Unfortunately, this was the case for some of the residents in a quiet South East Queensland suburb.

Overflow you don’t want to know

The overflowing manhole was reported to the local water authority, who organised to clear the blockage. The manhole was behind the home, situated on the side of a steep hill which had between a 40 and 45 degree pitch.

Working on an incline like this made it extremely challenging, so when the water authority discovered the issue was a damaged junction (branch) and a cracked manhole due to tree root activity, they reached out to Nuflow Gold Coast.

Problem sorted with pipe relining

It’s not unusual in a situation like this for a water authority to completely dig up the faulty manhole and pipes and renew everything – especially when the manhole discharge is flowing into residential properties with the potential to cause health and environmental issues. The downside of this approach would mean lots of heavy equipment and disruption to the local residents.

Instead, the water authority decided to Nuflow Gold Coast to rehabilitate the entire sewage system with pipe relining, and to delete the manhole. Our Nuflow pipe relining experts were able to use a no-dig solution to repair the damaged and broken pipes and manholes, without the need for excavating. This meant less disruption to the local residents from noise and pollution – in fact, they probably never even realised the job was being done.

The process involved relining the entire junction with a one-piece relining system. Now, the 45 degree junction is one seamless structure, with no joints that could catch debris and cause future blockages.

Once the manhole was repaired, it was filled with sand and sealed with concrete. Nuflow also installed signs stating the “manhole is not in use” and affixed them in two locations for future maintenance teams to easily see.

Final result was no more overflow

The end result was a manhole that would never overflow again. It was done in a small window of time and without disruption to the happy residents, who won’t ever need to deal with raw sewage in their back yards again.

Relining the damaged pipe meant that it would stop any future overflow – but to be absolutely certain, the Nuflow team also sealed the internal cracks and damage to the manhole using Nuflow Croc Flex and Smooth Coat. These solid epoxy-based products are also locally designed and made by Nuflow to assist with rehabilitating damaged pipes, pits and manholes. The systems seal the manhole and extend the working life of these vital assets.

What causes manholes to overflow?

Main sewer systems have a manhole at every change of direction, like at a branch line connection or other locations that may need to be accessed to help clear blocked sewer pipes. This vital infrastructure is key to maintaining the sewage system, but on occasion they will overflow (surcharge) because of a blockage downstream. This will usually cause the entire sewer in the street to block and cause major inconvenience for the homes closest to the manhole or blockage

Fix it for good with Nuflow Gold Coast

Nuflow’s pipe relining technology is Australian engineered, designed and manufactured. It carries up to a 50 year warranty, and when installed bonds to the host pipe for a permanent solution. It will bond to virtually any material of pipe including plastic (PVC), metal, vitrified clay and concrete – and can reline pipes with internal diameters from 40mm to 1500mm.

If you experience regular blockages in your sewer or funny gurgling and bad odors from your pipes, contact Nuflow Gold Coast for advice on the best solution to fix the problem for good.

The post Manhole overflow sorted for local water authority (CASE STUDY) appeared first on Nuflow Gold Coast.

THE CLIENT

Crown Towers Resort, Surfers Paradise, Queensland.

THE PROBLEM

Building movement had caused numerous small cracks in 105 metres of 225mm FRC/AC storm water pipe at a 42-storey high-rise resort. The pipe was enclosed behind a brick and concrete wall making access difficult and repair or replacement impractical. The line included some junctions, elbows and bends.

THE SOLUTION

Relining with Blueline on the two straight sections of pipe (1 x 70m and 1 x 35m) and relining of one junction found to have cracks.

TIME TAKEN TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE

Two weeks – although there was no impact on operations and no urgency to complete works quickly.

DISRUPTION TO SERVICES, LIFESTYLE, FUNCTIONALITY

None.

COST SAVING OVER REMOVAL AND REPLACEMENT OF PIPES

Excavation and demolition costs (for removal and replacement) and disruption to operations would have been significantly higher.

