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Golconda Management’s Sand Queen Gold Mine, located 100 km north of Kalgoorlie, was using a Grundfos SP 16-8 submersible pump in a 42-meter bore hole. The bore casing was 150mm class 9 uPVC pipe, and the pump discharge was a 90mm class 6 polyethylene pipe. The pump was connected to the poly pipe with a 90-2 ½” Plasson polypropylene compression fitting for metric polyethylene pipe. During the pumping operations, the pump support rope frayed, broke and allowed the pump to move, wedging itself in the PVC casing at the bottom of the bore.
Attempts to retrieve the rope failed, and it was decided to sacrifice the pump by pulling the poly discharge to break either the poly pipe or the Plasson threaded connection to the pump, allowing the pump to fall free. A forklift, capable of 2.5 tonnes lift, was rigged to lift the poly pipe and on lifting completely pulled the pump, discharge line and bore casing from the bore hole.
The poly pipe necked severely from 90 to 25mm but did not break while the Plasson fitting held to both the pump and the pipe saving the pump to pump another day and Golconda a huge amount of replacement costs.
Plasson fittings: tough, reliable and easy to install
Plasson fittings far exceed the rigorous requirements of Australian Standard AS/NZS 4129 which covers, amongst other things, pull out loads and pressure testing at temperatures up to 80°C. Plasson fittings are made from black food grade polypropylene containing carbon black for continuous outdoor use in snow and deserts and are highly chemical resistant. Throughout Australia, Plasson fittings are working efficiently in daily temperatures ranging from -5 to 60°C.
The Plasson polypropylene range of Insert fittings for Rural poly pipe can be readily converted, with a convenient conversion kit, to Metric Compression OD series fittings which do not require inserts and are capable of pressures up to 1.6 Mpa (232 psi). A complete range of fittings to suit both Rural and Metric polyethylene pipes are available – joiners, elbows, tees, reducers, flange adaptor, BSP End Connectors etc. along with a rugged of valves and tapping saddles.
