A water blast system supplied by Jetstream Europe has stripped 500 tonnes of lining from 43km of pipe as part of a mammoth conversion project for a leading manufacturer of construction products.

The custom-designed, semi-automated unit was used on a total of 8,000 pipes, which measured 5.5m in length and ranged in diameter from 100mm-700mm, in an operation that took 950 hours to complete.

The solution produced by Jetstream Europe was not only a more compact and speedy option compared to other rival systems considered by the ductile iron pipe maker, but it also proved to be more cost-effective and productive.

The UK manufacturer had turned to the Halesowen-based distributor for help, as it needed to convert a huge batch of stocked pipes from one type of seal coat system to another.

Previously, the manufacturer had burned out the lining in a stove and scrubbed the bore back to bare metal before relining the pipe. 

However, this was a major time-consuming and expensive method as it also destroyed the outer, expensive coating which had to be shot-blasted away and re-applied, explained Danny Monaghan, Jetstream Europe's technical and operations manager.

"The pipe maker's engineering team had used a water jetting process before, but this was only on a few pipes, and not on the scale that this project required," he added.

Pipe samples were sent to Jetstream Europe's facility where trials were carried out to ensure the equipment could thoroughly remove the lining at the rate demanded. 

As well as providing the water blast system, Jetstream Europe also trained and certified 8 staff to the Water Jetting Association's Safety Awareness standard so that they could operate and maintain the kit.

"The customer was not only very impressed by the results, but also by the quality and reliability of Jetstream Europe's equipment. What's more, only a few parts required replacing during the entire water jetting operation," said Danny.