Leaks, Pipe Breaks, and Preventive Maintenance

Abstract

A better understanding of leak related effects has implications for pipe rehabilitation, system economics, customer disruption, and environmental sustainability. Reducing leakage be a result of a well-suited preventive maintenance program. The purpose of this study is to inspect approximately 10% of the runouts (branch pipes) between the plumbing fixtures and the risers to estimate the extent of serious corrosion of the runouts that may cause leaks in the future. For collecting the site data for our study, we visited the building and investigated piping through 57 different access openings in 31 randomly selected apartments. These apartments were selected to allow observation of a variety of risers at varying elevations. We observed in about 20% of the runouts inspected, the remaining thickness of the steel pipe was less than 60% in the areas that we could access. The runouts are in danger of developing leaks. Because of the high potential cost of leaks and the possibility of that 20%, or 120 pipes, could leak soon, recommend replacement of all the runouts. System performance can only be reliably characterized through monitoring and analysis of relevant data. Performance monitoring is concerned with measuring system efficiency and to what extent the system is delivering the parameters what it was designed for (i.e., flow, pressure, energy, water quality, etc.).