Once you have detected a pinhole leak in your copper pipe, and it is above the slab thus it is not that difficult to repair.

Isolate the leak, and turn off the water supply to the house, the supply can be either at the valve where it comes in or at the water meter located at the street. If you turn it off at the house then open the hose bib that is usually located just above the water shut off. This will relieve any pressure from the internal pipes, and the leak should stop dripping now.

Subsequently, you need to get some parts to stop the leak. You would need small piece of soft rubber and a pipe clamp, if it is a pinhole leak. Try to find a clamp that is close to the size of the pipe. You can usually locate this type of clamp in a hardware shop or auto parts store. Make sure the rubber is soft so it will close the leak when you tighten the clamp.

Do not over tighten the clamp or you may crush the pipe and result in a bigger leak. Place the rubber over the hole and lock the clamp. After it is tighten, turn on the water and check the leak. If it has stopped dripping then you are done. Otherwise, you have to tighten the clamp slowly until the leak stops. Again, do not over tighten the clamp. Hopefully this will be the last leak you will have, but chances are it will not be.

One of the most common piping work issue for industrial piping is due to casual application practice and un-noticeable power wastage, poor workmanship, improper piping sizing, insufficient layout and some time even poor material selection by the piping designer or engineer.

To eliminate such piping problem, the industry is actually launching one of the solution called non leaking piping solution. This piping work solution is giving unique properties such as good mechanical strength, high working pressure, high temperature withstand, non corrosive, safe use for household or drinking water purpose, and so on so.

Other than these, on structure construction wise, it allow a very efficient installation and no insulation is required, also provide a very smooth operation and only a minimum of friction losses. The most important thing is, it can be withstand up to 50 years of service life after installed.

This piping work solution can be applied in compressed air, swimming pool, chemical, acid, water treatment plant, pharmaceutical, solar system and etc.

UPVC Gutter Down Pipe system complies where applicable with the requirements of BS4576:1970 and it is suitable for internal and external installations. The complete range of pipes and fitting are available in 3 sizes; 110mm, 160mm and 200mm, and they are manufactured in white color only. The Gutter Down Pipe are produced in 2 different types of wall thickness and a table is compiled as below:

Domed roof outlet grating

Domed roof outlet grating is designed with a removable push fit high dome grating to prevent blockage and it is made with high quality UPVC material with ultra violet stabilizer. This grating is offered with all the inherent advantage of plastics, strength, lightness and resistance to impact and corrosion. The grating is strong enough to withstand normal foot traffic. It is suitable to install in the reinforcement concrete roof and scupper drain or metal gutter.

Balcony drainage outlet

Balcony drainage outlet is designed with a vertical inlet grating to prevent blockage and it comes with an internal build in funnel to prevent the rainwater to flush out from the upper floor. It is recommended to be used in the multi storey apartments and low cost flats which the rainwater Gutter Down Pipe are installed exposed and it is also suitable for corridor and car park areas. With this special design fitting, the Gutter Down Pipe can discharge water in a single pipe system and it is neat in appearance.

Access pipe

Access pipe is to provide a big twist lock access door for cleaning and maintenance. The diameter of the access door is designed the same size with the down pipe, so that is easily accessible to any part of the down pipe. It is recommended to install this fitting together with the down pipe before it is connected to the underground drainage pipe (just above the ground floor level).

Pipe sleeve

The pipe sleeve is designed with many external ribs to prevent water from leaking and seepage along the external smooth surface of the UPVC pipe when inserting it into the concrete floor slab. It is suitable to use for UPVC Gutter Down Pipe system and also for soil, waste and ventilation system. The complete sizes are ranging from 32mm to 200mm, they are made to comply with BS5255:BS4514 and BS4576.

91° bend with spigot end

Specially designed bend with one spigot end (male end) for horizontal Gutter Down Pipe to run very closed to the concrete floor slab (ceiling). It is just solvent welded directly into the pipe sleeve which casted into the slab. With this way of installation, it gives a higher head clearance and also neat in appearance.

Offset bend

Bend with one spigot end can directly welded through solvent cement into the socket of the other bend. It will minimize the distance of “W” to form a narrow offset.

Repair a leak or broken pipe is not as difficult as you think, as long as you follow these easy steps, you are able to get rid of the overcharge piping plumber. Here are the 8 simple steps for pipe repair:

1. First, isolate the place where the drain pipe is leaking. Usually where the water is leaking out from the drain pipe is not the source of the leak, it may take a little more time to do the pipe digging if it is necessary. Once the pipe leak is isolated, turn off the main water pipe supply to that line. Make sure the correct diameter repair pipe and couplers is in place, PVC pipe often has always information shown about size and test-strength on the pipe.

