Squash Offs

Sometimes the flow has to stop and there’s no valve anywhere near the work. A squash off closes the bore by squeezing the pipe flat, so the pipe becomes its own stop. We use it where other methods of stopping the flow aren’t possible or cost effective, and it can be completed on most pipeline materials.

Call 1800 468 827 with your pipe size, material and what’s in the line, and we’ll tell you whether it can be squashed off.

What pipes can be squashed off?

Most of them. We work on steel, stainless, copper, PVC, HDPE, PE, cast iron, ductile iron, cast and ductile cement lined, AC and most other pipeline materials, carrying gas, water, steam and process product.

Whether yours suits comes down to the pipe and the room around it, which we’d rather judge off a photo than a table.

Why squash off instead of a line stop?

A mechanical stop needs a fitting welded or bolted onto the pipe, and enough straight pipe to get the stop in through it. A squash off needs neither of those.

So it comes up on tight access, and where the cost of a fitting is out of proportion to the work. A line stop holds the pressure back with a plug through a fitting, freezing the line uses an ice plug with nothing welded on, and a squash off uses the pipe wall itself.

How does a squash off work?

A hydraulic ram closes on the pipe and presses the wall in from both sides until the bore shuts and the flow stops. Everything either side of the squash stays in service.

Where the work needs a dead length rather than a single stop, we squash at two points and work on the section between them.

We do squash offs with and without encasements. Which one suits depends on the line, and we work that out with you before we’re on site.

Can you squash off a live gas line?

Yes. It’s one of the four techniques behind a live gas diversion, along with live tappings to make the new connection, bag insertions to hold the gas back, and purging before the new leg goes into service.

The Victorian gas regulator treats squashing off a consumer pipe that’s still in service as part of the same regulated activity as hot tapping. We were the first company the Office of Gas Safety, now Energy Safe Victoria, accredited to hot tap and stop off live gas lines, back in 1998.

What helps us quote it

A squash off comes down to the pipe and the room around it, which we would rather judge off a photo than a table:

• Pipe size and material
• What’s in the line, and at what pressure
• Whether you need the flow stopped at one point or a section isolated
• Whether the line goes back into service afterwards, or is being abandoned
• How you get to the pipe, and any drawings or photos you have

Call 1800 468 827 or email [email protected]. If you’re not sure whether your line can be squashed off, just give us a call, we’ll ask a few questions and let you know.

Where we work

We operate from depots in Bayswater, Victoria and Currumbin Waters, Queensland, and we have clients in all states and territories of Australia as well as the Pacific Islands and New Zealand. We regularly fly in and out to service our clients.

Squash offs are one of ten live pipeline services we provide. We also do live valve insertion with the EZ2 system, repairs to live leaking pipework and thermowell installation.

Where a squash off suits the job