Safe Pipe Repair with Accu-Freeze™
Pipe freezing for temporary pipe isolation has now become the safest, quickest and most cost-effective method for pipeline leak testing, maintenance work or for making pipe repairs including valve and other control system replacements.
It is still very common for maintenance workers to drain down entire systems before repairs can be made but this can lead to time lost spent draining and disposing of the product.
To dramatically reduce costs whilst maintaining the highest level of safety, Accu-Freeze™ pipe freezing systems are available from the Pipestoppers® Division of Huntingdon Fusion Techniques HFT®.
Accu-Freeze™ uses liquid nitrogen (LN2) to freeze stationary liquids in a section of pipe or tubing. The nitrogen is passed through a coil surrounding the pipe producing a frozen plug inside and hence preventing flow through the part to be removed.
Luke Keane, Technical Sales Manager for HFT® said: “Accu-Freeze™ ensures very little drain-down or refill and little to no system downtime.”
“The ice plug only forms beneath the Accu-Freeze™ coil wrap, jacket or aluminium clam jacket. The system is effective on 6 - 12" (150 to 300 mm) pipe or tube. The ice plug does not expand outside of the range of the jacket or coil.
The LN2 injections are automated which reduces the operators’ workload and the amount of LN2 consumed, keeping operating costs low. Accu-Freeze™ can also be operated remotely, which makes it ideal for use inside ‘hot’ nuclear areas where personal exposure must be kept below certain limits.
Many plumbing and maintenance companies have already switched to our Pipe Freezing Systems attracted by the significant cost savings involved.
There is a short video clip showing a Liquid Nitrogen Cryoshell (Freeze Jacket), for making two ice plugs in a pipeline full of contaminated water. The ice plugs allowed a centerpiece to be removed for access purposes, while the two ends in the pipeline could be safely capped off by welding on a metal blanking piece.
With this fix, only the contaminated water in a short length of pipe, needed to be disposed of instead of the enormous volume in the whole pipe. The Freeze was made with an Accu-Freeze™ Pipe Freezing System. A full project description is available on request. https://youtu.be/_VZX79vVPW0