Construction Guidelines

Once the owner issues the notice to proceed, the contractor prepares the submittals for the project according to bid documents. Typically, the contractor takes the following steps:

• Pre-construction survey
• Cleaning or pigging of line, if needed
• Closed circuit TV inspection, if needed
• Excavations at services for temporary bypass
• Setting up temporary bypass or connections to customers
• Excavation of insertion and pulling shafts
• Fusion of PE
• Site restoration

• Setting up the winch or hydraulic pulling unit and insertion of pulling cable or pulling rods inside the old pipe.
• Installation of hoses through the PE pipe to attach to bursting head (air supply hoses or hydraulic hoses for pneumatic or hydraulic systems respectively)
• Connection of bursting head to pulling cable or rod
• Pipe bursting and replacement with new pipe
• Removal of bursting head and hoses from the pipe
• Post installation inspection
• Pipeline chlorination if it is not pre-chlorinated (for water mains)
• Reconnection of services and reinstating manhole connections

Butt fusion of HDPE or MDPE replacement pipe is typically carried out prior to the bursting operation, so that all fused joints can be chlorinated (for water lines), checked, and tested. The pipe should not be dragged over the ground, and rollers, pipe cutouts, or slings should be used for both insertion and transportation of the pipe. The ends of water or gas pipes should be capped to prevent the entry of contaminants into the pipe.