OTHER BENEFITS

• A small environmental footprint
• No more ongoing repair and refurbishment costs for damaged units
• A 50-year warranty gave management and body corporate committee peace of mind
• No disruption to residents and guests at all

INACCESSIBLE STORM WATER PIPES CALL FOR CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

Whoever said tradesmen weren’t exactly creative types better think again. Whether it’s uncovering the cause of a blocked pipe, figuring out how the stormwater pipes track in a 50-year-old high-rise or coming up with the best way to fix a ‘hard-to-get-to’ leaking drain, good plumbers not only need know-how and experience, they need curious and creative minds just itching to get to work.

And those creative juices were working overtime when Nuflow Gold Coast was tasked with relining the vertical stormwater network at the Crown Towers Resort in Surfers Paradise.  The family-friendly resort less than 100m from the coast’s iconic golden beaches has 1, 2, and 3-bedroom apartments for permanent residents and holiday makers, as well as a penthouse, restaurants, day spa and tropical lagoon pool. Its proximity to virtually all things ‘holiday’  made it the perfect place to relax and play – rain, hail or shine – until cracks in the stormwater stack meant a bit too much of that rain was ending up where it didn’t belong.

STORMWATER PIPE PROBLEMS

Built in 1997, the well-maintained, 42-storey, luxury resort has rooms with amazing views over the ocean, but a construction decision to locate the entire 105 metres of vertical stormwater pipe in a recess behind a besser brick and concrete wall meant a major headache a few decades later for building Maintenance Manager, Neale Sutherland.

“The pipe was pretty much inaccessible behind that wall,” he said.

“It was a fibre reinforced (FRC) concrete pipe and over time the building’s movement had caused some cracks, especially around where it was clamped onto the wall.

“When water started seeping through the cracks, it wasn’t long before a few of the units started getting damage during heavy rain.”

Sutherland said early signs began about seven years ago.

“It wasn’t a big issue at first.

“Our plumber would just go into the affected apartment and cut a hole through the wall and into the pipe then spot-fix the leak and that’d be it for a while, but then every few years another one would come along a bit lower or a bit higher.”

Crown Towers Resort Lobby

The building has two profiles; the lower 11 floors have a wider perimeter with 15 units on each accommodation level, while the slimmer ‘Tower’ section (from levels 12-39) sits on top and has only six units on each floor.

Roof water is channelled into a 150mm PVC pipe and then into the 225mm AC pipe that was thought to run in a straight line down to the ground.  Most of the leaks were occurring on the lower floors (from 12 down) and as the frequency and severity of the damage increased, it became clear the spot-fixing wasn’t going to be enough.

“Something had to be done because it just kept happening, but with the pipes hidden behind that wall, we didn’t really know what,” Sutherland said.

“When it started getting worse we cut through the gyprock and besser blocks in the fire hose reel room on level 12 to get to expose pipes.

“We set up a foam sleeve and bucket to catch the water, but it got to the point where we were emptying out the bucket every half hour in heavy rain and that told us we had bigger cracks than we’d thought.

“That’s when it came to the crunch.”

WHY PIPE RELINING WAS THE BEST OPTION

Rather than one large area of damage, the many small cracks that had appeared over time meant during heavy rain, water would seep through to the outside face of the pipe in a number of areas and trickle down. Every four or so levels there was a concrete support slab butting up against the pipe, and the trickling water would hit that then fan out across the slab, meaning water would enter those apartments above and/or below the slab.

Unbeknownst to everyone at this early stage, the storm water stack was in fact not one long pipe, but two, joined by a series of twisting elbows and bends. The first length from the roof ended at the bottom of the Tower, on level 12, which meant most of that trickling water left the pipe here and travelled across the slab into a myriad of cracks and crevices that carried it to units on levels below.

Although it’s a mixed-use building (holiday and permanent accommodation) all units are privately owned so deciding on the best pipe repair strategy was a matter for the body corporate committee. Sutherland and his team set to work researching options to present to them.

