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Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Field Joint Coating for Zaplock Pipe?

Question:  I have Zap-Lok pipe, will your heat shrink sleeves work to coat the field joint?

Answer:  Yes. Absolutely and it is done often.  Though some in the industry would maintain that Zap-lok pipe does not require any kind of a field joint coating; my professional opinion is that there absolutely must be a field joint coating on this sort of pipe.  In addition, it is my understanding that the machinery used to push the zap-lok pipe together often actually causes some amount of minor damage to the factory applied coating (FBE most of the time).

So, not only do I believe a shrink sleeve should be used on the field joint; I also believe you need to have heat shrink sleeves on hand to repair any potential damage caused by the machinery.  In cases like this, we quite often see a 34" wide heat shrink sleeve used to seal up the "field joint" AND reach over to coat adjacent factory applied coating that might have experienced damage. 

I think the Zap-Lok system appears to be a very good one in it's speed and in its reliability.  I just think (again, my personal opinion) that the epoxy they use is insufficient as an actual field joint coating working to prevent corrosion to that uncoated area of pipe. 

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