Al’s Plumbing, Heating & A/C in Plano, Texas provides maintenance & repairs for all brands of Central A/C, Gas & Electric Furnace, and Heat Pumps. Additionally we sell and install new HVAC Systems from American Standard (same company as Trane), Ameristar (same company as American Standard) and Coleman HVAC (same company as York HVAC).
Al’s also provides full service plumbing maintenance, repairs and replacements for every plumbing component in your home. Al’s sells and installs Rheem Professional Series gas & electric water heaters, and tankless water heaters. Al’s is near your home in Plano, Richardson, and Garland. We service all homes in southern Collin and Denton Counties with no travel charges.
Call Al’s today to discuss any concerns or problems you have with your HVAC System or Plumbing. We will arrange an appointment at your convenience and offer 24/7 Emergency Service.
Trenchless Sewer Line Replacement
If you own a DFW area home built before roughly 1975, chances are it has Clay sewer pipes in the lawn (connecting the house to the city’s sewer main) and Cast-Iron sewer pipes under the house (unless they have already been replaced with PVC). Both cast-iron and clay pipes fail over time and must be replaced. After roughly 1975, PVC pipes replaced both Cast Iron and Clay. To date, PVC seldom has failure problems as it ages.
In many cases Clay pipe failure is caused by tree roots infiltrating, blocking and bursting the pipe to get to the water. Clay pipes leak a little at their connections, attracting tree roots looking for a source of water.
Three stages of tree roots damage:
- Infiltration at the connections
- Blockage due to growth of the roots
- Clay pipe broken open by tree roots
Cast-Iron pipes rust and scale from the inside, eventually making it all the way through the material and creating leaks.
If You Have Cast-Iron or Clay Pipe Failure
There Are Options:
You have options when your sewer pipes fail. Al’s Plumbing offers choices A & B (B for only pipe in the lawn). A Google search will show you companies which do B (for under the house) and C.
A. Remove and Replace With New Pipe
B. Trenchless Replacement — Break The Old Pipe Away & Replace With New Pipe
C. Trenchless Repair / Relining — Using The Existing Pipes, Install An Epoxy Liner Inside Them.
NOTE: C is also available for Water-Supply Pipes (discussed later).
NOTE: Al’s Plumbing Does Not Offer Trenchless Sewer Line Replacement.
TIP: Do A Google Search For: “Trenchless Sewer Line Replacement” Within Your Zip Code.
The Advantages Of Trenchless Sewer Line Replacement:
Trenchless Sewer Line Replacement Is Less Expensive
As the photos within this article show, there is nearly no digging when installing Trenchess Sewer Pipe. This reduces labor charges (although HDPE pipe material is more expensive).
Trenchless Is Much Faster
Because no digging is required, the installation or repair process goes much faster. When removing and replacing sewer pipes, you must stay elsewhere because your home won’t have a working sewer during the repairs. The cost and inconvenience of staying somewhere else in minimized with trenchless repair.
The Compacted Soil Under Your Home Is Left Undisturbed
Tunneling under a home to gain access to its sewer pipes requires the soil be removed and replaced. Though recompacting efforts are certainly part of this process, the compaction is likely not to the degree as when the home was built. The best way to ensure compacted soil stays compacted is not to disturb it, and trenchless sewer line replacement does exactly that.
Your Lawn Is Damaged Considerably Less With Trenchless Repair.
While tunneling under a home has only a little impact on the lawn, digging up the lawn to replace clay sewer pipes (which run from the house to the city’s sewer main) leaves a huge scar. Trenchless pipe replacement will require only a square hole be dug into the lawn so the equipment be placed at the same level as the pipe which is being replaced.
A. Remove and Replace The Pipes
This can be accomplished by tunneling under the home, removing the old Cast-Iron pipes and replacing them with PVC pipe. While this could also be done from inside the home, it requires jack hammering and removing parts of the slab foundation for access to the pipes.
There is no worthwhile advantage for cutting through the slab:
- It destroys any attached floor coverings (such as marble or ceramic).
- During pipe cutting (inside the house through the slab an “aerosol” of E–coli and Hepatitis germs
spread throughout the home. - Through-the-slab sewer pipe replacement requires you to move out of the house while it’s occurring. This is not necessary with tunneling because all the work is performed under the home.
- It’s worthwhile to note that your slab foundation was designed and installed as one piece. The slab foundation performs best as one piece, as was intended when it was installed.
