Are you thinking about having your plumbing pipes restored with epoxy pipeliners? CIPP pipe lining is growing in popularity, and it can help you extend the useful lives of your existing plumbing pipes. However, for it to work correctly, the pipeliner must fully adhere to the host pipe. Let’s take a look at CIPP pipe lining and why maximum adhesion is so important.
What is CIPP pipe lining?
CIPP stands for Cured-in-Place-Pipe lining. This trenchless technology is used inside drain and sewer pipes in order to seal small and large holes and cracks and extend the useful life of the pipe. The process involves the use of a white felt pipeliner and a two-part epoxy. At NuFlow, we use a 100 percent solids epoxy resin, and it’s mixed with a hardener. The CIPP part of this occurs when the epoxy-soaked liner is left inside the pipe to cure and harden.
Of course, when people talk about the CIPP process and how the liner sticks to the host pipe, they often get the terms adhesion and bonding confused. Let’s take a look at those two terms, why they matter, and how maximum adhesion is achieved.
CIPP Pipe Lining: The Difference Between Adhesion and Bonding
Did you know that there’s a difference between the terms ‘adhesion’ and ‘bonding’? Many people use these terms interchangeably to explain that one object has been stuck to another object. However, these two terms are slightly different, and if a CIPP technician says that the liner has bonded to the host pipe, they’re not using the correct term.
What is adhesion?
Adhesion occurs when one object is tightly stuck to another object. When we talk about CIPP liners and host pipes, the correct statement to make is that the liner adheres to the host pipe. This means that the liner is stuck very tightly to the host pipe, but if someone were determined enough, they could separate the two objects because they are not bonded at the molecular level.
What is bonding?
Bonding involves a deeper connection than adhesion. When two objects bond to each other, they interact with each other on a molecular level to essentially become one object. When this occurs, it’s nearly impossible to separate one object from the other.
Understanding Maximum CIPP Adhesion
Since the host pipe and the epoxy pipeliner do not become one object, the liner must achieve maximum adhesion against the interior of the host pipe so that the liner does not slip out of place, bubble or ripple.
What happens if maximum adhesion is not achieved?
Achieving maximum adhesion is critical because if the liner slips out of place, bubbles, or ripples, it will affect how the pipe performs. Imagine ripples in your sewer pipe. The high ridges would slow down the water flow and catch solid particles. Those particles would then begin to collect inside the pipe. Over time, this would result in the pipe becoming clogged, and to fix it, the technicians would need to go back into the pipe and either remove the pipe entirely and replace it or try to remove the liner by grinding it out of the pipe.
Additionally, if the liner unattaches itself from the host pipe, water can get between the backside of the liner and the metal of the pipe. This can result in further deterioration of the host pipe, including holes and cracks. This could result in water damage inside your Chicago building.
What happens when maximum adhesion is achieved?
When maximum adhesion is achieved, the host pipe and liner function as if they were brand-new plumbing pipes. The flow of water is maximized. The host pipe does not continue to interact with the water and experiences no further deterioration. Any pinhole leaks and cracks are also sealed.
How is maximum adhesion achieved?
Achieving maximum adhesion starts with a thorough cleaning of the host pipe. This cleaning is achieved with a rotatory tool that either contains chains or blades. As the tool is threaded through the pipe, the blades or chains spin. This removes any debris and corrosion that may be sticking to the interior pipe walls.
Once all of the debris has been removed, an abrasive material is sent down the plumbing pipes to roughen the surface. This helps the epoxy adhere to the pipe wall.
The CIPP Pipe Lining Process After the Pipes Are Clean
Once the plumbing pipes are completely clean, the felt liner is prepared. This process involves scoring the liner to achieve maximum epoxy saturation. It also helps roughen the surface of the liner in preparation for achieving maximum adhesion.
After the liner has been cut to length and scored, the epoxy resin is poured down the inside of the liner. Then, it’s laid flat on the ground and a tool with a large roller is rolled over the liner in order to help the epoxy saturate the liner. To help with this process, the epoxy is colored. When the color appears even, the liner is fully saturated.
Next, an air bladder is inserted into the liner, and the liner is threaded through the pipe. Once the liner is in place, the air bladder is inflated. This presses the liner against the sides of the host pipe. As the liner is firmly pressed against the pipe, the epoxy fills all the voids or tiny pits created when the surfaces are roughened.
The liner and air bladder are then left in place while the epoxy cures. In most instances, the pipe liner and epoxy cure overnight. As the liner cures, the pipe liner hardens and seals against the host pipe. This ensures that the liner is stuck in place and won’t slip wrinkle, or bubble. To ensure that the liner has fully cured and is in place, our pipe lining technicians at NuFlow perform a camera inspection.
If the camera inspection goes well, the pipes are returned to service, and you can expect another 35 to 50 years of useful life out of them.
CIPP Lining with Nu Flow in Chicago
Are you ready to extend the useful lives of your drain lines and sewer pipes? CIPP can be used on almost any pipe material, including copper, brass, cast iron, and PVC. Of course, if you’re not sure about cured-in-place-pipe lining, our professional pipe liners at Nu Flow Midwest in Chicago can help determine if lining your pipes would help your plumbing system.
We do this by performing building pipe assessments. These assessments utilize a plumbing camera to inspect your pipes and determine if they’d be good candidates for the pipelining process. We also include detailed estimates and a recommendation for or against CIPP lining.
If you do choose to line your pipes, you should know that we personally guarantee our work for 10 years, and the pipe liners and epoxy coatings that we use to restore plumbing pipes have been tested in laboratories and are estimated to last up to 50 years, which is comparable to the expected lifespans of new plumbing pipes.
To schedule a pipe assessment to see if CIPP pipe lining would be right for your residential building in Chicago, contact us.