Over One-Half Million Feet of Water & Wastewater Pipelines Renewed via Sliplining Using Fusible PVC™ Pipe

With many older water and wastewater pipelines now surrounded by adjacent utilities or located beneath ever busier roadways, sliplining offers a low-dig replacement solution that reduces construction risk and minimizes disruption to the public. Difficulties with accessing congested utility corridors via open-cut, combined with escalating restoration expenses, make sliplining a cost effective and environmentally attractive design alternative to direct bury replacement.

Prior to 2004, pipeline rehabilitation was primarily accomplished using liners such as cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP), epoxy coatings, cement mortar lining, or swaged/folded HDPE. While popular in gravity sewer and other non-pressurized pipe rehabilitation, lining solutions are often limited in water transmission/distribution lines and many force mains where higher pressures are common. Liners typically rely on the host pipe to achieve their pressure rating and are not structural systems. While HDPE liners can provide a stand-alone structural system, pipe wall thickness increases rapidly with escalating pressure requirements, sacrificing ID and constricting flow.

PVC pipe's high strength-to-weight ratio, long-life durability, corrosion resistance, and flexibility have made it a popular and preferred sliplining alternative. Fusible PVC™ pipe systems provide a structural solution free of reliance on the deteriorating host pipe while preserving high flow capacity. Chlorine based disinfectants have no significant oxidizing effect on PVC pipe, and PVC pipes have superior resistance to gasoline and gasoline saturated solutions. These qualities make Fusible PVC™ pipe systems an ideal choice to ensure safe, reliable drinking water conveyance, while PVC's chemical resistance makes it an effective, long-term solution for deteriorating concrete, steel, and ductile iron wastewater lines.

Since its introduction in 2004, Fusible PVC™ pipe has been successfully utilized in over 200 sliplining projects and is increasingly sole source specified due to its unique advantages in preserving maximum flow capacity while providing a fully structural, long-term renewal solution independent of host pipe condition.

Milestones:

• More than one-half million LF sliplined (4" - 30" carrier pipe diameter)
• More than 200 projects completed with over 800 separate pulls
• Continuous slipline pulls of 3,510 LF (12") and 2,200 LF (24")

Advantages of Fusible PVC™ Pipe:

• Use standard fittings to reconnect to PVC and ductile iron pipe
• Eliminates electro-fused couplings or in-pit fusion of adaptors
• Simplifies maintenance and fittings inventory
• Significantly greater flow capacity
• Larger ID for equal OD and pressure versus HDPE (>25%)
• C-Factor of 150 often offsets ID reduction
• Fully stand-alone structural solution
• No reliance upon host pipe for pressure rating
• Enables downsizing of casings due to smaller OD
• Smaller OD for similar ID and pressure class versus HDPE
• Greater pull strength and less pipe weight
• More than 2X the tensile strength and pull force of HDPE
• Enables longer pulls requiring fewer installation pits
• No relaxation period required for reconnection

El Paso, TX: 16,460' of 24"

Harrisburg, PA: 3,510' of 12"

Seattle, WA: 300' of 30"

Hamilton, OH: 4,540' of 20"

Secaucus, NJ: 2,680' of 14"

Laguna Beach, CA: 1,280' of 20"

Atherton, CA: 5,260' of 16"

Bakersfield, CA: 16,000' of 24"

Bremerton, WA: 42,000' 8", 10" & 16"

South Jordan, UT: 1,400' of 30"

St. Louis, MO: 1,360' of 16"

Santa Rosa, CA: 4,680' of 14"