2. Leave a reasonable work space around the break drain pipe to allow movement in the PVC pipe in order to achieve a tight fit with the drain pipe repair. Clean out the water, mud and dirt left in the drain pipe and screw the pipe tight. With a PVC pipe cutter, cut an approximately 4 to 6 inches from break on each side of the drain pipe, and make sure to clean the pipe in both ends clear of any mud. During the cutting of the drain pipe, in case the pipe found start to crack, place a small amount of PVC primer to the spot where the blade touches the drain pipe and let it sit for a moment before applying pressure to the PVC pipe cutter. This will allow the pipe softer and make the drain pipe easier to cut without cracking.

3. By using the purple primer and the brush that comes with it, prime both of the clean pipes ends approximately 1 inch down from the pipe lip end, and the insides of two straight pipe couplers. Apply a thin layer of glue to one end of the drain pipe and half of a straight pipe coupler. If the blue glue is being used, you have only about 20 seconds to fit the pipe couplers onto the drain pipe ends, if clear glue is being used, the drying time is much more faster. Twist coupler down hard onto the drain pipe, there is a “stop” in the centre of the pipe coupler, you want the pipe end to butt up against that.

4. Cut a piece of the repair pipe to fit the length of the cut you made in the sprinkler line, including the half inch or more of each straight pipe coupler. Measure from the middle of each straight drain pipe coupler to achieve the desired length.

5. Fit the cut piece of the repair pipe into the couplers dry, make sure that the fitting is correct also the resulting pipe is not bowed, from the replacement piece being too long.

6. Disassemble the repair pipe and make any necessary adjustments on the pipe, until the resulting fitting on the drain pipe is perfect.

7. Prime both ends of your pipe cut piece, wait for few seconds, and apply a light layer of glue to one end of the replacement piece and inside one of the straight pipe couplers. Twist the pipe hard into the coupler until the end. Wait at least a minute for that to dry then apply glue to the remaining pipe-end and coupler. With the final fitting, pull hard on the sprinkler-line pipe, upside down, in order to get the replacement pipe to slip into the pipe coupler. Allow all pipe fittings and pipe joints to dry completely before turning water back on to the pipe line, the drying time would take up to 5 minutes.

8. Observe the area of the repaired drain pipe for a few minutes before the pipe hole is covered.

Assembly of the joint is quick and simple, and may, according to size and local conditions, be carried out by any of the following methods.

Crowbar method
Complete entry of the spigot into the socket may be obtained by pushing with a crowbar or a suitable lever against the face of the entering Ductile Iron Pipe.

Fork tool method
Maybe used for 100mm and 150mm Ductile Iron Pipe. The fork is placed over and behind the socket of the last Ductile Iron Pipe laid. A wire rope with eye at one end and a hood at the other is connected to the socket of the Ductile Iron Pipe to be jointed as shown in the diagram. The fork is now pulled in direction of arrow and the spigot enters the socket. Reasonable force should only be used.

Trifor or Come along method
For joint above 150mm a wire rope or chain can be used as shown in the diagram.

Trench excavator method
When the trench is being prepared by using a back hoe or excavator, wither machine may also be used to push the spigot home. This system is mainly used on large diameter Ductile Iron Pipe and a timber header should be placed between the Ductile Iron Pipe and the bucket to prevent damage to the Ductile Iron Pipe.

Spiral welded pipe have a wide range of applications, few of the most popular applications and its benefits are as follow:

Spiral welded pipe on structural

1. Foundation piles for buildings, bridges and peirs.
2. Retaining walls
3. Structural columns
4. Space portal frames and trusses

Spiral welded pipe on water

1. Weight coated submarine pipe line
2. Distribution line (wrapped, coated and lined)
3. Fabricated fitting and special.

Spiral welded pipe on industrial

1. Electric transmission towers
2. Sign posts and lighting poles
3. Waste water treatment plants
4. Storage tanks
5. Casing pipes
6. Chimneys

Other than the wide application of Spiral welded pipe, this type of pipe also cover quite a big range of advantages:
Spiral welded pipe able to withstand high operating pressure.

1. The noticeable bandage effect gives the Spiral welded pipe and additional resisting force on bursting.
2. Spiral welded pipe, by nature of the process is exceptionally straight and circular.
3. Uniformity in thickness, Spiral welded pipe which are manufactured from quality steel strips with minimum tolerance, achieve uniform thickness over the entire length.
4. Flexibility of Spiral welded pipe, permits it to be used in difficult terrain and enables it to withstand such abnormal internal and external shocks as surge, water hammer, washout, floods and extreme temperature changes.
5. Reliability, the spiral process produces an extremely reliable weld which is significantly less affected by circumferential (hoop) stress than a longitudinally welded seam.
6. Wide range of diameter and wall thickness, the Spiral welded pipe is manufactured in accordance with ASTM A 252, JIS A 5525 and BS 3601 or other specification, with a wide availability of sizes to choose from.
7. Ease of splicing, consistent circularity and tight diameter tolerances produce significant advantage when jointing in the field. Piles can be easily spliced on site to extend pile lengths as required for deep driving.
8. Long length for Spiral welded pipe, availability of long length piles reduces cost of handling and jointing at site.
9. Ease of transportation and handling, as steel pipe piles are light weight and less susceptible to damage, their transportation and handling are made easy.
10. Fast supply of uniform quality material in large quantity also make the Spiral welded pipe one the usage consideration in the sector.
11. Large load bearing capacity, pile can be driven deeply into hard bearing stratum resulting in achieving a larger bearing capacity.
12. Smaller net sectional area, piles can be spaced closely, owning to lesser soil displacement during piling and adverse effects on neighboring structures will be minimized.
13. High column buckling and bending capabilities, Spiral welded pipe are commonly used in marine structures due to its versatility.

