Right First Time: Avoiding Common Errors In Pipe Support Selection Webinar Q&A

1) Apart from galvanising, can you provide other types of surface protection for fasteners?

Yes. Galvanising is the most common, but other options include:

• Teflon-based coatings (Xylan), available in a few different grades and colours, for highly corrosive environments.
• Stainless steel fasteners in place of galvanised fasteners.
• Duplex and super duplex, for both fasteners and the supports themselves.
• Paint systems, applied by the client after installation.

2) In a typical specification, should fasteners be called out, or do we assume they’re included in the supports specified?

In most cases fasteners are included with saddles. They’re not included with our standard Height Adjustable Pipe Stands, mainly because we don’t know what the supporting structure is. It could be concrete, steel or something else.

3) What if modifying standard products isn’t an option and a bespoke solution is needed? Can you help?

Yes. The team can design and manufacture fully custom supports in a wide range of materials, from Permali to Durostone to Permaglass. Get in touch and we can talk it through. Across the team there’s around 400 years of combined experience, so there’s a good chance we’ve seen something similar before.

4) What is the average lead time for standard and custom supports, excluding special materials such as duplex?

Where items are in stock, we’ll often ship within 24 hours. Standard make-to-order items take 3 to 4 weeks. Custom designs average 4 to 5 weeks from drawing approval, depending on volume and complexity.

5) What are some key challenges and solutions when working with above-ground HDPE compared with metallic pipes?

Movement is the main thing to allow for, as HDPE expands and contracts a lot more than metallic pipe. Other things to keep in mind:

• HDPE doesn’t span like steel pipe, so it needs supporting more often.
• Movement needs to be allowed for depending on the situation, for example with expansion loops or sliding shoes.
• A rubber lining between the clamp and the pipe is often needed, especially where there’s movement or where the pipe is being restrained. Otherwise, repetitive movement against the clamp will damage the pipe wall.
• There are different types of HDPE. Some suppliers offer white HDPE pipe as well as standard black, and the amount of movement can vary between them.

6) Does the design page provide the allowable working load for the selected hanger?

Working loads apply to each item in the hanger. Each component (threaded rod, nuts, clamps and so on) has its own working load, and the working load for the full hanger assembly should be taken as the lowest of any component in it. This is usually the threaded rod, so the threaded rod’s load rating applies to the whole hanger.

7) What vibration dampening options are available in supports for piping exposed to high-surge environments?

It depends on how much vibration is involved. Options include:

• Hydraulic snubbers. These are generally used for shock loading but can also dampen vibration. They attach to the pipe with a dynamic pipe clamp. There are many styles and designs, so we’d need to discuss the application to work out the best approach.
• Rubber membranes and other elastomeric products. These can be built into pipe clamps, shoe bases and similar parts to minimise vibration transferring into the rest of the plant.

8) Can you share some experience from the offshore industry, where spring hangers are avoided in favour of can-type supports? Because of the corrosive environment, the spring inside the can corrodes. How can we address this through the material of the spring coils?

We can provide stainless steel spring coils, which have much better corrosion resistance than our standard steel coils. This option covers around 75% of our range, because stainless steel isn’t available in every size we need.

9) Do you provide bolt isolation kits when required, including Teflon material for isolation, which we use in water tanks as it is AS/NZS 4020 compliant?

Bolt isolation kits aren’t a standard product, but we can work with you to design or supply a suitable kit. We regularly use Teflon isolation pads to separate dissimilar materials and in slide plate applications, so we have access to all available thicknesses and grades.