Northumbrian Water

07 September 2016

Bagnalls were asked to apply the Winn & Coales Denso protective wrapping system to a number of water pipes across the Northumbrian Water network.

Northumbrian Water wanted a specification to ensure that the pipes need minimal maintenance in future years, so they chose the Denso system which offers a minimum of 30 years’ protection.

Bagnalls has many years’ experience in applying the system, which must be undertaken in stages to achieve the integrity required.

The area around the pipe must be cleared of vegetation and dug out, where needed, so full access to all surface areas can be achieved. In addition, the working environment may require a scaffold, to access the pipe work from all sides safely.

Then the steelwork is prepared to remove previous coatings, bitumen and loose rust. Once the surface preparation has been completed Denso Hi Tack primer is applied to provide a key for the mastic and high tack tape. Denso Profiling Mastic is then used to profile around flanges so that the tape can be applied smoothly.

The first layer of protection to be applied is the Denso High Tack tape which has high adhesive properties, followed by the Denso Ultra Seal tape. Both layers of tape have to have a specified level of overlap during the wrapping process to achieve the integrity of seal required. The final stage is the application of the Denso Acrylic top coat which is used to provide a final layer of protection from water penetration and UV damage, as well as a high-quality aesthetic finish.

Further to Bagnalls ongoing quality assurance at each stage of the wrapping and coating process, Denso Technical Inspectors checked the work being undertaken and provided Northumbrian Water with a photographic update of each stage to demonstrate that the system was being applied to the quality standards and specification required.