Nimes Metropole Mains Upgrade - UltraGrip Amplified

Viking Johnson UltraGrip Amplified was selected by Eau de Nimes Metropole to support the work of installing a new flow meter to collect water consumption data for analysis to locate leaks and minimising water loss in their network, something that is critical to all utilities in their drive to conserve water and save costs.

The water utility Eau de Nimes Metropole is part of the Veolia group and covers 39 municipalities serving a population of 260.000 people in Southern France. Aliaxis depot in Mèze, Viking Johnsons channel partner in France delivered the product to the water authority.

Viking Johnson supplied two UltraGrip Amplified DN800 flange adaptors and four UltraGrip DN500 flange adaptors for use in the modification to the network, which had to be completed over a two week period coinciding with a school shut down. The large excavation trench was actually located immediately outside the school gates!

The DN800 cast iron main, which is over 150 years old dating back to 1872, runs at a maximum of 7 bar and due to its size and weight had to be cut and removed in two pieces. Viking Johnson had no reservations about offering their new Amplified UltraGrip for this pipe material, as their extensive testing program included both the new pipe materials like Ductile Iron, Steel, PE, and MOPVC, but also a specially manufactured section grey cast iron pipe. The two DN800 UltraGrip Amplified flange adaptors were pre-fitted to reducers used to step down the pipe to DN500 for lowering into the trench and on one end a gate valve was then installed to control water flow as and when required. Installation was made easy from both the lifting eye on the Amplified UltraGrip assisting in the handling of the fittings along with the wide tolerance of the fitting providing good clearance when offering up to the existing pipe. Finally, four DN500 UltraGrip flange adaptors were used to connect the new sections of ductile iron pipe located up and downstream of the flow meter, which completed the modifications to the network.

While Eau de Nimes have used the smaller size UltraGrip couplings and flange adaptors on previous projects and been pleased with the reliable performance along with how easy they are to fit, this was the first time they had installed the new larger diameter DN800 UltraGrip Amplified fittings. The significant advantages of UltraGrip are they connect many different pipe materials, offer a wide tolerance that allows for some variation in the outside diameter of the pipe and the restraining mechanism accommodates the end load forces due to internal pressure in pipelines.

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