Plumbing Questions & Answers

 

A:  Have you ever seen the words trenchless sewer replacement on an advertisement and wondered what it means? Well, trenchless sewer replacement is the way of the future. The traditional way of replacing a sewer pipe is to dig up the pipe, either by hand or with a tractor, and put in a new one. This way is labor intensive and can be costly when a line is in a difficult position, such as under concrete.

The trenchless sewer replacement system saves valuable time and is particularly efficient when the sewer is under a driveway or under a big tree.

So how exactly does trenchless sewer replacement work? We establish a starting Point A in the sewer line near the house and an ending Point B near the curb or street. We expose the pipe in each location and cut out small sections. Next, we string a cable through the line from Point A to Point B which will be used to pull the new pipe through. The new pipe is actually a black plastic pipe about 5 inches in diameter. This pipe is fused together (a fancy system like gluing, but it involves melting the ends of the pipe).

The front end of the pipe is attached to a big steel head shaped like a cone (called a splitting head) and that head attaches to the cable. As we pull the cable through the pipe with 3,000 lbs of pressure, the splitting head bursts the old pipe and pushes it out of the way making room for the new pipe.

The actual replacement of the pipe does not take very long and usually the work can be done in one day. There is no problem pulling through roots or under driveways. This system works well and because the new pipe has no joints, no roots can get into it.

If you have any questions about sewer replacement, just call Dave at Budget Plumbing. He will inspect your pipe and provide estimates for your options.

 

 

 

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