For Clay Pipes in the lawn, a trench must be dug to remove old pipes & install new ones. This causes tremendous damage to the lawn and anything in its path (like a sidewalk). Al’s Plumbing offers Trenchless Sewer Pipe Replacement for clay pipes in the lawn.
B. Break The Old Pipe Away & Replace With New Pipe (Pipe Bursting)
Pipe bursting is a trenchless sewer line replacement option to replace existing Cast-Iron or Clay pipes with High-Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) flexible pipe material. The process uses a pneumatic bursting-head to fragment the existing pipe. At the same time, a new flexible HDPE pipe is being installed (attached to the back of the bursting head). Because the HDPE pipe is one continuous piece, there are no connections where sewage could leak (though rigid PCV pipe is equally unlikely to leak when installed properly).
This YouTube Video (produced by a manufacturer of pipe replacement equipment) shows the Process As It’s Occurring: Pipe Splitting & New Pipe Installation
Comparison of HDPE & PVC Pipe Materials:
There two types of plastic pipes mostly commonly used today are PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) and HDPE Pipes (High Density PolyEthylene Pipes).
- Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) is a vinyl polymer. HDPE pipes are manufactured using petroleum.
- The primary difference between PVC and HDPE pipes is strength & pressure capacity. HDPE pipe walls must be at least 2.5 times thicker than PVC pipes to achieve an equal pressure rating.
- HDPE is U-Light stabilized, PVC is not. PVC must be shielded from sunlight to prevent damage and degradation from UV-Light. Shielding PVC from sunlight is not an issue with slab homes, but important for post and beam homes).
- HDPE pipes are found to dampen and absorb shock waves, which minimizes noise while water runs through them. This may be an advantage in post & beam homes.
- Both PVC and HDPE pipes are corrosion resistant. They are also resistant to rust formation.
- HDPE Pipes are flexible. PVC are rigid. The flexibility of HDPE may make it more resistant to breaking due to notable slab movement.
SOURE: http://www.pvcplusdrilling.com/news/an-explanation-of-the-differences-between-pvc-pipes-and-hdpe-pipes.aspx
C: Using The Existing Pipes — Repair By Installing An Epoxy Liner
Al’s Does Not Offer This Service. It is a process where an epoxy liner is installed inside the existing pipe.
Epoxy Lining Is Also Available For Water-Supply Pipes
A similar Epoxy Liner can be installed in Water-Supply Pipes. This is a food-grade epoxy (like you see lining the can of canned foods). The process is similar to sewer pipes, except the epoxy is installed with compressed air versus a liner.
SUMMARY: This article was produced as a Public Service by Al’s Plumbing, Heating & A/C. It discusses 3 options available when Clay sewer pipes (in the lawn) or Cast-Iron sewer pipes (under the house) have failed. There are two methods which result in new pipe being installed. The third method discussed is a repair of existing pipes by installing an epoxy liner.
Al’s has no personal knowledge of the epoxy product material or the relining processes. Only for this reason, Al’s is not in a position to endorse this product. We have provided this information as a Public Service.
Al’s provides under-the-home sewer pipe removal and replacement. We also offer both trenched and trenchless Clay sewer pipe replacement in the lawn. For other services described in this article, a Google search will show you companies who provide the service.
If have failed sewer pipe in your lawn, Al’s Plumbing offers both trenched and trenchless installations. We also offer under-the-home replacement for Cast-Iron sewer pipes. Al’s provides all plumbing maintenance, repair and replacement services. No job is to big or too small. Al’s Plumbing, Heating & A/C has been in business since 1989 and also provides all HVAC maintenance, repair and replacement services. Call Al’s today to discuss any problems you are having with your plumbing, heating or cooling systems.
Al’s Plumbing, Heating & A/C in Plano, Texas provides maintenance & repairs for all brands of Central A/C, Gas & Electric Furnace, and Heat Pumps. Additionally we sell and install new HVAC Systems from American Standard (same company as Trane), Ameristar (same company as American Standard) and Coleman HVAC (same company as York HVAC).
Al’s also provides full service plumbing maintenance, repairs and replacements for every plumbing component in your home. Al’s sells and installs Rheem Professional Series gas & electric water heaters, and tankless water heaters. Al’s is near your home in Allen, Frisco and McKinney. We service all homes in southern Collin and Denton Counties with no travel charges.
Call Al’s today to discuss any concerns or problems you have with your HVAC System or Plumbing. We will arrange an appointment at your convenience and offer 24/7 Emergency Service.