Sewer rehabilitation: coatings made thick and fast

When rehabilitating sewers, utilities can’t afford to spend extended periods of time with their assets out of action. Asset owners will be pleased to learn there’s a coating solution that repairs their sewers with a significantly reduced turnaround time – as little as six hours in some cases.

The innovative solution comes from coating specialist Hychem, which has developed its TL5 coating system here in Australia. TL5 has been used in sewers for over twenty years, and can rehabilitate a sewer with just one thick, spray applied coating.

According to Colin Murphy, product manager for Hychem, water authorities are starting to take notice of the benefits epoxy coatings can offer. “We have a number of clients in the water industry who have been very impressed with the ability to rehabilitate their assets quickly and effectively with our TL5 product.

“Being a one-coat solution, asset owners like the fact that their asset is back in service with minimal downtime. But more importantly, the product holds up well to the rigours of the harsh sewer environment, and can last the distance. We have clients who have reported minimal change to the lining they had installed 15-20 years ago.”

In Victoria, several clients have recently inspected assets rehabilitated with TL5 more than twenty years ago, and found their assets to be in the same condition as they were when the coating was first applied.

Read the fine print

Epoxy coatings for sewer rehabilitation are a solution that many asset owners will be familiar with; however, many of the products that are currently on the marketplace require multiple coatings to be applied to be effective. This increases staff time on site, the amount of product used, and most critically, the amount of time an asset spends out of action.

Asset owners need to critically analyse the options on the market before selecting a coating solution. There’s a range of other products on the market which claim to be a one coat solution; however these products will often require priming and fairing coats when being used with new structures, or they will require a priming coat or patching compounds when used on existing structures.

The advantage of TL5 is that it can be applied directly to damaged concrete – making it a true one coat solution that provides coverage of in excess of 6mm in just one application.

The benefits of taking advantage of a single coat solution are many. They include:

• Rapid turnaround time: using the TL5 one coat system, an asset can be rehabilitated and back into service in as little as six hours
• Good moisture tolerance: the asset doesn’t need to be completely dried out before TL5 can be applied
• Avoidance of intercoat adhesion: two coat systems can result in intercoat adhesion where high moisture/humidity can be problematic – with only one coat to apply, this isn’t an issue with TL5
• Saves time and money – the one coat solution is fast, minimising man hours on site and the need to remobilise equipment
• Better OH&S outcomes – staff spend less time in confined spaces, minimising the potential for accidents on site.

A versatile solution

Hychem TL5 epoxy coating has proven itself in harsh and aggressive sewer environments, having been used by numerous utilities and water authorities around Australia.
For more information on Hychem and TL5, visit www.hychem.com.au, or email Colin Murphy at colin@hychem.com.au.