First Project For Uponor's Black Profuse

Uponor's versatile ProFuse peelable skin PE100 pipe has been manufactured with a black skin and green stripe to indicate multi-layer for a Thames Water Network West Utilities project.

Uponor's versatile ProFuse peelable skin PE100 pipe has been manufactured with a black skin and green stripe to indicate multi-layer, in 180mm diameter, for a Thames Water Network West Utilities sewerage pumping main replacement project.

Contracts manager Kieran Burke selected ProFuse because the terrain around Bicester, where the Bucknell sewer was being replaced, was known to be mainly rock and limestone, and he was looking for a pipe tough enough to cope with the difficulties of being directionally drilled: "Although we found veins of clay, we were still having to drill through rock much of the time, and needed a pipe that would cope with bouncing off the rock.

The protective skin on ProFuse kept the pipe beneath in perfect condition.

This was very important to Thames Water, who are keen to minimise damage to pipes being used in these types of installations to ensure pipe integrity." Using ProFuse, the pipeline part of the 2.8km rising main project took just three weeks from start to completion, and it was entirely directionally drilled, with the exception of one 15-metre section that had to be open cut.

The open cut section took one day.

JMH Directional Drilling carried out the directional drilling using a Vermeer D33x44 Navigator directional drill machine with Digitrak locating equipment.

JMH directional drilling manager Amanda Kitchin described the rock as 'mainly limestone, which became very angular when fractured', and said that the recommendation for SDR 11 pipe was made due to the ground conditions.

In parts hard rock was encountered, with similar strength to flint and granite.

JMH found ProFuse to be even more suitable for directional drilling due to its weight and strength, and they were able to complete the first section in less than one week; the whole scheme in three.

Kieran Burke continued: "The time savings we made using ProFuse effectively put us eight weeks ahead of schedule.

Excavating the rock would have taken considerably longer and we would have risked tearing ordinary pipe.".

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