The Challenge
Vollers Excavating & Construction company was working at an industrial property in New Jersey to verify the location of a leak on a 12” steel chilled waterline that was buried 10 feet underground. The piping network at the suspected leak location was connected to a 90-degree offset, then dropped approximately 20 feet vertically before connecting to another 90-degree offset. This allowed the chilled waterline to enter the building’s mechanical room horizontally at a depth of over 30 feet below grade. The cost of constructing an engineer-designed safe excavation with trench boxes and shoring was more than $100,000. Therefore, Vollers wanted to verify that the leak was on the 20-foot vertical portion of the pipe, to justify replacement at a shallower depth. This approach would eliminate the need for excessive excavation costs and extreme working conditions.
The Solution
Due to the magnitude of the leak, the pipe could not be fully pressurized, and acoustic listening and leak correlation methods were not sufficient for the detection process.
Familiar with the capabilities of the Investigator™ from Aquam Pipe Diagnostics (APD), Vollers installed a 2” tap on the 12” steel waterline for a live insertion that could help complete an internal condition assessment and leak detection survey.
The Results and Benefits
The Investigator™ successfully pinpointed the leak nearly 12 feet below the 90-degree elbow on the 20-foot vertical portion of the line. Vollers were also able to determine that the internal condition of the pipe was good with no visible corrosion, pitting or tuberculation, and had greater confidence in the integrity of the pipe.
Vollers Excavating and Construction yielded significant financial savings and successfully confirmed a troublesome leak by recruiting APD’s pipeline assessment specialists and the Investigator™ platform.