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Ensuring A Safe Lpg Pipe Network

By Derek Muckle, product & technical director, Radius Systems Ltd

The fact that the Health & Safety Executive referred to plastic pipes as ‘newer and more robust’ is a significant milestone in the recognition of plastic pipes as being the preferred material for carrying lpg at particular diameters.

The current lpg pipeline network replacement programme will see buried metallic pipes running from lp gas storage vessels to commercial premises being replaced with polyethylene (PE) pipes after the recently published Gill Report. Domestic premises will follow in due course.

The UK lpg gas industry is widely acknowledged to be one of the safest and most advanced in the world, with a generally excellent track record – and plastic pipes have been used to safely transport lp gas for over 50 years. Radius Systems has been supplying the lpg gas industry throughout this period with plastic pipes, including the latest high performing PE pipes in a range of diameters for various applications.

There are several operators who are forging the way in the future use of lpg pipelines and successfully responding to unique challenges at the same time. Jersey Gas, part of the International Energy Group, is one example, where the mains gas supply on the island is a mixture of lpg and air. The lp gas is mixed with air in a production facility to create the mains, which supplies commercial and domestic customers on the island.

Some parts of the island do not have mains gas. However, ‘neat’ lpg gas can be supplied via semi and mini bulk tanks or cylinders. Some individual properties supplied by cylinders are treated as metered customers, with Jersey Gas monitoring and changing out the lpg cylinders as required to ensure the customer’s supply is not interrupted by run out.

Jersey Gas has been one of the early adopters of replacing metallic with PE pipes for lp gas transportation, and it selected Radius Systems’ ProFuse peelable skin gas pipe for a particular application.

Jersey Gas found that standard open cut pipe replacement would have been very time consuming, disruptive to customers and costly. The company therefore looked at slip lining a specially manufactured size of PE pipe through the existing 12-inch metallic gas main. This was a highly successful operation and has saved both time and costs.

A bespoke pipe size (296mm) was manufactured by Radius Systems to go inside the existing 12-inch main. ProFuse, a PE pipe with a peelable outer skin to protect the inner core, was the selected pipe type. Slip lining (inserting a new pipe within an old one) saves significant disruption and reduces the need to dig open trenches everywhere.

The revolutionary ProFuse peelable lp gas pipe system has a tough outer yellow skin (polypropylene) specially bonded to the core PE inner pipe during manufacture and permanently marked with brown (SDR21), green (SDR26) or red (SDR17.6) lines running parallel with the pipe’s length to indicate its multilayer properties and dimension ratio. The skin remains on the pipe during storage and installation, and is only removed if joints or service off takes need to be made.

In these cases, a simple peeling tool is used to expose the perfectly clean inner pipe surface, removing the need to pipe scrape. This provides significant savings in time, whilst also ensuring considerably improved joint quality. The tough outer skin provides protection for a variety of trenchless techniques and makes ProFuse a highly advanced PE pipe system.

A range of electrofusion fittings is also available for use with the ProFuse lp gas system. Radius Systems provides key training on the ProFuse system to fill skills gaps and ensure lpg operators apply best practice installation techniques, saving time and cost, but at the same time ensuring high long-term performance in the ground. With the approved replacement programme now underway for lpg gas pipes, appropriate training will be of increasing importance for all installers.

Training courses can be carried out at Radius Systems’ Derbyshire base or onsite anywhere in the UK. The lp gas courses are approved to City and Guilds and EUS standards.

Contact Radius Systems Ltd on 01773 811112 www.radius-systems.co.uk