Replacing the existing pipe was really not viable. Every unit running down that side of the building would need walls removed in order to gain access to the old pipe and small sections of replacement pipe would have to be installed at a time. This would not only have caused significant disruption to residents and guests, but the cost would have been exorbitant.

They then considered whether running a new pipe on the external façade of the building would work, however this would have detracted from the building’s aesthetics and could have created additional unknown costs that would have been difficult to plan for.

They even looked at whether running a new pipe inside the existing one would work.

“At one stage we thought about getting a quote along the lines of putting a smaller pipe inside the larger one,” Sutherland said.

“But the feasibility of the idea wasn’t great.

“Like, where would the pipes start and finish, and how would they join it?

“It just would have all been a bit too hard because of the pipes being in that alcove – a concealed recess behind the concrete wall – so you couldn’t have got to them.”

There were also questions about whether a smaller pipe would be adequate to cope with the high volume of water in very heavy rain.

But the one suggestion that kept coming up was relining.

WHY NUFLOW?

General Manager at Crown Towers, Justin Cave, oversaw the complex project and along with Sutherland, was working through possible repair alternatives.

“It was certainly an interesting challenge,” Cave admitted.

“We were all wondering why the pipes had been installed that way without any access.

“If we hadn’t been able to reline the pipe, we would have had to knock all sorts of holes in all sorts of walls to physically find out where the leaks were coming from.

“We got numerous recommendations along the way as part of our investigations and we spoke to a few different plumbers.

“On a couple of occasions Nuflow was recommended as the solution to our particular problem.”

They contacted Nuflow Gold Coast, who sent a team quickly to the site. Sutherland explained what had been happening and the remedies they’d tried, but with the pipe being hidden behind the brick wall, it was difficult to assess the full extent of the damage.

Despite this, the Nuflow team was fully confident they could get the job done.

“They submitted some quotes and then they came to a few body corporate meetings to discuss the process, how they would do it and what would happen,” Sutherland said.

“It seemed like it was just the most cost-effective way to do it and apart from everything else the guarantee or the warranty that came with it made up a lot of people’s minds.

“To have the job done with the peace of mind knowing it’s got a 50-year warranty that really helps, and so everyone okayed it.”

THE RELINING PROCESS AT CROWN

Nuflow Gold Coast relining technician, Jade Slater, said this was one of the many “interesting” jobs he’s done in his two and half years with the company.

“It’s funny how often what you think they should have done with the pipes, just isn’t what you find,” he said.

“Like maybe they’d originally planned to go straight down with this storm water pipe but then an electrician or whoever put something in the way and so they had to put bends and joins in their plumbing to go around it.

“When they’re in the construction stage everyone just wants to get the job done as best they can but often they don’t think about the maintenance down the track, so we get this sort of thing a lot.

“With this one we were told the storm water went straight down in just one long length of pipe from the roof to the basement which seemed logical, but once we got our CCTV cameras down inside we found that wasn’t the case.

“The pipe actually goes from the roof down to level 11 at about a 70 degree gradient, then offsets on a 90 bend, goes a couple of metres horizontally, then another bend, then down about a metre, then another bend and again back to horizontal so it steps out like a good three metres and then goes straight again down to the basement.”

The footage also showed the numerous small cracks along the straight lengths of AC pipe and the failed patches that had been previously applied. The bends, fortunately, did not show any signs of cracking, so it was decided the problem could be fixed by relining both of the straight sections only.

Slater and the rest of the Nuflow team assessed the pipe and building access and decided they could get the job done with least disruption to residents by working from the rooftop (for their initial access point) and from the common area on level 11 (for their second access point). For the bottom 35m section of pipe a downstream access point was established in the reception lobby and the winch relocated to level 11.

After smashing through the brick walls and then through the concrete pipe on the roof (as no access points had been installed in the pipe) they drilled bolts into the wall and set up a winch system to help raise the heavy liners and bladders into and out of the pipe.

