| The food and beverage industry has utilized
specialized transmission tubing and piping for
the distribution of beverages for many years.
These special transmission lines are designed to
transfer beverages from bulk storage/backroom
areas to a point of sale or use location.
These transmission tubes and piping are typically
installed in a conduit or chase-way as
containment for the distribution system.
In many or most applications, the containment
conduit for the tubes and piping are installed
under-ground/direct buried under a building slab.
The most frequently used material for this
conduit has been PVC pipe in sizes ranging from
four to eight inches in diameter.
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The primary problem, or failure, associated
with using PVC for these applications is that the
PVC product, because of its composition, is
brittle and is prone to crack and fissure under
stress. The stress applied to cause this failure is
generally caused from, ground shift, soil
conditions, building settling, or improper
installation and backfill or thermal expansion
/contraction of the PVC.
Once the PVC product has failed, it will
frequently collect groundwater or other matter.
The groundwater will, in a short time according
to beverage experts, permeate the transmission
lines and will sour / spoil the beverage product
being transferred from storage areas to the point
of sale or use.
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