak location.

     

    For larger pipes you could use Sahara or Smartball technology (www.assessaddress.com) which are "in-pipe" acoustic techniques that use a sensor travelling through the pipe to detect and locate the leak noise. Both should detect leaks down to less than 1 bar. Sahara also has a "Conductivity" option that can find leaks in very low pressure systems.  

    Repairing is a much bigger challenge - particularly if the pipes are carrying potable water. Again there are some questions about what is required: water quality requirements, working pressures (and variability), pipe size, likely leak size and whether you are looking for a long or short term fix.  

    There was some work done in the UK to investigate a technique that used "platelets" (actually these were small blocks of elastomer) injected into the water flow. The platelets travelled with the water with the aim that they got sucked into the leak and blocked it. While this worked under ideal conditions it is much harder to make it work in the field - where there are branches, varying pressure, a range of leak sizes, water quality issues etc to contend with. I don't believe anyone is currently pursuing this option.

    At WRc we have particular expertise in deploying sensors into pressurised water pipelines to utilise a range of different condition assessment techniques. We are also interested in techniques to carry out live repair.

     

     

     

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