The power of routine maintenance cannot be overstated, especially when it comes to sewer rehab and repair equipment. These tools experience serious wear and tear, and sewer lines are often dirty and unpredictable. While this technology is built to withstand rough environments, it isn’t infallible; just a few minutes of cleaning and care per day can help protect your equipment down the road. Looking after your gear helps to extend its service life, avoids downtime from unexpected damage, and can lower overall cost of ownership. 

Cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) installation is made more difficult by active infiltration, which occurs when groundwater seeps through cracks, joints or manholes into sewer pipes. New CIPPs should be tight-fitting and jointless to seal off any possible points of entry for infiltration. Unfortunately, CIPP does not eliminate infiltration from entering the existing host pipe. Infiltration is dangerous to the installation process because too much flow can wash the resin off of the new liner and/or prevent the liner from installing correctly. However, the type of cure used for installation can make a difference in the effects of infiltration.

Renting sewer rehabilitation equipment gives municipalities and contractors extra flexibility. The more equipment at a crew's disposal, and the wider the variety, the more jobs they can perform and bid on. However, purchasing isn’t always an immediate option.

Trenchless sewer rehabilitation offers wastewater professionals a less invasive method for repairing damaged or deteriorating parts of our underground infrastructure. Before trenchless rehab methods were introduced, wastewater professionals relied on dig-and-replace, which required excavation along the full length of the defective pipe to remove and replace it completely. This was not only disruptive, but also costly and precarious work. 

Instead, trenchless technologies offer a way to restore the existing pipe’s structural integrity without ever taking it out of the ground. 

Sewer pipes are subject to harsh pressures underground. While routine maintenance can help prolong lifespan, many pipes eventually begin to deteriorate and require more thorough rehabilitation.

Since opening its doors in 2006, South Carolina-based plumbing company, RooterNow, has continually invested in innovative equipment and technology to provide its customers with a greater deliverable than its competitors could.

Today, nearly 50% of pipe repairs use cured-in-place pipe (CIPP). Though it was only invented in the early 1970s, CIPP’s ability to create a durable, corrosion-resistant new pipe without the hassle and danger of dig-and-replace made it an immediate success. But, like other construction methods, it has its risks. Using the right safety equipment and taking advantage of new, safer technologies ensures workers are exposed to fewer hazards on the job site.

Determining the right sewer rehabilitation method for a given job is not always straightforward, as identifying a solution requires evaluating a pipe’s physical environment and condition. Without properly assessing these factors, municipalities risk only partially solving a problem with point repair. Or, an equally inefficient outcome, waste resources by doing more work than necessary with end-to-end repair. While some municipalities have rehab contractors that also provide consulting services to address what type of solution is best, at the end of the day someone must make a decision on how to repair the pipes. So what should be taken into account?

Originally called “insitu form,” meaning “form in place,” cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) liners were developed in 1971 by Eric Wood in London, England. Prior to that, trenchless technology methods were limited to sliplining or grouting techniques. But those methods were less feasible: grout is a short-lived solution that is expensive to apply, and sliplining also requires grouting, a measure of trenching and results in significant diameter loss. Wood recognized the opportunity to improve rehabilitation efforts with liners that were cured directly inside the pipe, which led to the invention of CIPP liners. CIPP repairs the damaged pipe with a liner that, essentially, becomes a new, jointless pipe within a pipe. Wood successfully executed the first CIPP repair by pulling a felt liner impregnated with polyester resin through the pipe and finishing it with an ambient cure.

Within a sewer main, service connections are one of the largest sources of infiltration. Older sewer systems in particular may experience problems, as construction requirements and methods in previous eras were less concerned with tight seals and durability. During the first half of the 20th century, hammer taps were not uncommon. A hammer tap, commonly found with vitrified clay pipes, involves using a hammer to smash a hole in the main to accommodate the lateral. Gaps may have been filled with grout, but less conscientious workers also used miscellaneous items such as flattened tin cans or scraps of metal. Modern construction methods are significantly more precise and less leak-prone, but the service connection is still particularly susceptible to groundwater infiltration and many older connections remain in use.