# Hammerhead Portaburst



## TerryO (Oct 12, 2012)

Ok, need some input on pipe bursting. I've been considering adding trenchless for the yards that people don't want dug up. We currently average digging 2 sewer lines a week and often have to convince those who have nice yards to let us dig. I figure why not offer both trenched and trenchless because there is a premium to be made there. 

From what I've found online it seems like the Hammerhead Portaburst is the way to go but I'm interested in hearing what others experience has to say.

Terry Ohlmann / www.ActionAirPlumbing.com


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

I did a lot of searching before buying a pipe burster and bought the TRIC Tools high pressure system. They offer low and high while most of the competition offers low pressure 4000 psi Hi Volume. Tric is 10k psi. They only offer the low to have a system priced near the others. The hammerhead is a nice system I like the features and if a ditch witch dealer is near you then that helps. But having done pulls I can assure you that having the extra power comes in handy when you hit hard pan or large rocks.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

For a cable pulling unit, the Tric that Cuda uses is definitely the top choice. I think its design is simpler and more trouble free than the Hammerhead and definitely better than the Spartan.

We use the Pipe Genie 40 ton unit (3,000psi). It pulls with chain rather than cable. That has the benefit of adding length a little easier. We can do 250' pulls up to 6". Our longest was one continuous run of 500' which we pulled from to separate pits, 250' at a time.

One advantage to a low psi system (3,000) is that if needed, you can run the unit from the auxiliary ports on an excavator or skid steer.

I am not sure that the PSI the system operates on increases the tonage of its pull strength. I think the Portaburst is only 30 tons. Tric has a unit that is rated at 48 tons. Pipe genie has 60, 80 and 240 ton units. The 40 ton unit we use has never met its match but we don't go over 6".

I doubt you would have anything you can't do in 4" with the Tric or Pipe Genie. They are both really tough for their size.


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## SewerRat (Feb 26, 2011)

!!!!! Rumor alert !!!!! Hearsay only !!!!!

TriC is the original. I am told that they have successfully sued at least one competitor for patent infringement, and have more companies on the radar. Just an FYI, but you don't want to get stuck with a machine that you can't buy parts for in a couple of years.

Just an FYI. I don't do pipe bursting. Yet.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

The final deciding factor for me to go with pipe has to do with replacement parts. 

There are only one or two parts of their system that cannot be readily duplicated in any machine shop or hydraulic repair shop in any town. That has saved my arse more than once. 

Just remember, when a few hours really make the difference FedEx deliveries are still at least 24 or 48 of them away. Sometimes it has to be fixed right now, not tomorrow morning.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

This is the one we're doing right now. Replacing the Root Pruf pipe that was full of roots.


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

plbgbiz said:


> This is the one we're doing right now. Replacing the Root Pruf pipe that was full of roots.


Love the I Beams!


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Thanks.

They're pretty handy. We auger two holes 18" to 24" deep at the face of the pit and lower them in. 90% of the time that is all it takes. 

The job that Cleaner Mag wrote about we had to have the I-beams and a 4' x 5' steel plate to hold everything in place. It was all loose sand on top.


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## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

I used the Trick for awhile, I would lean towards Biz's system if I was buying my own. We had lots of problems with it. It was probably because we were the redhead stepchild branch of our company and got all the hand me down equipment.

I believe the chain system would be better than the cable. We had bad stretching issues so a 8-10" pull would equal 6" at best.

Just my .02


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

plbgbiz said:


> Thanks.
> 
> They're pretty handy. We auger two holes 18" to 24" deep at the face of the pit and lower them in. 90% of the time that is all it takes.
> 
> The job that Cleaner Mag wrote about we had to have the I-beams and a 4' x 5' steel plate to hold everything in place. It was all loose sand on top.


Did you see that picture I put up of me using the toro dingo blade to hold the bars back?


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

DesertOkie said:


> I used the Trick for awhile, I would lean towards Biz's system if I was buying my own. We had lots of problems with it. It was probably because we were the redhead stepchild branch of our company and got all the hand me down equipment.
> 
> I believe the chain system would be better than the cable. We had bad stretching issues so a 8-10" pull would equal 6" at best.
> 
> Just my .02


I have never had any real stretching, do you know if it was aftermarket cable or do you remember what kind of PSi you had to face in your work area?


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## bulldozer (Jan 11, 2009)

We also pull with chain. Chain is a little more expensive to get into but will outlast a cable. Tric does make a nice unit. Only thing is parts availability can be tough sometimes. You should check out the roddie machine. He was the original inventor of the tric unit.!


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

SewerRat said:


> !!!!! Rumor alert !!!!! Hearsay only !!!!!
> 
> TriC is the original. I am told that they have successfully sued at least one competitor for patent infringement, and have more companies on the radar. Just an FYI, but you don't want to get stuck with a machine that you can't buy parts for in a couple of years.
> 
> Just an FYI. I don't do pipe bursting. Yet.


I think Tric has been saying that for years. When we were looking at purchasing our system, the Tric salesman told me a similar story. I don't now if it is true or not. What I do remember is when I called him to let him know we decided on a different product and explained why, he was very rude and unprofessional in what he said. Maybe I just caught him on a bad day. The other two companies were more professional in their response. 

Tric does have an excellent machine it just wasn't what I was looking for.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Cuda said:


> Did you see that picture I put up of me using the toro dingo blade to hold the bars back?