Finding somewhere with enough space to spread the liners out and prepare them for insertion was the next issue. They initially planned to reline the pipe in 10m sections, but after the first reline this was modified to 6m because the location of the winch on the wall meant it struggled to lift the 10m bladder back up to the rooftop.

Finally, they had to be sure the pipe stayed dry while the relining was done. Each morning they’d assess the weather, and so long as heavy rain looked unlikely, they’d insert a 150mm bung into the feeder pipe on the roof and continue with the job. This prevented any rain entering the storm water stack, and meant only one lost day due to rain.

Because the relining process they’d set up would have no impact on residents, completion time was not an issue. The team of 3-4 installers began around 6am each day and finished around 5pm, relining two 6m lengths (12m)/day for the first drop. With the second drop (from level 11 to the basement) they could only manage two 3m liners (6m)/day because of the network of junctions and bends they had to negotiate.

“If they’d needed the job done urgently we would have just kept working through the night as well,” Slater said.

“But that would have meant penalty rates.

“Seeing as the whole thing was done in less than two weeks with the residents hardly even knowing we were there, that would have been an unnecessary expense.”

But there was still one last hurdle to overcome. Just after the bends on level 11 their initial camera footage had shown a 100mm line dropping into the 225mm pipe, which was later identified as the line picking up the air-conditioning units in the apartments.  This junction (where it met the AC pipe) was particularly inaccessible, and given that there were no obvious cracks around the area, they decided against trying to install a junction liner. They lined right up to its edges and hoped that would be enough, but it wasn’t to be.

“When they told us there was a leak around the junction it was obviously disappointing, but it had to be fixed,” Slater said.

“We knew we’d have to get a liner in there somehow, but the difficulty was working out how on earth we were going to get enough access to the pipe to be able to pull it into place.

“We investigated multiple lines and couldn’t find the one we were after, so we had to come up with another way of getting access.

“The stack dropped down the inside a wall in the vacant unit we were working in front of so we cut into the cavity and one of us climbed into the tiny space to cut a hole on top of the 100mm pipe.

“That gave us our first access point and then we cut another one in the main pipe to give us downstream access.

“It was pretty tricky given we had no room to move but we did it and it’s been flood-tested and thankfully there were no more leaks.”

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL PIPE RELINE JOB

Understandably, there were a lot of happy people once the final, successful water test was completed. Apartment owners were happy they didn’t have to worry about further flooding, the body corporate committee were happy they no longer had to spend thousands of dollars replacing walls and carpets, Cave was happy the job had been done successfully, on time, and with no disruption to residents and guests, and Sutherland was happy he didn’t have to run around with buckets or face the ire of unhappy tenants every time it rained.

In fact Sutherland was so impressed with the product and service he assured Slater he’d be calling Nuflow for any blockages or pipe maintenance issues they had in the future.

“They were good,” he said.

“Ten out of ten!

“We found a few little problems after they’d finished and they came straight back and rectified it so they were sweet.”

And Cave agrees.

“I think what was really striking was that because of the complexity of the design, the team were really focused on working with us to overcome the hurdles that they came across,” he said.

“It wasn’t until they actually got in and started that they knew what they were in for and there were complications along the way.

“But they were really good at working with us to find solutions and overcoming those complications – so that for me was really positive.

“Nothing was too hard.

“They just worked through it and yeah, got the job done.

“From the moment we engaged them right through the whole project they were just really good to work with.”

The post Blueline Turning Stormy Skies Blue Again (CASE STUDY) appeared first on Nuflow Gold Coast.

There were ongoing blockages in sewage pipes servicing the amenities block at the resort pool.

The repair had to be carried out without any disruption to guests or to the recent poolside renovations. Investigations revealed:

• Breaks in two places within the one PVC pipe which had caused part of the line to drop 15mm
• Holes in two junctions which were allowing sewage to leak into the ground
• Cracks in angle joints with encroaching tree roots.

THE NUFLOW SOLUTION

Removal of tree roots and relining of broken areas of pipe, accommodating the dropped sections of pipe and repairing the cracked junction using our Blueline product.

