Reservoir Number Nine in San Clemente, CA faced a tight spot when a 12-inch corroded steel pipe needed to be replaced. The pipe was located in a large potable water storage tank – about the size of a football field. Water is pumped through a pump station into the vault through the pipe and dispersed throughout different areas in the tank.

From the start of the installation, there was one problem that had to be addressed. The only access to the reservoir storage tank was through a 36-inch square access way at the top. The small access point reached 22 feet from the top down to the floor of the tank. The contractor on the project, Newest Construction, needed a way to fuse the replacement pipe once it was inside the storage tank.

The project, which began in February 2010, was time-sensitive so the pipe had to be fused quickly. Clem Miner, the Newest Construction superintendent on the project, knew it would not be easy to get a fusion unit into the reservoir through the small entrance.

This was the first time the DynaMc was used in Southern California and was a new addition to the ISCO Southern California rental fleet. It proved to be the best solution to the customer’s problem.

“As you know, this project required the installation of 255 feet of 12-inch DR17 HDPE Pipe inside a 3.5 million potable water tank, where access to the tank was limited thru a small 36-inch square hatch,” said Miner. “The McElroy DynaMc 412 HP was the perfect fit for this project. Because of its compact size, it solved the problem of having limited access thru the 36-inch square hatch and gave me the maneuverability needed inside the tank to complete the complex fusion tasks required. The ease of use and the double action hand pump made critical opening and closing of the fusion process a cinch.”

The project was completed within budget and on-time, despite the small entrance to the reservoir.