The popularity of polypropylene pipes is promoted by such advantages as durability, low weight and relative cheapness. But they have another huge plus. It is easy to install.
Plastic pipes can be joined by three main methods: gluing, sleeve crimping and welding. Moreover, the last mentioned method is the simplest and most reliable. To implement it, no additional mounting parts are needed. It is enough to have only an apparatus for welding polypropylene pipes.
How polypropylene is welded
The joint seam occurs as a result of diffusion of the boundary layers of the polymer of the joined sections. In order to give the molecules of plastic freedom and mobility sufficient for mutual penetration, the material must be heated to a state of amorphous fluidity. After this, it is enough to press the joined edges one against the other and withstand in this stationary position a time sufficient to harden the seam.
It is clear that manually, using improvised means like a soldering iron, iron or other household heating appliances, it is difficult, if not impossible, to carry out this work.
All of these operations are performed by the apparatus for welding polypropylene pipes. The jointed section is not inferior in strength to the mechanical qualities of any other section of the sanitary wiring, but for the success of successive technological operations it is necessary to follow certain regulations. Firstly, the joined edges should fit as tightly as possible to each other, and therefore, they must be cut very evenly at right angles. Secondly, the temperature regime should be strictly maintained. With excessive heating, the plastic will “leak” and the entire part that needs to be mounted will be deformed, and if there is not enough heat, the seam will turn out to be fragile due to insufficient diffusion.
For pipes large and small
The apparatus for welding polypropylene pipes is equipment, as a rule, professional, and plumbers acquire it, by the nature of their activity, they are faced with the task of installing or repairing house or external communications. These devices can be small if they are designed to work with pipelines with a diameter of up to 120 mm, or rather overall, if we are talking about large sizes. Accordingly, the “coarser” the pipe, the stricter the requirements for the density and accuracy of edge compression, because the time of the entire technological cycle is limited by the period of hardening of the heated layer.
The apparatus for welding polypropylene pipes of large diameter is necessarily equipped with groups of annular grippers, with the help of which the mechanical pressing of the soldered edges is carried out. At the same time, a similar device, designed for ordinary water supply, is much simpler, and consists of a faceplate (a rotating disk with knives that provide a flat surface of the connected part) and a heater equipped with a heating element and a graduated temperature controller.
Device selection
Each master, depending on the nomenclature of the work performed by him, can choose the most suitable apparatus for welding polypropylene pipes for him. The price of this equipment depends on its versatility, power, complexity of the device and equipment. For each standard size of the connected pipes and fittings, a nozzle of the corresponding diameter is manufactured, coated with a non-stick layer to prevent the melt from sticking to the surfaces. The most affordable in terms of price are, as a rule, the simplest welding machine.
For welding polypropylene pipes at home with small volumes of work, the so-called "iron" can be used. Despite the external dissimilarity, the device is so called because of the fundamental similarity of its main working part with the heater of this object useful in the household. It consists of a heater, a temperature controller and a heating plate with holes of appropriate diameters. It is not difficult to use it, but at first it is recommended to practice on pipe cuts to obtain the necessary skills.