best method to clean long pipes

[timsch]

Hello, all,
We have a product line that uses 1 - 3in dia. pipe of lengths up to 20ft. The pipes need to be cleaned of the machine oil & shavings after we have added branch connections. Pipes this long will not fit into our parts washer and we are looking at options. I am hoping that I can come up with a better idea than a trough filled with cleaning fluid and a long swab.

It is a possibility that a large apparatus will have to be kept outside.


Does anyone have a suggestion? Thanks

 

[zdas04]

Those pipes are too long to be short and too short to be long. I'd probably build an lp, clamp-on pig launcher. I've got a picture in my mind what it would look like, but I don't think I can describe it in fewer than 1,000 words. The launcher would sit on a tripod, the pipe is slid into a quick release mechanism and clamped in. Should be able to build it for a few hundred dollars.

What I'm thinking is that you could stick a foam pig in the line, pour in a quart or so of cleaning fluid of some sort (maybe soapy water, maybe not), put a brush pig behind it, close it up and push the train through with 10 psig air (in three inch pipe that would give you over 70 lbf to push the pigs which should be about right. The pigs will come out pretty violently and spray crap everywhere so you probably want something like a small galvanized horse trough to put the open end of the pipe in.

David

 

[BigInch]

Swab it.

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[stanier]

Put a draw wire through it and hand pull a swab and wire brush.

 

[HEC]

Big inch, a swab/pig is what David suggested. I would add a follow up foam swab pig after the brush to dry the pipe after cleaning. The branch connections would need to be capped for the process to work. For the receiver, perhaps a crude cyclone or knockout drum could be utilised. Either the launcher or receiver could be bolted down and the receiver/launcher mounted on a slide to adjust to the pipe lengths and clamp the pipe between them. There are lots of references on the net for pig launcher design.


Mark Hutton

 

[BigInch]

Ya I saw that, but I meant with no pig. I thought 20 ft was a bit short for building a launcher.

Pole swab the branches into the header, then the header, iterate until clean.

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[zdas04]

It sounded like this was going to be 20 ft times hundreds of pipes. A clamp on Launcher would be the fastest over time.

David

 

[BigInch]

I don't know if its 1 or 1000.

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[timsch]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. We are not running many pipes of this length through the shop (yet). I'll look into a swabbing with a guidewire/rod type of setup.

 

[BigInch]

Water/cleaning fluid hose with a spray head followed by a compressed air nozzle pushed through for drying and blowing any remaining shavings out might work.

**********************
"Pumping accounts for 20% of the world’s energy used by electric motors and 25-50% of the total electrical energy usage in certain industrial facilities."-DOE statistic (Note: Make that 99% for pipeline companies)

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.live.com/

 

[dcasto]

A pig manufacturer handed out little 1" cup pigs as key chain things. They made them for breweries to clean lines.

 

[racookpe1978]

But, do you clean the branches before or after running the long swab/pig through the main run?

Both? You'd risk pushing dirt/oil/shaving up the branch one way, or of leaving them the other.