Yesterday was a productive one even with the rain. An important day to say the least. Doug Zak of ISCO pipe, manufacturer of our HDPE was on site to train and re-certify members of the LUI crew. It was a very interesting process and quite educational. There are a few different ways to fuse pipe together, we learned about socket, electro and butt fusions. After fusing, a saw would be used to check the accuracy of the fusion. All of them were seamless, it was impossible to tell any difference between the two pieces of pipe. Studies show that a correct fusion is 20% stronger than the actual pipe itself. After each person fuses pipe, they write their name, date and location on the pipe and it is sent to be pressure tested. Tests are done at 800 psi, where our system only calls for 120 psi. These are important lessons for the future when it comes time for us to make adjustments to the system in the future.
After recently talking about "green" ways of doing things. This is the best and it is proven and quickly becoming the trend in golf course irrigation. First, with a seamless piping system there is no loss of water, no loss of pressure which equals less wear on pumps. Second, commonly used pvc contains glues and chloride which contain carcinogens. HDPE is 100% recyclable, all scraps are gathered and sent to be reused.
I am putting together a video about the fusion process and should be up soon.
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