Water lines play an important role in the operations at refineries; therefore, special care must be taken to ensure they are in good working order. A major refinery realized that a water intake pipe called the ballast line, used for various water supply needs, was deteriorating and in desperate need of repair. Installed in the 1970s, the 18-inch pipe is a Gifford Hill designed steel pipe that is concrete lined both on the interior and exterior and has a pretension steel wire that runs the entire length. The pretension steel wire is designed to strengthen the pipe and increase the hoop strength. Over time, the internal wire corroded and began to crack, producing spalled off sections of the external concrete liner. The resulting falling concrete chunks were not only a safety hazard, but also a structural problem due to the lack of strength once the wire was gone. There was also the potential for the exposed steel pipe to begin corroding as it was now exposed. Structural Preservations Systems (SPS) was brought onto the project for their expertise in concrete repairs.

Because the steel section of the pipe was extremely thin (1/8-inch), the owner had concerns about using mechanical methods to remove the deteriorated concrete on the exterior of the pipe. Work would be performed on the pipe while it was online and the owner did not want to risk puncturing the pipe with chipping hammers. To address this concern, SPS pulled off sections of the delaminated concrete by hand. Once the loose concrete was removed, SPS sprayed the exposed pipe with a steel primer/corrosion inhibitor to prevent further corrosion. Next, SPS reestablished the original contours of the pipe using a cementitious grout. A migrating corrosion inhibitor that travels through the concrete 3-4 inches was placed after the grout cured. The inhibitor places a protective layer around the steel to prevent it from corroding. Once the line was dry, SPS then wrapped the pipe with a urethane-based fiber reinforced wrap. The wrap reestablished the original strength of the pipe and increased the hoop strength that was lost by the deteriorated pretension wire.

Based on the success of this project, the owner asked SPS to perform the same repair on the plant's 46-inch diameter "Once Through Cooling Water Line" (OTCWL). With the same design as the ballast, the OTCWL had many more areas of cracking, delaminating, spalling and even had a few areas that were already leaking. SPS performed the same repairs on this section of pipe, except carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) was used on the dry areas of the pipe and the urethane-based wrap was used on the wet areas. Once work was completed on the OTCWL, SPS performed the same repair process on the plant's return water line that was leaking above the main cooling tower. The return line is an all steel pipe that reduces down from 52 inches to 46 inches and then finally to 33 inches. Since the pipe was wet most of the time, the urethane-based wrap was used exclusively for the repair because the resins are not affected by the presence of water.

The refinery was so pleased with the work performed on this project that they continue to ask SPS to perform repairs on other damaged sections of water lines. Although this project originally began as a repair for one ballast line, it evolved to include several lines based on the quality, diligence and creativity of the repair.