Shirley Wenger is a professional journalist and editor who has been working in the publishing industry for more than 15 years. She is an award-winning...Read more

The molds around your faucet and on the bathtub will tell you it’s time to clean your bathroom. But what about the pipes underneath your house? They hold the household plumbing right? How do you replace them and keep them in a good condition? If you are looking for the best and the most convenient way to replace your buried pipes like water, natural gas or sewer without having to mess up the entire system then you need to consider trenchless pipe bursting. Not only is it fast but also lasts longer than the conventional methods.

What is pipe bursting?

This is a trenchless method of changing buried pipelines without necessarily digging up trenches like in the traditional replacement. This method is not as complicated as most people perceive it to be. Here is a look at the different types of bursting methods and how they work.

Hydraulic pipe Bursting

This type of bursting makes changing ductile iron and steel possible. It can also be used for pipes made from various materials. Normally, this course is done from manhole to manhole. It fragments the line from the inside by making use of a bursting head that’s expanded. The head expands to crack the pipe. It contracts so that the winch can pull the line forward. This method is normally used for online replacement of gravity and sewer pipelines that range from 6 inch to 20 inch in diameter.

Static pipe Bursting

If the water and gas pipelines are made from steel and iron, then this becomes the most appropriate method. The horizontal winch used in this method acts as a high-powered Hydraulic jack. This steel pipe replacement works with pipes ranging in diameter from 4 to 48 inches.

Pneumatic pipe Bursting

The pneumatic bursting head that has a properly sized expander makes this method popular. The head acts as a jackhammer to break the old pipes to replace the void with new ones. The head is normally guided by a winch. This is the common course used to replace pressure pipes and gravity pipes that range from 4 to 54 inches in diameter. There are millions of pipes replaced every year with this method since it doesn’t need any major surface preparation.

Lateral pipe Bursting

There is a steel cone that’s normally pulled through an existing line in lateral bursting. If the project at hand requires small pipes of 4 inch in diameter or if there are multiple beds involved, this is the method to go for. There is also another type of bursting that uses an impacting rotary device. It grinds the old pipe and upsize it without damaging any utilities.

That’s how trenchless pipe bursting works. It is important to understand that this method can be used for almost all types of pipes available in the market including polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, steel, clay, ABS styrene, asbestos cement cast-in-place and reinforced concrete and cast iron. Concrete and vitrified clay pipes are usually easy to burst. However, a reinforced concrete pipeline can be difficult to burst unless the right method is used.

Shirley Wenger is a professional journalist and editor who has been working in the publishing industry for more than 15 years. She is an award-winning writer and her work has been featured in various publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine.

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