Coating CHALLENGE: Covalence Waterwrap (Weld After Backfill)
Let’s start with the baseline challenge.
You’re dealing with massive, heavy pipe. It’s already in the ground. Preheating a pipe with that much thermal mass is no small task. Installation crews have to be absolutely disciplined—every square inch of the sleeve must be properly heated to ensure a reliable bond. None of this is easy on a good day.
Now add this twist:
the pipe is going to be welded after the sleeve has been installed.
Yeah… kind of nuts.
Don’t let the photo above fool you (I borrowed it from tomorrow’s history post, which goes all the way back to 1975). What’s interesting about that image isn’t just what you see—it’s what it represents.
The product shown, LTSS, was literally Raychem’s first serious attempt at developing a solution for large-diameter water lines. It was an important starting point, but very much a first pass.
Fast forward to today.
Waterwrap WAB is the result of dozens of generations of product evolution, refined over decades. Each iteration has been driven by real-world field experience—improving long-term performance on the pipe while simultaneously making life easier for installation crews. Better materials. Better installation tolerance. Better outcomes where failure simply isn’t an option.
That kind of evolution matters when you’re coating buried pipe, welding after backfill, and asking a system to perform flawlessly for decades underground.
If you’re in the water pipeline construction world and dealing with these kinds of challenges, we’d love to talk. There’s a lot of hard-earned history—and a lot of practical knowledge—behind today’s Waterwrap systems, and we’re always happy to share it.
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