PIGGING

CLEANING OF DRINKING WATER PIPES

Highly effective
against deposits

Removal of deposits, incrustations and corrosion inside the pipe.

For sufficient flow rates and increasing the service life of pipes.

Restoration of
drinking water quality

Deposits and impurities reduce water quality.

The purification process restores the water quality.

Energy saving &
cost reducing

Lines with smaller cross-section due to deposits increase energy costs.

Even 5% cross-sectional loss causes approx. 25% pressure loss.

PIPELINES PIGGING

Drinking water is precious.

Therefore, as little of it as possible should be lost or contaminated.
MTA Messtechnik provides service and products to ensure that your drinking water supply remains in good order from source to pipe.

PIGS FOR CLEANING DRINKING WATER PIPES

Pipeline pigging is a time-honored procedure that produces satisfactory results, but there is some risk that an inserted pig may beome stuck in the pipeline.

Therefore, pigging is nowadays rather done rarely, primarily as part of pressure testing, to force residual air out of the lines or to prepare new lines for disinfection.

PIGGING TYPES

Basically, there are three types of pigs in different degrees of hardness. Within each group they are subdivided into about 15 different types depending on the field of application.

A pig may be no more than 5% lager than the pipe to be cleaned and is moved forward with the water flowing in the pipe.

PROCEDURE

After being introduced via the sluice, the pig is transported further through the pipeline with the pipeline’s own pressure and must be removed from the pipeline again at the end of the cleaning section.

Due to the special material configuration of these pigs, even valves and 90° bends are not an insurmountable obstacle. It should be noted, however, that in the case of heavy deposits, these accumulate in front of the pig and there is a risk that the pig will get stuck.

T-pieces or 90° bends are no problem for pigs, even longer pipeline sections can be cleaned with pigs.
However, a pig cleaning process takes a relatively long time, as the speed is only 0.5 – 1.0 m/s.

pigging procedure scheme
Pigging - insertion of the pig
different pigs for pigging

PIGS FOR PVC AND PLASTIC PIPES

  • SW = swab, foam rubber polyester coated, very soft pig
  • DF = dura-form foam rubber polyurethane coated, medium to hard pig
  • XX = criss-cross polyurethane plastic with DF
  • SH = split DF

PIGS FOR STEEL AND CAST IRON PIPES

  • WB = wire-brush XX with integrated steel core
  • St = stud-big XX with integrated steel hook
  • others like PVC and plastic pipes
Water pipe after pigging
pigging shows mussle cultures inside pipe