Pipe Freezing Cairns & Far North Queensland

We do pipe freezing in Cairns and across far north Queensland. It’s a long way from either depot and we go regularly anyway. Nitrogen goes on the outside of the pipe, the contents set hard inside it, and you work against that instead of a closed valve.

Call 1800 468 827. Tell us what the pipe is and what’s running through it, and we’ll tell you if it can be frozen.

Do you come to Cairns?

Yes, although it’s a long way north of both depots. We run out of Currumbin Waters in Queensland and Bayswater in Victoria, and far north Queensland is a fly in and out trip like most of our regional work.

Distance is the thing to plan around. We’d rather ask a dozen questions on the phone than arrive and find the job is different from the description.

Typical Cairns jobs

Mostly chilled water in accommodation and hospital plant, plus process and cooling water, and mostly from resort engineering staff, hospital maintenance and mill maintenance crews.

The nitrogen travels with us, so distance doesn’t change the method. It does change how carefully the trip is worth planning.

Far North jobs get planned around the wet and around the crush, so timing matters as much as the pipework. It gets used to install a valve, swap out a section, isolate equipment, terminate a branch, divert a line, or abandon one for good.

Freezing or one of the other methods?

It depends on the line. We use freezing where welding isn’t an option, where a fitting won’t fit, or where the job is over quickly enough that permanent hardware would be a waste. When none of that applies, blocking the line temporarily is often simpler, and an inserted valve makes sense if you’d rather have a valve there for next time. A freeze won’t give you a new connection though, so that’s a new tapping point. Have a look at the comparison page.

We get asked about a hot tap for a permanent connection on the same call fairly often.

How the plug is formed

There’s no drilling and no fitting. A jacket of liquid nitrogen around the pipe takes the temperature of the contents down until they set. It holds against very high differential pressures once it’s formed. And since nothing was welded on, there’s no fitting to live with afterwards.

One thing to check before you ring: can the flow be stopped. Moving product keeps replacing the heat we’re taking out. Everything on materials and contents sits on the main pipe freezing page.

It’s the drain down you’re avoiding rather than just the downtime. Nothing gets vented, nothing has to be transferred and stored, and the inhibitors and treated water stay in the loop. Volatile or contaminated contents make that safer as well, because the product never leaves the pipe.

Contents first: water, acids, coolants, paints, alcohols, oils, liquid food product, various chemicals and sewage. Materials: carbon steel, stainless, Kunifer, aluminium alloys, nickel and copper based alloys, ductile and cast iron.

Things that help us quote

The single most useful thing you can tell us is what’s in the line. Beyond that:

• Contents
• The temperature and pressure they’re at
• Size and material of the pipe
• Whether the line can be stilled
• How long the isolation is needed for
• Access to the pipe, and where in Queensland you’re
• Anything drawn or photographed

Ring 1800 468 827 or email [email protected]. If you’re not sure whether freezing suits the job, just give us a call, we’ll ask a few questions and let you know.

Other live pipeline work in Cairns

The rest of our work travels with us. That covers holding a line back with a stop, thermowell installation and under pressure leak sealing. Given the distance, it makes sense to scope the lot at once. Coverage is on where we work.

What we freeze, and what for