Insulated Pipe End Cap (IPEC)

Insulated Pipe End Cap (IPEC) End Cap Seal

Insulated Pipe End Cap for sealing the pipe ends of pre-insulated pipes.

Product Description: IPEC Insulated Pipe End Cap (water stop).

• Adhesive: High temperature high viscosity sealant strips
• Backing: Heat-Shrinkable, radiation cross-linked, high density polythylene.

The IPEC is a heat-shrinkable product, made from either extruded tubing (small sizes) or bonded sheet (large sizes). IPEC protects thermal insulation of pipes against moisture penetration during operation at temperatures of up to 130°C (266°F) as well as during transport and storage. As a water stop, the intent of IPEC is to limit the damage to insulation of in-service pipes to a small area i.e. one pipe length or to a small joint area. The elastomeric adhesive is specially designed for high temperature performance. The uncoated edges prevent the sleeve from slipping off the pipe casing during installation.

IPEC is installed using propane gas torches. After positioning the S1113 sealant strip onto the jacket and service pipe, the expanded part is positioned over the pipe ends.
The IPEC is then heated with a regular gas torch. The high shrink ratio backing shrinks and forms a tight fit onto the pipe and jacket. During recovery, the adhesive softens and flows to form a waterproof seal.

Product Features/Benefits:

• High shrink ratio backing offering optimum conformability to transitions and variations. Easily accommodates to dimensional variations and pipe ovality.
• One product covering several different pipe sizes in essence reduces inventory costs and simplifies logistics.
• High performance against water ingress, Thermal Insulation remains functional.
• No special equipment required makes installation fast, easy and low cost.

Product Selection Guide:

Max. operating temperature:   130°C (266°F)
Compatible:   PE outer jacket, Steel, Copper
Min. preheat temperature:   60°C (140°F)
Recommended pipe preparation:   Cleaning & Abrading
Soil stress restrictions:   None

IPEC type products are available:
• as ready-to-size tubular sleeves
• 2 rolls S1113-30x1x30000 mastic strips are included in the over-pack box.

Commonly Used Insulated Pipe End Cap Sizes Include:

IPEC 2375 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 2.375 inches 

and has an insulation  thickness of 1.5 inches

IPEC 2875 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 2.875 inches 

and has an insulation  thickness of 2.0 inches

IPEC 3500 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 3.500 inches 

and has an insulation  thickness of 2.5 inches

IPEC 4500 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 4.500 inches 

and has an insulation  thickness of 2.5 inches

IPEC 6625 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 6.625 inches 

and has insulation  thicknesses of 2.0 or 3.0 inches

IPEC 8625 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 8.625 inches 

and has insulation  thicknesses of 2.0 or 3.0 inches

IPEC 10750 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 10.750 inches 

and has insulation  thicknesses of 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 or 3.0 inches

IPEC 12750 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 12.750 inches 

and has insulation  thicknesses of 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, or 3.0 inches

IPEC 14000 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 14.000 inches 

and has insulation  thicknesses of 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, or 3.0 inches

IPEC 16000 supplied to service pipe with a diameter of 16.000 inches 

and has insulation  thicknesses of 1.5 or 2.0 inches

Heat Shrink Sleeves for Pre-Insulated Pipe

      The pre-insulated pipe market is enormous (world wide) and is the industry that feeds directly into the district heating and district cooling markets.  These aren't particularly common in the United States; but there is still a large chunk of business there.  This world is very, very different from the world of oil and gas pipelines. 

An example of some pre-insulated pipe.

     In this pre-insulated pipe world; shrink sleeves are used for two purposes:  a) to protect the pipe (be that uncoated pipe or the bare steel of a girth weld) and b) protect the insulation from water ingress which can destroy the insulation and absolutely demolish the effectiveness of the pipe.  To that end, I will focus on only two aspects here:  waterstops and jacket continuation.

     Waterstops

      Just as the name implies; waterstops are installed at the ends of the pipe in order to stop water from finding a path down the length of the pipe.  Even though the insulation looks like it is tight to the pipe in the above photo; it isn't.  There are leak paths all over the place.  If water gets in there, it can very often begin to eat away at the insulation.  If enough water gets in there, it could work its way down miles of pipeline, eating up the insulation just like pac-man eating up dots.  Waterstops insure that even IF a single joint of pipe is damaged (say the PE jacket is punctured and water can get in), that water will not be able to affect more than one joint of pipe.

     Our product that is most often used as a waterstop is called an IPEC.  It is a high expansion material made to bridge the sometimes large gap between the carrier pipe and the outermost PE jacket OD.  Simple and fast to install, it is the perfect product to give any preinsulated pipeline extra security.

Jacket Continuation

     In the above photo, picture the field joint that is created when two of those pipe joints are welded together.  There will be ~39 feet of insulation; then ~2 feet of bare steel; then another 39 feet of insulation.  To tackle that in the field, they often use foam half shells to insulate the newly created field joint (there are other options as well different types of PU foams).  Once they do whatever they are going to do there; they must find a way to 'continue' the outer PE which acts as the primary (actually the only) moisture barrier in this system.

     So what happens is that on the outside of the foam half shells; one of our shrink sleeves is installed that will span the entire field joint (sometimes two sleeves are used).  This sleeve acts as a bridge spanning from the PE jacket of one pipe joint to the PE jacket of the other pipe joint; thus creating a continuous jacket against moisture ingress.  Pretty simple really.  What ultimately happens is that the configuration of the main line (insulation / PE jacket) is recreated at the field joint; making the pipe coating and insulation consistent through out.  The product we sell most often for this application is our WPCT product (though we do sometimes use HTLP60 or WPC100M). 

     There are other products that sometimes find a fit in the pre-insulated pipe market as well; including DHEC, Flexclad and others.  That is one of the beautiful things about our product line, we have a tremendous amount of flexibility.  In our warehouse, we've got all the tools we need to engineer a solution for you!