We have a job coming up where we have to run hdpe down a bank where it outlets to the ocean. Our pipe supplier said that we can take a course and learn how to fuse the pipe ourselves, then just rent the equipment from them when we need it, instead of having to hire someone to come do it. Anyone done this?
i got gun shy about us doing it, hired the crew...after watching them for about 30 mins...i wish we'd have taken the course and put the money in our pocket, didn't look very difficult to me at all
What were you using the pipe for? I'm guessing you only had to the one time?
Tyler, I watched the guys demoing the process at a recent trade show. It was basic and looked very easy to me. However, I think it would depend on how critical the work is. I'm one for plumbers doing plumbing and machine operators playing with their joysticks:wink2
I'm all for staying in my machine too. My boss was just telling me about it and said he might take the course. I guess our county is making guys use it more and more
it was a leechate line underdrain in a landfill. looked to me is just learning how to use the equipment to properly trim, and butt them together, the collar, and timing the fusing process. it looked like very fast, easy money for them
If he have a crew come in and do it for us it wont be so easy for them, they better bring their climbing gear. Pipe is running down bank thats 70%. we are still thinking of the easiest way to go about it, at the bottom where the pipe outlets we have to fill a hole 5' wide 5' deep, and i believe 15-20' long with 24" minus rock, then the pipe has to be anchored in two spots coming down the hill. I don't think a dumptruck will do too well on a 70% grade, so i think its gonna be dump it from the edge of the bank and get the hell out of the way.
We have had guys here with the plastic pipe welder you have to know what your doing. Also the welder is very expensive I forget the cost of it but it was a ton of money. These guys were welding together 8" to 10" water pipe. What is still used here is the blue brute its the plastic pipe with the bell on the end and uses a rubber gasket. You need to take a comealong to pull the two pieces together plus you need lots of lube for the rubber gasket. What the guys here use is bars of Crisco shortening its cheaper than the lube meant for the gaskets. It has to be not harmfull to humans when used for water lines. For what Tyler is talking about I assume they are going to weld together all the lengths on flat ground and slide the full length over the hill. Its how its done with steel pipe. One job that was done here the contractor welded together 1000' lengths of pipe together it was steel pipe something like 12"s in diameter.
ford, we take the c-900 or "blue brute" that you refer to, and 6" or down, we push together with a bar, on bigger sizes, we have a board made up with several layers of car tire tread nailed on, and we nudge the joints together with the excavator. in most places here, you would never get away with using crisco. they have a new lubricant out that is dyed blue to let inspectors know what you're using. i didn't come up with the terminology..but it's called "smurf ***". apparently, most previously accepted lubricants and crisco will harbor forms or bacteria causing water test samples to fail.
They make us use ductile for water here still, most everyone ive talked to would rather work with c900 though. we use normal pipe lube, we throw some chlorine in the pipe as we lay it to make sure we pass the purity test.
Our water here has so much chlorine in it your drinking a swimming pool most people here drink bottled water. Most of the water main pipe is still the old asbestos/concrete pipe its slowly getting changed out.
HDPE pipe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have a job coming up where we have to run hdpe down a bank where it outlets to the ocean. Our pipe supplier said that we can take a course and learn how to fuse the pipe ourselves, then just rent the equipment from them when we need it, instead of having to hire someone to come do it. Anyone done this? Doing this is actually very easy--it's paying attention to detail--no BSing around--find yopurself some nice hard,level ground and get er done.I have been on many jobs watching the most sloppy,no brains "plumbers" fuse 4" sewer pipe together--called trenchless technology I think from memory.Take the crash course and save{make} yourself money. Good luck.
Engineers redesigned the project, and made our life a little harder. in the pic the green line represts the conveyance swale, red is the 6" HDPE heading 270' down a heavily wooded/brushed bank that ranges from 70% to cliff. Only access to the area is coming down the first lot that you can see with the house drawn on, then its just a 10' wide swath i cleared to punch in the swale. So now instead of heading over 1 time we have to head over 3 times! now its 3 catch basins, 3 diffuser tee's at the bottom, 3 spill ways where the water exits the tee(no access to the beach for miles, and tree hugers would flip if they saw a machine down there), 6 anchors into the hillside, all for 3 lots. there is no real accurate way of measuring and fusing all the pipe we need up top, cause at teh base of the bank we have to be right on the ground, and at the top we have to have a custom elbow fused on with a vent. all we can do is weld together enough to get to the bottom and fuse the rest in place up above. Ive only seen them weld together larger pipe and that needed a big trailer mounted unit, does anyone know if the equipment to weld 6" pipe is handheld?
Hi I used HDPE for irrigation on a golf course built on a landfill. I believe you will need the trailer rig for 6", Only the 4" can be welded with the handheld welder. The key is once the pipe is faced and heated, when you sqeeze them together you do not want to sqeeze the hot plastic out(shouldn't be an issue with the trailer rig). In other words, as it cools apply more presure to form the proper roll. We were welding 5-6 pieces together in a central location then draging them to their final resting place. That pipe and it's welds are very durable. Something like 14,000ft and ony one weld failure, and it was an obvious bad weld(not a full roll). Order all tee's and elbows because they can get tricky.
We already finished the job, the machine was a small unit on a little cart with wheels. The company taught us how to weld the pipe over the phone as the guy they sent to us was a total flake and never showed up.
That's me a day late and $100 short. sorry.