With the rapid development of urbanisation and modern industry nowadays, it is becoming more and more popular to install pipe branching based on current pipelines.
Then how to do branch installation on top of the existing pipeline? What are the specific methods? This article for you to understand in detail Branch installation on top of the current pipeline.
According to if you need to stop the water in pipeline, it is divided into dry tap and wet tap (also called hot tap).
Dry tap refers to the drilling of pipes in the absence of pressure in the pipeline, and is generally applicable to newly installed pipes or pipes that have been shut down.
Wet tap, also called hot tap, refers to the drilling and branching of pipes in the normal running condition of the pipe. In this case, There have water pressure in the pipeline.The water haven’t been shut down.The user is unaware that the pipe is being repaired because the water in pipe is not affected.
According to the way of installing the branch, there have 3 types pipe drilling methods,They are direct drilling, drilling by tapping saddle and drilling by tapping sleeve.
Direct Drilling to The Pipe
Direct drilling is the most common and cost-effective way of drilling. However, this drilling method is only applicable to ductile iron pipe, cast iron pipe, steel pipe and other strong pipes, and can’t be used for PVC, PE plastic pipe and AC pipe, because direct drilling means you need to drill thread on the pipe wall, and you need connect the pipe wall thread with the tapping valve thread, this connection need strong pipe material, it is easy to cause damage to the surface of the nonmetal pipe, and even cause pipe rupture and water leakage.
The installation steps for direct drilling are
1, Clean the outer surface of the pipe
2, Drill holes in the pipe wall with a drilling tool.
3, Connect the threads of the tapping valve to the threads in the pipe wall.
4, Install the service line pipe to the tapping valve.
5,Switch on the tapping valve.
Drilling by Tapping Saddle
The 2nd way is drilling by tapping saddle, it is to install a saddle clamp on the pipe, the outlet of the saddle clamp can be threaded or flanged, this drilling method is applicable to most of the pipes such as ductile iron pipe, steel pipe, AC pipe, PE pipe, PVC pipe, etc.
According to the material of the pipe and the size of the outlet, there have many different saddle clamp, judberd has more than 10 types of saddle clamp, customized design according to the customer’s requirements is also welcome.
When you choose saddle clamp for PE/PVC pipe, you have to pay attention for below points
1, Choose longer saddle clamp so as to reduce the pressure on the surface of the pipe.
2, Check the saddle clamp to see if it is almost completely and evenly wrap the pipe, thus preventing the pipe from deformation.
3, If you choose the band type saddle clamp, you must pay attention to choose a wide band, so as to reduce the pressure of the band on the pipe. Judberd has two types of band, among them, 60mm wide can be used for PE or PVC and other plastic pipes, while for DI, steel and other high strength iron pipe, 40mm is enough.
You should note that when choosing to install a saddle on PE pipe, you may think that sidewall fusion (also called saddle fusion) is cheaper than iron saddle clamp, but the installation by sidewall fusion needs to meet the following conditions
1, Need to have a trained professional operation
2, Need to have an alternating current
3, Subject to environmental factors
4, Professional fusion tools.
And the whole installation process takes about 2 hours.You can see the saddle fusion is actually very expensive compare to iron saddle because the complicated installation requirement.
The installation of iron saddle clamp does not require the above conditions, and the installation steps of iron saddle clamp are very simple, as follows
1, Clean the outer surface of the pipe
2, Install the saddle clamp to the position where the hole is to be drilled.
3、Install the tapping valve(can be corporation stop valve, service valve, gate valve, butterfly valve, ball valve etc) and connect with the saddle clamp.
4、Open tapping valve to drill holes.
5, Finish drilling, exit the drill, the tapping valve will be closed, remove the drilling tool.
When you choose a saddle clamp with a threaded outlet, you must pay attention to whether the outlet is a metric type thread that does not have a sealing function or a BSP, NPT, etc. thread that has a sealing function. When you choose the metric type thread saddle clamp, tapping valve must also choose the metric thread interface, saddle clamp and tapping valve through the thread connection, but need to be through the tapping valve squeeze saddle clamp on the rubber ring for sealing. The saddle clamp with sealing function and its matching tapping valve are sealed by thread, you need to wrap sealing tape around the female thread and then tightening the threads. Therefore, the precision of the threads is required to be higher.
Drilling by Tapping Sleeve
When the size of the branch is greater than or equal to 3″, or the sealing requirements of the pipe is higher, you need to choose tapping sleeve, rubber ring of tapping sleeve is grid shape.Grip shape rubber have much better sealing performance than others, Normally bands of tapping sleeves are made of stainless steel, carbon steel etc high strength metals.
Judberd has several designs of Tapping Sleeves that can be mounted by tightening bolts, welding etc. The outlet can be threaded or flanged.Threaded is for small size, flanged is for bigger size(the minimum size is DN40).
You can assemble your tapping sleeve step by step as per the saddle clamp installation steps as above.
Conclusion
You need to choose the right drilling method according to your specific pipe material, pressure, outlet size etc. If you have any questions, you are also welcome to contact judberd for consultation.
