Uponor's Yellow PE Gas Pipe Now In 280mm

Plastics pipe specialist Uponor has produced a new size in its polyethylene (PE) gas pipe - 280mm.

The new size was produced in response to a specific request from NGT's (National Grid Transco) Midlands area, where engineers were planning to insert new PE gas pipe into old 12" mains around Nottingham and Chesterfield.

Normally, 250mm diameter pipe would be inserted, but for these particular projects, it was important to maximise gas flow and not reduce pressure, so they asked whether 280mm gas pipe could be produced for the purpose.

Uponor already had the advantage of manufacturing 280mm diameter PE water pipe, and once the appropriate NGT approval processes were undertaken the new size gas pipe was available for use within a few months of the original enquiry.

NGT network officer Ian Brammall was in charge of the first insertion using the new size: "The area at Langley Mill's Station Road was heavily trafficked and using 315mm in an open cut situation would have been disruptive and more costly, so the new size was certainly helpful to us." Network officer Tony Dmytriw carried out the second insertion, a 430-metre insertion on the busy Mansfield Road out of Nottingham: "Inserting the 280mm pipe was certainly easier than open cutting, and I'm sure if we have more of this size of mains it will be more widely used." Uponor has also developed a 280mm coupler, pair of reducers (315 x 280mm and 280 x 250mm) and flanges for this pipe size.

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