The United States Government’s strategic services group, the General Service Administration, consults and contracts AITHERAS of Rockville, Maryland for cost effective solutions to expensive logistical problems. AITHERAS partnered with Belco Pipe Restoration to provide a one stop solution to repair condensate return piping issues at the Air and Space Museum building on Independence Ave in Washington, D.C.

The issues associated with this type of pipe failure stem from high temperature distilled water, which creates an extremely corrosive environment, resulting in innumerable leaks. Loss of water and heat are extremely costly. Without heated condensate returning to the main steam plant, cold make-up water is necessarily used. Efficiency loss factors multiply, including thermal loss on the return water, the loss of water itself, the heating of cold water, and additional chemical usage. When the inevitable pipe failure occurs, it’s like money is being buried in the ground. Some clients with this type issue elect to abandon the return system altogether because of the cost of repair.

The client had explored using Cured-in-place-pipe or CIPP, but even if their prior contractors had coatings that could handle this environment, they did not have liners that could handle the temperatures.

When Belco explained their proprietary Spray-in-place-pipe system (or SIPP), the client was very excited and moved quickly to secure a project, based on the unique technology provided.

The Belco Team lined 230 feet of 3- and 4-inch underground steam condensate return piping. The client successfully returned the system to full operating status and were pleasantly surprised to find that not only was the system was working well, the coating insulated their pipes, so their return water was hotter than it had been previously. This significantly increased and enhanced the efficiency of the entire system.

Belco provides an impeccable self-performing work environment; this entire project was completed in just two working days.

The Belco and AITHERAS relationship has just begun, but we are all looking forward to a long business relationship.

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