Today, sewer rehabilitators face great challenges on building and property drainage construction sites. The requirements are enormous. Specialist knowledge, flexibility and a fast reaction time are required to ensure no construction time is lost. The choice of installation technique and curing method depends on the structure and condition of the sewage pipe, the drain pipe and the pipe network as well as the constraints on site. For several years now, the use of light-curing hose liners has become indispensable in this market.
Light curing for the rehabilitation of property drainage
Frequently there are pipeline networks with many bends, differing dimensions and numerous inlets. Usually, the exact course of the pipeline is not known prior to the measures, meaning that sewer rehabilitation companies must act with a high degree of flexibility. In addition, having specified time windows, during which the rehabilitation must take place, is on the increase. In particular, construction sites for property drainage are very complicated. Companies in this industry often encounter difficult challenges, such as limited accessibility, complicated pipeline runs or missing and incorrect planning documents from the previous owners or property owners. It is therefore important to be able to react as flexibly as possible to the situation on site. The company K.I.M. Kanalsanierung GmbH in its fourth generation of family-owned business is already looking after municipalities, industry and private households in the Pirmasens region and in south-western Germany. The name “K.I.M.”, which stands for ‘Kanal im Mittelpunkt’, meaning ‘focus on pipes’ says it all: the company is an expert in all matters related to building connections and property drainage. In order to provide its customers a fast, cost-effective, and clean rehabilitation without restrictions on the use of the property due to cutting and demolition work, in addition to the innovative BRAWOLINER®, K.I.M. Kanalsanierung also relies on light curing with BRAWO® Magnavity by BRAWO® SYSTEMS.
Kim Germann is now in the starting blocks to succeed her parents, Klaus Uwe Germann and Susi Wieser-Germann, in the successful family business. She actually never planned on joining the company and decided to study trend and brand management instead. The family atmosphere, the close cooperation among the employees and the ever deeper insights into the company while working alongside her studies finally convinced her: “I have great respect for this job and I am sure I will master it. At the moment I mainly work in the office and am gaining a deeper understanding of the processes. I would also like to go to the construction sites as soon as possible to be there in person.”
K.I.M. Kanalsanierung GmbH has been an expert in sewer rehabilitation for over 18 years
The company based in Pirmasens works on a wide variety of construction sites with all four common curing methods, i.e. with water, steam, ambient temperature and light. “This gives us the huge advantage that we can always react and plan very flexibly according to the conditions and requirements on site,” emphasises Kim Germann. “We have also been relying on the seamless BRAWOLINER® for over 18 years. There is no risk of breakage or weak points thanks to it and we can use it for any of the curing methods.”
Heiko Schmidt, who has been an integral part of the team of rehabilitation crews at K.I.M. Kanalsanierung for more than five years, also stresses the flexibility required to be able to react quickly to the different conditions at the construction sites: “What is especially challenging for us is that the situation when you turn up at the construction site is always different: for example, on which floor is the construction site located, how do we get the required material and equipment to the top, what are the local conditions, what procedures can we use for the rehabilitation? Despite the planning and preparation with the help of the camera runs beforehand, you always have to be able to react to and act on each individual situation. The access routes to the construction site also often makes things difficult for us. But so far we have been able to successfully solve all the challenges and problems on site and carry out a safe and fast rehabilitation.”
Light curing often makes the rehabilitation easier
The method of light curing has some significant advantages compared to the previously common curing methods: the almost unlimited processing time, as well as a fast curing time, should be highlighted here. “Even for long sections, light curing is a great advantage and makes our work easier: we only need one operation, the light source is brought in directly during the inversion, no other work steps are required. That clearly saves on time and labour and thus also means saving costs for our customers. We also do not need a water connection on the construction site, there is no filling phase and curing begins immediately after the inversion, once the light source has been retracted, “ says Heiko Schmidt enthusiastically.
“We use the BRAWO® Magnavity starting from a pipe diameter of DN 100 and especially for the rehabilitation of long pipes. Good accessibility is also important, then we can easily rehabilitate pipe lengths up to 50 metres. Experiences with the Magnavity have been consistently good. We work with both the small “Nano” LED head and the large “Mega” one. The smaller one is used for pipes with a diameter from DN 70, the larger one is used for DN 125 to DN 300, and from DN 150 it can also negotiate bends.”
No more penetration of water behind with BRAWO® UVPox
Together with the BRAWOLINER®, BRAWO® UVPox fits perfectly in the old pipe so that there is basically no annular gap. It has been proven by water column tests that the installation can be carried out in such a way that there no penetration of water behind occurs. The rehabilitation thus becomes even more reliable.#
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Gunter Kaltenhäuser
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67659 Kaiserslautern, Germany
Tel.: +49 631 20561 – 260
