Pressure testing for newly laid pipelines | 5% for SL Charity

Hello Steemers!

I completed my industrial training at the national water supply and drainage board. In there I actively participated in pipe-laying checking activities. Today I am going to share my experience with respect to pressure testing of newly laid pipelines.

The total project area was divided into 5 sections and each of the sections continued to work parallelly. After a PVC pipeline section was completed laying we choose a section less than 1km in length. And we check for any leakages there. If we found out any, the contractor has to look into it and repair it.

The testing part is not that difficult. We all know when water flowing through the pipelines some pressure is generated. What we normally do is provide 1.5 times working pressure (normally 6 bars) for this pipeline and keep it for 24 hours. We use a pressure gauge to measure the pressure. We have to seal the two ends of the pipeline to make this happen. If pressure is dropped significantly, the pile line should be checked for leaks. Otherwise, we have to go for 9atm pressure testing for 2 hours. If this test and the earlier test are okay, the pipeline can be considered as a properly laid pipeline.

This pressure testing is very important to minimise non-revenue water for the water board. So, pressure testing is necessary for pipelines.

Thank you for reading!