Specifying PE by Material Performance [PE]

If you were to visit a PSE&G gas main installation site today, where a large diameter cast iron main replacement project is underway, you would see a very familiar scene but with one important difference. Typical of any such project, you would see heavy equipment, trench excavations and traffic control, but conspicuous by their absence you would see no welders on the jobsite. The pipe being installed and joined is ASTM PE4710 plastic pipe, heat-fused together by a one qualified fuser. The joining process moves along quickly and relatively quietly. Not so long ago this operation would have been with steel replacement pipe, with up to two welders and helpers required for the completion of each steel welded joint.

This picture is the new reality at PSE&G. With the new plastic material now available, the future is bright for size-for-size replacement of aged large diameter cast iron pipe. The new material is bimodal polyethylene (PE), a new high performance resin for pipe derived from an advanced production process. The switch will result in construction and total project cost savings, and can actually increase the capacity of our low-pressure gas distribution system. PSE&G has already successfully installed 12” IPS bimodal high density polyethylene in the gas distribution system.