ASAP PLUMBING DRAIN CLEANING CAST IRON REPAIRS PVC CPVC ST AUGUSTINE FLORIDA 904-346-1266 WO#405970....The oldest cast iron water pipes date from the 17th century and were installed to distribute water throughout the gardens of the Chateau de Versailles. These amount to some 35 km of pipe, typically 1 m lengths with flanged joints. The extreme age of these pipes make them of considerable historical value. Despite extensive refurbishment in 2008 , 80% remain original.
Cast iron proved to be a beneficial material for the manufacture of water pipes and was used as a replacement for the original elm pipelines utilized earlier. These water pipelines were composed of individually cast pipe sections, often termed sticks, jointed together by a variety of joint mechanisms. Flanged joints consisted of flat machined surfaces that were tightly bolted together with a gasket between them to prevent leakage. This type of pipe joint is still in use today, typically for above-ground pipelines in water treatment and manufacturing plants.
Typical leaded bell-and-spigot joint used for cast iron pipe
In a bell and spigot joint one end of the pipe stick is flared, termed the bell or socket, to enable the opposite end of the next stick, the spigot end, to be inserted to create a joint. The gaps in these joints were stuffed with oakum or yarn to retain molten-lead, which solidified into a waterproof joint. This was a labor-intensive operation, and the quality of the seal was dependent on the skill of the laborer.
Mechanical joints were made by bolting a movable follower ring on the spigot close to the corresponding bell, which compressed a gasket in between. Many water pipes today use mechanical joints, since they are easily made and do not require special skills to install. This type of joint also allows some deflection to occur without sacrificing joint integrity, so that minor alignment adjustments can be made during installation, and the joints retain their integrity when subjected to limited subsidence. Typical joint deflections at mechanical joints today range anywhere from 3 to 5 degrees.
Ball-and-socket joints introduced more 'rounded' sockets, allowing a relatively large amount of deflection at each joint. This type of joint, still in use today, was considered a special-purpose joint, and has been used primarily in both submerged and mountainous terrain. This type of joint can typically allow around 15 degrees of deflection at each joint, making 'snaking' of the pipe possible. The advantage of this joint type was that it was quicker than bell and spigot joints, and did not require special skills or tools to install.
Push-on joints, developed in the mid 1950s, allowed a quicker and relatively non-skilled method of jointing pipe. This joint consisted of a bell with a recessed groove which held a rubberized gasket. A lubricated beveled spigot section can be pushed into this joint with care, as not to roll the rubberized gasket, and once installed became watertight. This type of jointing system is popular today with ductile iron and Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes.
Polyvinyl chloride colloquial: polyvinyl, vinyl; abbreviated: PVC) is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer (after polyethylene and polypropylene). About 40 million tons of PVC are produced each year.
PVC comes in two basic forms: rigid (sometimes abbreviated as RPVC) and flexible. The rigid form of PVC is used in construction for pipe and in profile applications such as doors and windows. It is also used in making bottles, non-food packaging, food-covering sheets, and cards (such as bank or membership cards). It can be made softer and more flexible by the addition of plasticizers, the most widely used being phthalates. In this form, it is also used in plumbing, electrical cable insulation, imitation leather, flooring, signage, phonograph records, inflatable products, and many applications where it replaces rubber. With cotton or linen, it is used in the production of canvas.