Lifeline replaced

 As we mentioned in January (Putting Gravity to Work), the discharge pipe on one of the pump stations needed to be replaced.  You can see in the picture below that a large stainless steel repair clamp got us through last year.  However, since this pipe is the single pathway of flow from the pump station--the equivalent of the body's aorta--we couldn't take a chance on additional leaks popping up going into this season.

The big dig for this project started early in the week, and once most of the soil was removed, we had to use a jackhammer to break away the concrete thrust block from the old discharge pipe.  In underground piping, thrust blocks are used to restrict pipe movement and separation, by transferring the energy into a larger area in the surrounding undisturbed soil.

We then were able to use our torch, cut the old discharge pipe and remove it.  At this point, we turned to the team from Killiam Irrigation to build and install the new discharge pipe.  As usual, whenever there's a tricky irrigation repair to be done, they have the answers.

The finished product looks great.  The next day our crew got busy mixing concrete, and poured over two tons to create a new thrust block.

Getting back to the need for thrust blocking.  With few exceptions, the 20 miles of PVC irrigation piping on the golf course is held together solely by the weight of the soil around it.  The piping is simply pushed together when assembled, and looks something like this:

The narrower tapered end is inserted into the larger gasketed end of the pipe.   The pump station produces up to 1,000 gallons per minute at 115 psi.  Having thrust blocks at fittings is critical to preventing the piping from coming apart.