Sewer Equipment Company Australia, better known as SECA, is Australia’s leading supplier of sewer and drain cleaning, testing, inspection, and rehabilitation equipment. Since 1967, SECA has been meeting the needs of the industry with quality products at reasonable prices.
One of the company’s most successful systems for point pipeline repair to date has been Quick-Lock: a pneumatically expanding rehabilitation sleeve providing structural, trenchless repair to the inside of pipelines.
The Quick-Lock system was designed for point repair, pre-lining stabilisation works, and as a liner end seal. Applications might include cracked systems, root intrusions, leaks, pressure pipes and joint displacements.
The Quick-Lock rehabilitation sleeve has revolutionised sewer rehabilitation, suitable for applications with all pipe materials and circumventing the need for chemicals.
This system is used in circular pipes starting at 100 mm up to 2000 m in diameter. Featuring a stainless-steel sleeve and coated with an EPDM rubber gasket, the Quick-Lock system is transported to the repair spot pushed by a CCTV crawler.
Once in the correct position, the packer is inflated, and the machine’s patented mechanical locking device holds the sleeve firmly against the pipe, sealing the damage. The patented locking system ensures the sleeve remains in position in perpetuity.
The ring space between the liner and the old pipe is permanently sealed and the liner end is protected against the mechanical influences of high-pressure cleaning. Quick-Lock sleeves restore a pipe’s structural integrity and seal out groundwater, and they are carefully designed to minimise diameter loss and outlast any other rehab.
After rehabilitation, the sleeve has its own static capability and absorbs the natural tectonic movements of the pipes. The product now has a swathe of satisfied users across the country.
James Pickup is the director of Australian Pipeline Management (APM). His company regularly employs SECA’s Quick-Lock systems for quick and easy point repairs on pipelines.
“We’ve used it successfully over various different contracts with a number of different clients, from councils to tier one projects to Transport NSW projects,” Pickup says.
“Some of the clients I worked with wanted an alternative repair method from what we previously used, and that’s when we started looking into the Quick-Lock system.”
Pickup says the efficiency and ease of installation of the Quick-Lock system is one of the main reasons the company has stuck with the solution. “A lot of the time, our projects are under traffic control – under ROLs – so repairs are very time sensitive.”
Quick-Lock is faster, and it doesn’t generate any waste. Pickup and his team recently used the system to seal junctions on a major piece of pipework.
“Part of the DA condition is that it needs to be sealed. Rather than digging it up, we can come in and seal that junction, preventing a lot of earth works and mechanical excavation to the area, saving clients a lot of time and money,” says Pickup.
“With the Quick-Lock system, we can come in within a short window and do what they need doing, and no one will have ever known we were there.”
Quick-Lock system fulfils the same requirements as a newly installed pipe system. It restores the stability of the pipe as a cost-effective, long-term solution for pipe repair.
For more information visit the SECA website.