According to the client, the cost to replace this 600 foot section of pipe would have been approximately 1.2 million dollars. Pacific Sewer was able to remove the calcite build up in the heavily impacted section of pipe, plus an additional 200 feet, for less than 2% of the cost of replacement.
The key to removing calcite like this is to break the tension bond at the joint and the waterline and break the calcite free from the pipe. Once the minerals form a diameter of greater than 50 percent of the pipe it forms a pipe inside a pipe which uses the strength of the original host pipe for support.
Special thanks to Kent Carlson at the National Clay Pipe institute for information relating to Vitrified Clay Pipe.
- Obstruction Type Calcium