DIRAX for Standard Field Joints

 DIRAX for Straight Line Buried Pipe?

An Installed DIRAX Sleeve

     In this world that we live in; there is a phrase that is probably not used enough in my opinion because of the lazy, negative connotations associated with it.  That phrase is "good enough."  Maybe I'm talking about exercise.  For some folks; running two miles, 4 days a week is "good enough."  For other folks who are training for an ultra marathon, eight miles a week is nowhere near good enough!  They are running 35-40 miles per week!  That is their 'good enough.'

     Likewise, we could look at auto insurance.  For many people; having standard car insurance with $100,000 worth of coverage is good enough.  If you were someone like Bill Gates or Elon Musk, you'd likely want something like $1,000,000 to feel like your coverage is good enough (imagine the attorneys lining up if one of those two caused a bad car accident.

     Final example:  I would expect for most people, scoring a 95% on a test is 'good enough'.  Most people are going to feel like a 95% is definitely good enough.  Those folks in the world (and there are some) who are feel like only a perfect 100% is good enough are probably having a very difficult time operating in a world where perfection is very often unattainable.

     Those same sort of principles can apply to just about every single aspect of life.  Pipeline coatings are no different.  Without getting into the details; let's look at factory applied coatings.  Common options are FBE, Dual layer FBE, FBE with an ARO, three layer PE, three layer PP, coal tar enamel, etc.  Each has various strengths which can be tied to technical performance, cost, availability, etc.  Pipeline engineers are regularly answering the question (for themselves) - What is good enough for my application? 

     Field joint coatings are no different.  Decision makers are deciding between cold applied tapes (yes - still plenty of cold applied tape coatings going on field joints in the US) to FBE to various two part epoxies, to shrink sleeves to wax tapes to geotextile tapes (essentially straight mastic with a porous backing).  Those decision makers, whether they know it or not are asking and answering the question:  what is good enough for these specific pipeline conditions?

     As you would likely imagine, with this 'good enough' criteria, if you ask 100 different people what (in their opinion) is good enough; you will likely get 95 different answers.  

     For some, few people, they aren't interested in good enough.  They are acutely aware of what their company is spending on pipe, construction, factory applied coatings, labor, etc.  They are also acutely aware of what can happen if a bad decision is made or a poor corrosion coating solution is chosen.  Bad, bad things.  For those people, they analyze their options and they choose to install DIRAX on all of their field joints (not just the directional drilling portions).  Why not put on the best to protect our assets?  It looks like DIRAX is the best.  I want DIRAX on every joint.  It happens more than you'd think!  Not everyone is out there looking for the cheapest options.