Didn't see it but I would like to. Can you post a link?


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...47064717.86513.182173475152440&type=1&theater

We used the dingo! It was real easy though, but we bring the dingo to most jobs because it has augers also and do the same thing drill a hole and pound in some iron.

This is off the tric web site; Pretty cool about inventing the coleman stove and foam rubber

*TRIC Tools, Inc.* invented the Trenchless Pipebursting Technology and built the very first system that ever went to market in 1996. The founders of TRIC, Robert (Bob) Carter and Ward Carter are the founding fathers of this technology. Bob's father, Mitchell Carter invented the Coleman Stove, the Garbage Grinder and Foam Rubber.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Cuda said:


> http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...47064717.86513.182173475152440&type=1&theater
> 
> We used the dingo! It was real easy though, but we bring the dingo to most jobs because it has augers also and do the same thing drill a hole and pound in some iron.
> 
> ...


Pretty slick Cuda. :thumbup:


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

To anybody thinking of getting one you better be ready for some gray hairs! Some jobs are easy, some jobs seem hard, then some will age you 20 years just trying to get the people back online! We had one couple months ago that was going easy then the pressure went from 2k to 9k in seconds! Thought the pull cable exited the pipe and was against the foundation, digging would have been 8 feet to the spot it was stopped and real heavy digging we had our excavator there but still was not looking forward to it. Stopped, left went to another job we had going to take some time out, left the water running from up stream toward the stuck burster head, when I returned 2 hours later the burster head groaned a little then starting pulling again around 3k psi then went back to 2k, finished the pull and left. But I got lucky if I had not taken the time to cool down anything could have happened.... all bad lol


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

There really is a learning curve with pipe bursting. The brute strength of the equipment can make magic happen but it can also can make bad things even worse.

Sometimes we're on plan "B" before we finish unloading the trucks.


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## deerslayer (Mar 29, 2012)

I was always curious if you could burst a line with a 90or 45 offset in it or does it need to be a straight shot. I realize the chain or cable would pull through the inside wall of the 90 so I doubt it is possible?


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## TerryO (Oct 12, 2012)

plbgbiz said:


> There really is a learning curve with pipe bursting. The brute strength of the equipment can make magic happen but it can also can make bad things even worse.
> 
> Sometimes we're on plan "B" before we finish unloading the trucks.


Well, I guess I'm all for learning. It's like that with a lot of our equipment, most anyone can buy it but you have to know how to use it and much of that knowing how to use it comes from experience not from the operators manual.

Terry Ohlmann / www.ActionAirPlumbing.com


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Ready for inspection.


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## okcplum (Jul 16, 2011)

Where is the backflow preventer ?
Tut tut john.....


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

mark kiernan said:


> Where is the backflow preventer ?
> Tut tut john.....


Still at the supply house.

Not required when the lowest drain inlet is above the level of the nearest manhole.


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## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

Cuda said:


> I have never had any real stretching, do you know if it was aftermarket cable or do you remember what kind of PSi you had to face in your work area?


I believe the cable was Tric. We had hard hard ground in AZ and most of our pulls were at or over 100' a good number over 100'. As I said when we got the system it was already beat to hell. Our shop was full of [email protected]@es that didn't take care of the equipment also.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

John, no banded fernco? Is that a slip coupling?


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

We use the dresser couplings on HDPE to PVC transitions rather than Ferncos whenever possible. It allows for a lot more of the pipe to be inside the fitting.

HDPE stretches a lot during a pull (especially on hot days and/or long pulls) and it also has a horrific coefficient rating for expansion and contraction compared to PVC. The dresser is just a little extra piece of mind to know everything is going to stay where we put it.

Heard some horror stories from a friend that helped us get started in bursting about HDPE pulling out of Ferncos a day or two after bursting lines in the summer. 

I figure better safe than sorry.


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## Cuda (Mar 16, 2009)

We can not use a 90 we have to use two 45's with a 2 foot separation between them. I like the idea of the dresser but I will have to ask the inspectors if they would accept one as it is right now it must be a strong back fernco period. On HDPE stretch some people want the pipe to relax for 24 hrs before it can pass inspection and others let us slam it with the sledge hammer and consider that good.


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## revenge (Jun 30, 2011)

I have a stupid question how do you give the pipe grade and how you know it had proper fall


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

revenge said:


> I have a stupid question how do you give the pipe grade and how you know it had proper fall


That is not a stupid question.

The pulling cable or chain, bursting head, and new pipe all follow the grade of the old pipe. Camera work before the burst is used to to verify there are no serious bellies.

Not every sewer replacement is a candidate for bursting. Knowing what you can do is not near as important as knowing what not to do.


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Cuda said:


> We can not use a 90 we have to use two 45's with a 2 foot separation between them. I like the idea of the dresser but I will have to ask the inspectors if they would accept one as it is right now it must be a strong back fernco period. On HDPE stretch some people want the pipe to relax for 24 hrs before it can pass inspection and others let us slam it with the sledge hammer and consider that good.


We had to remind the inspectors on the ASTM/ASME ratings of the compression couplings as compared to the tolerances of rubber couplings.

It is a much more solid connection. Much more rigid than a Fernco even if it has the stainless steel band. The dressers are more of a hassle to install though.

Ditto on driving in with a sledge. :thumbup:


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## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Stopped by to get a couple of after pics...

Like it never happened.


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## bulldozer (Jan 11, 2009)

Nice work!


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