Fusion 101
As active as we can be, Fusion is one of those things that is very permanent when completed and is a process that is part of your system design. One which you take personally to ensure it is completed on time budget and without errors.
Most of the time when we arrive on site we make sure the fusion is laid out for patterning, crossovers and production. Prior to fusing any pieces together we start by insulating the pipe. This job was a huge challenge. With temperatures over 100 degrees the pipe expanded and the foam insulation that was to be an easy glide on install took four men all day to install less than 1000 feet of insulation. My site super thought maybe we should try and cool down the pipes and it was brilliant, a new process was born. We actually brought the pipes into the arena set them on the ice for a rapid cold down That was short lived as the pipes melted 40’ long grooves in the ice which the management quickly repaired. However it was a great idea. We moved all the remaining pipe inside and the balance was completely insulated in under 3 hours.
The pipe was then moved to the roof using two man lifts. The roof was essentially flat so easily discharged and laid out. Once the pipe was laid out it was fused together with couplings as shown in the pictures to achieve our long runs of greater than 200 feet.
The process is simple but complicated as anyone working in fusion will tell you it takes focus, timing and a sure hand to place the joints as required. In fusion we are working with 510 degrees F. We melt the components with a specially coated Teflon iron that enables the pipe and the fitting to be heated to a semi paste like state. Once heated the fitting is then aligned and pushed together resulting in a sold joint that will last a life time.
The critical components are cleanliness, timing and upper body strength. Measurement and placement is a critical. Measure once cut twice does not apply here. We measure multiple times cut once and fuse once period……..
We start with the easy pieces and weld all of the long lengths with couplings as shown below in the process pics of roof top fusion for 2000 feet of pipe..