External Protection Systems On Steel Pipes

The steel shell is normally grit-blasted on the outside and inside according to the applicable standards as specified by the clients.

Over the years in the history of steel water supply pipelines, a wide variety of systems have been used to provide external corrosion protection for both above and below ground installations.

The most commonly used and effective external protection systems specified by clients in the water supply industry are as follows :

a) Below Ground / Buried Pipes
Hot Applied Bitumen Coating together with reinforced glass fiber tissues on primed external steel surface.

b) Above Ground / Exposed Pipes
Industrial paints such as Aluminium / zinc rich painting system, red-oxide and other epoxy coating system.

Other External Surface Protection Systems are as follows :
1) Reinforced coal tar enamel coating
2) Coal tar epoxy and other epoxy coating
3) Primer coating painting e.g. red lead oxide
4) Tape coating system

Internal Protection Systems On Steel Pipes

Cement mortar lining is one of the most commonly used methods to prevent internal corrosion of steel pipe while at the same time providing a smooth surface to maximise flow capacity.

This cement mortar lining is applied to the pipes by spinning in a centrifugal process producing a dense lining with a smooth surface. At the same time, excess water that migrates to the surface of the lining will be removed by skimming process. The high density, low void and water content results in a strong and low permeability cement mortar lining.

Either Ordinary Portland cement complying to BS 12 or Sulphate-Resistting Portland cement complying to BS 4027 and fine aggregate are mixed together to form the lining material.

Other Internal Surface Protection systems are also used as follows :
1) Centrifugal spun Bitumen lining
2) Centrifugal spun coal tar lining
3) Epoxy and coal tar epoxy lining
4) Painting system

Aluminum pipe fittings are widely used in plumbing activities in today’s construction projects. The light weight and corrosion resistance of aluminum has made the aluminum pipe fittings a good choice especially in the use with aluminum pipes. Pure aluminum also comes with a low tensile strength and is the most important factor in making a good choice when resistance to corrosion is important. However, the aluminum easily forms alloy with elements like zinc, copper, silicon, manganese, etc, and the alloy is widely used for making fittings of increased strength and hardness.

Application wise, aluminum pipe fittings are widely used and applied in various applications, household plumbing, railings, racking, store fixtures, lighting grids, safety barriers, guardrails, hand rails and so on.

Apart of the wide range of applications, aluminum pipe fittings are available in multiple sizes and shapes, multiple type of finishings, as well as it is highly adaptable to the environment where it can be used either indoor or outdoor.

Example of aluminum pipe fittings available from the market (source: www.allproducts.com)

TRIFLEX® Windows is a world recognized piping work design and stress analysis software with flexible output reporting features such as graph reporting. The software is featured with wide capabilities which covers the analysis of temperature, pressure, weight, anchor and restraint movement, support friction, transient loading and many more.

This piping work design software is also able to calculate deflections and rotations, forces & moments, piping code compliance report, piping loads acting on rotating equipment comparing them with allowable in published standards. TRIFLEX® Windows also provide the ultimate solution for engineers to meet today’s piping work requirements for the Chemical, Petro-Chemical, Refining, Power, Pipeline, Pulp & Paper, Food Processing and Shipbuilding industries.

Some of the benefits for TRIFLEX Windows are:

• Easy to use and learn with high productivity.
• Fastest operating system in the industry.
• Graphical reporting solution allow best design capability.
• Intuitive design elements.
• Allow input checking with graphical analysis.
• Output report can be presented either in graph format or ISO format.
• Fully dynamics capability.
• Output report can be export to HTML allow easy sharing over the network or website.

This design software can be downloaded in demo version, or it can be purchased here.

Recently, more and more structures are being built in soft ground and coastal reclaimed land. This often leads to the problems of negative friction generated by the settlement of ground due to earth consolidation.
A technique, successfully utilized in countries such as Netherlands, England and Japan for reduction in negative friction is be the use of Slip lay pipe. About 6mm thick of bituminous material is applied to the pipe surface in order to minimize the negative friction by means of its visco elastic characteristic. The effectiveness of slip layer pipe not only produces a sound foundation in areas of intense ground subsidence but also helps to achieve tremendous cost saving.

Typical composition of slip lay pipe is shown below: