History of SS Tuff Pipe
SS Tuff Pipe was created in 2016 after after mechanical contractors in the Pacific Northwest noticed that a reoccurring job that was being performed was the replacement of carbon steel steam and condensate lines that had only been installed 5-6 years earlier.
It was noticed that typical double contained and direct burry pipe systems used carbon steel piping and either carbon steel or plastic as a carrier pipe. These materials could not stand up to the wet environment of the soil and rapid failures in the systems, especially around the location of the field joints would occur.
To combat the corrosion issues that the carbon steel and plastic materials face, SS Tuff Pipe was invented as the only Stainless Steel double contained, direct bury option. SS Tuff Pipe holds a full utility patent and is fabricated in the U.S.A.
Design of SS Tuff Pipe
SS Tuff Pipe was designed with 3 key aspects to ensure a long lasting piping solution:
Stainless Steel Materials
Fully Welded Field Joints
Superior End Seal Design
Stainless Steel Materials
SS Tuff Pipe is the only direct bury double contained option on the market that is fabricated with a 100% stainless steel carrier pipe and outer jacket. This makes it ideal for direct bury applications in any soil type due to its high resistance to corrosion. When installed correctly SS Tuff Pipe is designed to be a ZERO maintenance solution to underground steam, condensate, and water conveyance.
Fully Welded Field Joints
SS Tuff Pipe’s fully welded field joints eliminates the risks that typical “shrink wrap” field joints introduce to a direct bury system. By fully welding each field joint, these locations become just as strong and corrosion as the rest of the outer jacket and allows for the jacketing as a whole to be pressure tested post installation to check for leaks.
Superior End Seal Design
SS Tuff Pipe’s unique end seal design ensures a 100% sealed system while also allowing movement of the inner pipe due to thermal expansion/contraction. Because of this, SS Tuff Pipe can be installed over great distances while carrying high temperature steam or condensate.
Installation of SS Tuff Pipe
SS Tuff Pipe was designed to overcome any obstacles that might be present at time of installation and to fit into any existing system.
Typical sections of SS Tuff Pipe ship in 40 foot lengths, but can be fabricated to any size. Elbows can also be fabricated to allow for change in direction or to avoid obstacles/existing systems in the ground.
The use of a direct bury piping system eliminates the need for large scale excavation. For most of the installation length, only trenching 6” outside of the jacket is required. At field weld locations, an approximate 4’ of clearance is needed on all sides to allow access for a welder.