Development of a new product

In the autumn of 2008, Copenhagen Energy had an urgent problem with plugging unused laterals from a big sewer main pipe and therefore asked Aarsleff Pipe Technologies for a solution. This resulted in a brand new product, Aarsleff Rat Control.

A working group chose the best plugging techniques on the market for a test on the stretches where Copenhagen Energy had discovered the urgent problems. Already then, the existing products on the market were left out as they could only be installed by means of conventional methods, such as excavation or mounting of a duckfoot bend.

As many of the laterals in Copenhagen Energy’s sewer line network are closed at one end, it was not possible to install plugs by means of excavation. That would simply be too expensive. Furthermore, Copenhagen Energy has many sewers ending in an outlet in a big sewer or in an overflow chamber. It was not possible to plug the laterals of these sewers in the traditional way by installing a spot repair as this method requires access to both manholes.

The task for Copenhagen Energy lead to the development of Aarsleff Rat Control which makes it possible to mount pluggs from main pipes without excavation.

The many laterals, which we plugged by means of Aarsleff Rat Control in Copenhagen Energy’s sewers, were installed in brick-built, egg-shaped sewers that were not suited for renewal. In this case, CIPP lining would have been too expensive compared to the installation of Aarsleff Rat Control.

However, in many cases, CIPP lining should be considered a good alternative. Especially in the cases, in which a lot of laterals are to be plugged on a single sewer pipe stretch, it may be profitable to line the entire pipe stretch.