Time taken to resolve the problem: Two days.

Disruption to guests or operations: Nil

Cost saving over digging: Approximately $30,000 to $40,000

OTHER BENEFITS OF PIPE RELINING

• No damage or disturbance to the landscaping
• No need to cut and re-lay pavers and concrete
• No impacts for guests
• No WHS impacts or issues to be managed
• No ongoing blockages in the amenities block

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

It’s a facility manager’s summer-time nightmare.

The million-dollar outdoor renovation’s all done, gardens are mulched, and 1000 guests are about to arrive for some fun in the sun, when the pipe system around the pool’s amenities block backs up.

With a 27-hole golf course that hosts the Australian PGA Championship, eight bars, dozens of tennis courts and a purpose-built conference centre awarded ‘Queensland’s Best’, maintaining high standards at the RACV Royal Pines is quite literally, par for the course.

So when the resort’s maintenance team start having ongoing leakage and breakdowns in the pipes servicing the amenities block around their newly-refurbished pool, restaurant and bar, they knew they needed to act fast.

WHY PIPE RELINING WAS THE BEST OPTION

Engineering and Operations Property Manager, Adam Lane, said pipe relining was put forward by his team as the preferred option because it meant remaining operational.

“Having blocked pipes or closing down amenities obviously affects guests, so of course we needed things fixed quickly, but we also needed to make sure the solution didn’t create any negative impacts for our guests,” he said.

“Sure, we could have cut the concrete, and dug the broken pipes up, but that would have been invasive and quite difficult, and we would have had to shut down the whole area, which would definitely have disappointed guests.

“I didn’t actually do the math on whether it was cheaper to reline the pipes or dig and replace them because there were more important issues to factor into the decision, but it would have been pretty expensive to re-lay new concrete.”

Income would most likely also have fallen if the poolside catering facilities been forced to close during excavation.

If the damage had been in a less sensitive area, traditional dig and replace methods might have been an option, but Lane said even then, relining would most likely have been the preferred strategy.

“Even out in the open you would have had the impact of machines and digging in the vicinity of guests, and for us, guest safety and satisfaction is the number one priority.

THE NUFLOW PIPE RELINING SOLUTION

Lane and his team decided to give Nuflow a call.

“We had a contact at Nuflow because they’d done some smaller jobs with us, so we thought we’d ring and see what they could offer.”

A few hours later, Jayden Stuart, Nuflow Gold Coast’s Pipe Reline Manager, was assessing the situation with Nuflow’s advanced camera-inspection technology. The footage revealed:

• a complete break at a main junction that had caused the pipe to drop about 15mm, blocking the line and backing up the sewer lines
• holes in two other junctions that were causing sewage to leak into the ground
• cracks in angle joints where tree roots were beginning to enter the pipes.

Stuart said despite the challenges of the job, he knew he could get it done with Nuflow’s Blueline relining system.

“With Blueline’s flexibility we could have done the whole job in a day,” he said, “but because they wanted to keep everything running without any disruption to guests or to their new renovations, we broke it into a couple of sections.

“That way we could work on one area of broken pipe while the others remained functional.”

The Blueline system uses a specially-designed fibre sleeve impregnated with a two-part epoxy resin.

“We design the sleeve specifically to suit the configurations of each job,” Stuart said.

“With this one we had breaks in two lengths of 100mm pipe and a 45-degree junction, so we designed the liner to cover those areas of damage.

“We used a ‘pull-in-place’ method of installation, where we wet-out the liner, packed it up with resin, and then pulled it into place so that it sat right where all the breaks were.

“Once it cured, the repaired areas were structurally stronger than ever before, because we basically created a new, rock-hard section of pipe inside the old one.

He also said that because of the thin profile and smooth lines of the relined interior of the pipe, there was usually reduced drag and therefore improved flow capacity.

“All without having to dig a thing.”

RESEARCH AND PLANNING

Stuart said Nuflow wins out in the complex jobs because of the system’s flexibility and their in-house research, development and manufacturing capabilities.

