Steve Vick News
Flowstopping operations on Jersey17 Oct 2007
Steve Vick International has recently carried out a number of FOAMBAG™ flow stopping operations for the Channel Islands company Jersey Gas, the third oldest gas company in the British Isles.
A one-way fed 6” and one-way fed 18” main were isolated and capped off as well as two-way fed 10” and 12” gas mains. The work was part of Jersey Gas's ongoing metallic pipe replacement programme, similar in nature to that currently being undertaken in the UK.
This summer's project has centred mainly on the replacement of large diameter medium pressure cast iron mains in the vicinity of the old gasworks site in St. Helier. The location of this work in and around the town area, and the necessity to close sections of the northern ring road over the sixteen week construction period, meant it was very high profile and had to be completed to an agreed timescale.
Graham Spence, Distribution Engineer with Jersey Gas, commented, “We decided that FOAMBAG™ was the most economic method for us to complete a number of isolation operations in a relatively short time period. Foaming off also avoided the disadvantages of alternative methods which require the use of bulky equipment and larger excavations. The work programme was designed to concentrate a number of flow stopping operations over a three day period thus maximising the benefit of bringing Steve Vick International’s Contract Service operator and equipment to the island,” he added.
Steve Vick International’s patented FOAMBAG™ technique has become a gas industry standard method of flow stopping sections of gas mains to be abandoned. Its major advantage over traditional flow stopping methods is that far less pipe needs to be exposed, resulting in considerably smaller excavations and reduced reinstatement costs.
FOAMBAG™ has been used in the UK for over 25 years and meets the UK gas industry technical standard T/SP/E/59. The company sells kits and equipment for operators to carry out their own operations on gas mains and services up to 10” diameter running at pressures up to 75 mbar. A contract service is offered for larger diameters and medium pressure mains.