Last modified: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 12:13 PM PDT Pneumatic lines (above) enable Titan Technologies’ reversible bursting tool to split old sewer lines like a pile-driver. The technology will be utilized by city of Ontario crews on a project to upgrade sewer lines. Some serious tools By William Lundquist Argus Observer Ontario — Cutting edge technology is helping the Ontario Public Works Department save $602,000 as it replaces worn-out sewer lines along South Park Boulevard and connecting streets. Actually, cutting edge might be the wrong phrase because the “pipe bursting” method utilized by Titan Technologies, a Boise-area firm, does not require a lot of cutting or digging up of streets. Larry Carroll, an employee of the Boise-based company, was at the South Park sewer project site Monday morning. No pipe bursting was planned for that day, but he described the process in detail.  First, an insertion pit is dug at each end of the length of pipe that needs to be replaced. An insertion tool is then used to run a tug line through the old pipe, which pulls a cable through the pipe. One end of the cable, Carroll said, is attached to a 7-inch-diameter reversible bursting tool. A 10-ton constant-tension winch at the other end of the cable pulls the torpedo-shaped tool through. Pneumatic lines attached to the tool cause it to vibrate like a horizontal pile-driver, splitting the old masonry lines. Cones attached to the tool push the pipe apart. Carroll said the tool is attached to a continuous length of heavy duty polyethylene sewer line that replaces the old line as it is demolished. The continuous pipe is formed by using a heat tool to melt 20-to 30-foot sections of pipe together. According to an article in the October issue of Cleaner magazine, pipe can be split and replaced at the rate of 5.85 feet per minute. “It’s like a little mole,” Carroll said. “It has cut down on man hours and the time it takes to replace pipe. It makes our job easier and it’s easier on the residents.”   Connections from homes can be accessed with small insertion pits, he said, so that the streets don’t need to be torn up and repaved. The old method of pipe replacement, Carroll said, required two or three times as much down time on each street. Former Ontario Public Works Director Steve Gaschler said Titan Technologies had the low bid on the project, at $1,298,000. He said the lowest bid using the conventional open-dig method was $1.9 million, so the new technology will save the city $602,000. “With a third of the excavation,” Gaschler said, “It’s quicker and causes less disruption. The quality is just as good.” In fact, Gaschler said, the quality may be better than with the conventional method because the continuous pipe does not have joints. The old pipes had joints every 13 feet. He said the city previously tried the new method on a small project, but 13,000 feet of pipe will be replaced along both sides of South Park Boulevard and connecting streets, making this the city’s first real test of pipe bursting.   Gaschler resigned from his city slot Monday for undisclosed reasons.