Grapes or Sugaring? Pipe Weld Root defects can be a thing of the past

PurgElite® group of inflatable devices

'Two countries separated only by a common language'. That's one of the classical descriptions of the difference between GB and the USA. In Britain it’s 'grapes' and in America 'sugaring' both used to describe the root defects that arise through poor welding practice.

Root defects in pipe welds can now be a thing of the past thanks to innovative ancillary equipment designed and manufactured by Huntingdon Fusion Techniques Ltd.

Following on from the company's progressive developments in inert gas purging comes a new generation of easy to use ancillaries.

PurgElite® is a group of inflatable devices. This exciting extension to the HFT product range contains the world's smallest inflatable pipe purging system. It can be used in pipes and tubes with a diameter of only 25 mm (1 inch) and up to 300 mm (12 inches).

The Quick Purge® system, another unique development of the Company covers the diameter range from 150 mm (6") up to 1800 mm (72 inches).

Just to make sure the oxygen content of the purge gas is low enough to eliminate grapes (and sugaring!) a new family of weld purge gas monitors has been introduced by HFT.

PurgEye® 100 represents a world first in instrumentation designed for site use whilst still retaining accuracy down to 0.1% (1000 ppm), whilst the PurgEye® 300, ultra low-cost PurgEye® 300 Nano, pumped PurgEye® 500 and PurgEye® 600 with touch screen and wireless recording of data for QC, all read down to 10 ppm

No need to waste expensive inert gas by using the outdated technique of flooding the whole pipe system with inert gas and exchanging it eight times to achieve a reasonable oxygen level and guessing at the actual oxygen content.

Neither is there a need to waste very valuable skilled operative’s time in constructing home made devices.

PurgElite® and PurgEye® are only a phone call away and will probably recoup the cost in the first one or two welds just through savings in gas and time.

PUBLISHED: 17 Apr 12