Tomorrow I'm driving 14 hours to start a job on a newly constructed water pipeline. Inspections of the pipeline during construction revealed a likelihood that the builder left a substantial amount of construction debris in the pipeline. Since its a freshwater line, this will not do. So we're going to do a thorough cleaning and inspection of the pipeline before its put into service. We'll be using fresh water to push a sensor ball through the pipeline that will detect leaks and protrusions (debris buildup), then we'll be pushing cleaning swabs (pigging) through it, and then running another sensor ball to see if anything changed. We'll also be monitoring and collecting the discharge for any debris our cleaning swabs dislodge. This will tell us whether the pipeline was indeed 'dirty' or not. We were supposed to begin this job in December, but the builder keeps getting delayed, and we can't start until the pipeline is officially complete. The discharge location for cleaning water is a stormwater manhole in the road. But its not the same stormwater manhole we had planned on using. The one we planned on using is not in the road, but also it was recently discovered that the one we planned on using is not a stormwater manhole and we can't discharge into it. So now I have to find last minute traffic control to block one lane of a very busy two lane road for a whole week. Or, at least a week. Because we're flushing to stormwater, any heavy rain will shut down our operation, as we can't risk overmaxing the capacity of the storm system to drain stormwater from the surrounding area. And it has been raining rather heavily a lot recently. Also the builder seems to have an idea that perhaps the line they built is dirty, as they're performing their own flushing operation prior to our arrival. But they are not running cleaning swabs, so they necked down the 14" line to a 6" discharge hose and then buried the connection in 10 feet of gravel instead of using a thrust block to keep the connection in place. That will have to be unburied now so we can connect our 14" discharge piping to accomodate our cleaning swabs, and I don't know who is going to do that (I do know we don't do that...). Also we're subcontracting an irrigation supply company to rent all the hoses and tanks and pumps that we'll need for our pigging operation. As it turns out, the builder subcontracted the same irrigation supply company to rent all the hoses and pumps and tanks they're using for their flushing operation. The result is that our equipment supplier may not have enough equipment to supply our job because the builder is still delayed in flushing a different part of the pipeline that we're not inspecting (yet) because that section is unpiggable. Also it seems the water supply at the head of the pipeline is less than we were told it would be. We said we needed 1200 gallons per minute and preferred 1800 gallons per minute and it appears to be flowing at 800 gallons per minute. Our sensor ball has to maintain a minimum velocity to record accurate data, and 800 gpm should, in theory, barely maintain that minimum velocity, but it will take at least 1/4 longer for us to complete cleaning and inspection, because we'll be flowing slower. So if it was going to take 5 days, now it will take 6 days... and the city does not work on weekends. So I'm just stressed and I know its gonna take me forever to fall asleep because my brain isn't gonna shut up about all the different things that very likely will go wrong on this job, and I bought wine instead of whiskey to drink tonight so I can't seem to MAKE it shut up, so instead I'm ranting on poltical forum.
Funny, I know the generic feeling..... Here's a riff on Heartbreaker that I played around with one day many years ago, slightly different cargo in the line, but the play is the same.... Hey fellas, have you heard the news? You know production is slowin' down? We're burnin' up the pumps and compressors too I think it's time to bring the pigs around. Pipeline sludge is a way of life As it was so long ago, But the pigs will clean it all right on out Like everybody knows. Well, it's been ten weeks and maybe more We've had a great run it's true; The best years of my life gone by, Here I am alone and blue. Some people cry and some people die By the wicked ways of oil; But I'll just keep on drillin' for more With the grace of the Lord above. People talkin' all around about production goin' flat I don't care what the people say - just tell me where the pig is at One thing I do have on my mind, if you can clarify please do, When the pipes are all full of sludge and silt, it's time to launch a pig or two Time to launch a pig it's of great use. Give it to me, give it! (Guitar solo) Work so hard I couldn't unwind, Get some money saved; Abuse my pipe a thousand times, However hard I tried. Pig Launcher, your time has come, Can't take your evil way; Go away, Pig Launcher,. Pig Launcher!