“These products can be used on pressurised (up to 1800KPA) and non-pressurised pipes and they easily cope with bends, elbows, branches and transitions in diameter (40mm up to 1500mm and even more for specialist jobs).

He believes Nuflow’s ability to develop and manufacture their own products means they’re better-equipped to adapt, and to give customers the before and after-sales service they need, including pre-purchase advice and a 50-year product warranty.

“Everything’s manufactured in-house which means they can change things to suit each job,” he said.

“Most of the other pipe relining companies use off-the-shelf materials brought in from overseas, which have one standard set of instructions for use.

“That means less flexibility around things like modification of materials or cure times to suit the conditions of a particular job.

“It can also cause complications around warranty terms.”

OUTCOMES, SAVINGS, BENEFITS AND FEEDBACK

And what’s the verdict back at the Royal Pines?

Well, six months on it’s still all smiles around the pool.

Whilst quietly confident, Lane initially reserved his judgment on the success of the repair, saying he would wait until it had stood the test of time.

But after a very busy summer season without issues, he was satisfied.

“The reline job has proved itself over our peak period,” he said, “so we’re happy.”

Stuart says the system they used would have been significantly cheaper in the long run than digging.

”To dig would have probably cost anything from $10,000 to $40,000, especially with all the other services under there that needed to be protected,” he said.

“Who knows what the end cost might have been because once you start excavating around pools engineers have to get involved and it can really cause dramas cutting into concrete.”

But importantly, it was the ability to keep operating that brought smiles to the faces of Royal Pines Resort management.

“They just wanted to hear that the job was done on time with no disruption to service, and that was what we gave them,” he said.

“There were no complaints at all, and they still seem happy with the way the pipes are flowing – so when it comes to our line of work, we take that as a win.”

The post RACV Royal Pines Resort – Pipe Relining (CASE STUDY) appeared first on Nuflow Gold Coast.

Despite the drenching rain which had been falling for the previous 24 hours, preparations went ahead, and as the opening of the new base at Molendinar drew closer the plumbing gods of the sky decided to plug the leak and the sun crept out from behind the clouds.

With City of Gold Coast Mayor, Tom Tate, members of Gold Coast Rotary and most of the city’s media in attendance, Ed Ahern, Managing Director, praised the efforts of his workforce in developing cutting-edge solutions to fix broken or leaking pipes without the need to excavate.

He said the pipe repair technology they’d created together was world class and was already being used with much success by those responsible for the management and maintenance of aging underground pipe infrastructure around the world.

“There’s a lot of pipe infrastructure in regional areas of many western countries that went in around the middle of last century,” he said.

“Much of it was made from asbestos cement, which has a life expectancy of about 50 or 60 years.

“That’s why we’re starting to see deterioration and breakdown in those stormwater and sewage drains now and an increase in the number of pipe repairs needed beneath roads and buildings.

“But the solutions we’ve developed mean those damaged or broken pipes can be repaired from the inside without the need to dig things up, using an incredibly strong composite resin-impregnated liner that sets rock hard inside the old pipe and actually improves flow rates and structural integrity.”

Mayor Tate, a qualified civil engineer, was notably impressed with what he saw.

“I love this,” Cr Tate said.

“From a council point of view, it’s great because we’ve got a lot of old pipes here and with this technology we can actually fix those pipes under the roadway without digging so there’s less disruption.

“It’s more cost-effective and it’s stronger so I’d say they’re going to be doing contracts (for this type of work) not just in Australia but all over the world.

“And from my perspective as Mayor, well this is what the Gold Coast is all about.

“It’s innovative; and it really reflects the ‘have a go’ approach we’re encouraging on the Gold Coast, where if you have a dream, this is the place to make it a reality.

“My congratulations to Ed (Ahern) and his team for having the confidence they’ve shown and we, as a council, want to show our support.

Before unveiling a commemorative plaque, Ahern acknowledged that team for their contributions, and said that everyone had played their part.

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