SVI and Sealback® Helping To Avoid Lane Closures

Contract Service Teams from Steve Vick International (SVI) are carrying out remote live gas mains replacement using the Sealback® technique on a weekly basis throughout the UK gas distribution network.

The technique is a safe and efficient method of replacing short lengths of ‘live’ main in a traffic sensitive location or where access onto the main is restricted.

Replacement is undertaken from a remote location, typically 10 to 13 metres from where the pipe intersects its parent main, usually from a side road into the main carriageway. Projects generally take four to five hours to complete.

The major benefit of the technique is that it allows mains located in areas of engineering difficulty to be replaced via live transfer, resulting in a reduction in operational expenditure and risk. It also reduces environmental impact by minimising excavation and disposal of spoil. For the road user, traffic disruption is minimised.

SVI Contract teams carry out remote live gas replacement on two sizes of metallic mains: 4” inserted with 75mm PE and 6” inserted with 125mm, with a maximum length of 13 metres. The technique involves fitting a Sealback® nose cone into the end of the replacement PE pipe.

The PE is then inserted into the old main through a gland box and once the fins achieve a suitable seal, SVI patented expanding foam is introduced into the annular space. After the foam has cured, the core of the nose is retracted and the PE is commissioned.

 

 

Contract Service since 1981

SVI has provided a contract service to the gas and water industries in the UK and overseas since the company’s foundation in 1981. The contract service team is made up of nine qualified technicians and is overseen by Operations Manager, Mike Hall and Operations Director, Sean Noonan.

SVI contract service technicians provide onsite solutions to a wide variety of pipe renewal problems. The majority of the techniques involve the use of expanding resin foam to flowstop and abandon low and medium pressure gas mains.

A technique which offers significant cost-saving for customers is Live Riser Transfer which provides a way of replacing an old section of live gas service entering a multi-occupancy building to be renewed or transferred without first throwing it dead. Other services include CCTV camera surveys, pipe cutting and grout filling of voids.