Aussie Hydrostatic Tester Breakthrough!

This story is contributed by Australian Pump Industries Managing Director Warwick Lorenz. Warwick has been involved in the earthmoving and mining industry for decades and believes he has just about seen it all!

Here, he lays out his comments on the growing trend and necessity for Australia’s oil and gas future.

Australia is a huge island continent with potential that Australians often don’t recognise. 65% of us live in four cities and 85% of us live within 40-50km of the coastline. The wealth of the country is generated by the mineral resource industry, including oil and gas and agriculture.

Without quoting from the latest ABARE reports, all city people depend upon those primary industries for affluence, comfort and the future of our children and grandchildren.

Leaving politics aside, it’s obvious that our power supplies for the future will, to a large extent, depend on Australia’s natural gas resources. The fact that we have those large resources, and that sometimes governments lock them up, is something we all have to come to terms with.

In the meantime, here at Australian Pump Industries (Aussie Pumps), we’re setting out to help the oil and gas industry in a number of ways.

One is our heavy investment in world class Hydrostatic Testing equipment, already tried and proven in the Middle East and Australia’s gas fields.

Our Chief Engineer, John Hales, will summarise how the export market pushed us into the Hydrostatic Test business.

“Over to you John”

As Australia’s leading manufacturer of high-pressure water blasters, we didn’t have much interest in Hydrotesters until around 15 years ago. At that point we started getting calls from plumbers wanting to prove the integrity of pipelines in everything from factories to houses, and finally for water supply authorities like WAWA and the Sydney Water Board.

In those days, we thought that testing to 2,000psi (140 bar) was a lot. We based our forecast on small Yanmar diesel engines driving 140 bar pumps. Customers really liked our unique double valve, double gauge system that enables the operator to check the reading and measure any pressure drop that indicates a breach in the integrity of the item.

We were focused on water pipes but were frequently asked to produce machines that would prove the integrity of pump casings, valves and other important mining assets.

What we learnt fast was, “no leak is a good leak!”

From those small 140 bar machines, we started building for the Middle East with 280 bar machines. We received lots of requests for machines that were what we considered to be “asking for trouble”.

Customers were asking for 350 bar pumps (5,000psi) but with flows of up to 800lpm. A quick calculation showed that’s a machine that’s going to need a hell of a lot of horsepower to drive and will cost a lot of money.

We educate buyers to use a 2 pump system, one low-pressure, high-volume pump, with a high-pressure pump to finish the job. For pipelines, the low-pressure pump, normally of reasonably low cost, can fill the pipe quickly. The high-pressure Hydrostatic Tester can then pressurise the job by using a heavy duty plug system.

For static Hydrostatic Testing of fixed assets like pumps or valves, the test equipment repeats much the same formula by going straight to the Hydrostatic Tester to prove the integrity of the asset. It got through eventually when the major oil companies started to realise that they didn’t need to spend $200,000 on a Hydrostatic Tester!

Making them practical

The first machines we built were designed for reasonable site mobility. They were trolley mounted and used good quality diesel engines from either Hatz, Yanmar or Kohler. We built them into sturdy stainless steel frames, some of them quite attractive, not unlike our Scud series high-pressure water blasters, with 4 big steel wheels with flat free tyres. The stainless steel trolley frames featured an integrated lifting bar.

Later, as we evolved, we changed these machines into what we call our MINE BOSS series which included emergency stop, battery isolation, double insulated wiring and even a fire extinguisher. The market loved it and it set a new standard of convenience for the operator and quality that was not found in the American oil field versions — their versions of Hydrostatic Testers.

Those US machines all include a water tank. We got rid of that because having built a couple of prototypes, we realised that all we were doing was adding a lot of weight to the machine and making it more difficult to move around on site. Instead, to provide for the supply of liquid for the Hydrostatic tester was simple. We recommended in our operator’s manual that users should have a water cart standing by or alternatively, depending on the practicality, a 300-400l portable poly tank.

Why Aussie’s Pumps perform

Our Hydrostatic Tester high volume range was also a new evolution. Instead of super high-pressure piston pumps we moved to very reliable Udor diaphragm pumps. These modules, with up to 50 bar pressure, offer up to 150lpm. It was a real success!

The entry point model is a 44lpm flow but with a 40 bar (580psi) pressure capability.  For water pipe testing this is ideal and proved itself. The smallest model, at 43lpm, can be mounted in a very compact stainless steel trolley frame, with a Honda petrol engine or Yanmar diesel L48 4.8 hp engine.

Moving up from there, to bigger machines we found that the 125lpm job was also popular. We drive that with a Yanmar 10 hp electric start engine, making this a mobile trolley mounted super compact machine with lots of capability.

Again, we built these not only for the construction and gas field market, but for a wide range of other applications as well. Hydrostatic Testing of pumps on site can be a major asset on big projects. The same applies to oil and gas pipeline testing as well.

We went on to hydrotesting of pressure vessels and boilers. The lower pressure but higher volume pumps like Aussie’s Delta 125 HTP, we were able to provide invaluable support in identifying potentially catastrophic leaks.

We use gearbox drive to run the pumps at an acceptable speed of only 550rpm. That’s the manufacturer’s recommendation and being positive displacement, the pumps also are able to self-prime. Inline strainers are supplied as standard equipment whilst an integrated control system makes it easy for the operator to set pressures and even flows.

500 Bar too

Australian Pump is famous for its 500 bar Hydro Blasters. Aussie Pumps never imagined that these 7,000psi heavy duty pressure cleaners could be used for Hydrostatic Testing applications where higher pressures are a necessity.

It’s not a big job to turn an Aussie Raptor 500 bar machine with a Kohler or Hatz air cooled diesel engine into a Hydrostatic Tester. We fit big fuel tanks into our unique compact stainless steel frame.

The safety aspects

By now the mining industry is aware of the new safety Australian New Zealand Safety Standards for high-pressure water equipment. This also applies to high-pressure water blasters but also should apply to Hydrostatic Testers.

The operators should be protected by adequate high-pressure cleaning jackets, overalls, boots, gloves and helmets. These are all part of the Aussie Pump product range for operators wanting to operate in the region of 350 to 500 bar.

We’ve seen a big trend towards using high-pressure and we’re conscious of the danger of a 350 bar Hydrostatic Tester in the hands of an untrained operator. Hales points out that the job can be done faster with high-pressure, but safety must be the most fundamental factor.

The Hydrostatic Tester range are in full production and the attached photographs show runs of those items being produced right beside Aussie’s other major program — big drain cleaning Jetters. They are also becoming a very common sight on mine sites around the country.

Lorenz’s closing comments

City people often don’t understand the importance of our primary industries. How could they with the traffic, noise and increasingly expensive real estate.

We’d like to see governments be brave enough to provide water security to the inland, so that the country can really expand. We will never develop cities like Omaha or Des Moines, Minneapolis in inland Australia without water security and electrical power to provide what could be an idyllic but productive environment.

For more information on Aussie Pumps please call (02) 8865 3500 or visit www.aussiepumps.com.au.