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LLFA® News

LLFA® Tape used to seal a STEAM LEAK on a low pressure steam drain line at Nuclear Power Plant

After GTG® provided electronic information, verbal information and installation instructions, the Nuclear Power Plant personnel successfully sealed the above steam line leak. Below is an excerpted email from the Power Plant. “We spoke a few months ago regarding the use of your product here on site. With your help, we were able to get it approved and today we installed the tape on a steam leak on a low pressure steam drain line per the guidance you had sent us. So far this is looking good and we will continue to monitor it for the next several days. I have attached some before and after pics for you. Thanks for spending the time with me a few months ago and for your time with our Engineer.”

Turbine Oil Leak Repair, with LLFA® Tape, made by JEA Northside Generating Station in Florida, USA

During an LLFA® Tape demonstration, performed by GTG® Engineering, Inc. at JEA, Northside Station, a request was made to repair a turbine oil leak. The leak was at the interface of a smaller diameter externally threaded pipe into a larger diameter internally (female) threaded pipe that was associated with a Primary Air Fan for a 310 Megawatt, circulating Fluidized Bed boiler. The bearing is a Sleevoil Pillow Block Bearing. The leak was sealed using LLFA® Smooth around the dimensional change and 2″ wide LLFA® Tape over the entire connection. The JEA Manager Electric Production Maintenance stated that the repair would have cost $17,000.00 due to the fact that in order to make a full repair, the unit would have to be derated since they would have lost half the generating capacity of the unit for the length of the repair. On JEA performed a repair, themselves, using LLFA® Tape and LLFA® Smooth in which the leak was coming from a flat plate where the pipe fitting entered the plate. . There was oil leaking from the flat plate at the fitting. GTG® normally recommends that LLFA® Tape must extend a minimum of 1 to 1.5″ beyond the leak in order to make an effective seal; however, JEA used a combination of LLFA® Tape and LLFA® Smooth to create a “tadpole gasket” which was able to seal against a flat plate. I think we can safely say 1.25 to 1.5 gallons of oil in a 24 hour period. Below is an excerpt of the e-mail from JEA. “. I came up with a solution for that (sealing a leak against a flat plate) using your product (LLFA®). I cut a thin piece of smooth, rolled it into a thin cylinder shape and then wrapped it around one side of tape. Similar to a tadpole gasket. I applied it pressing the smooth to the flat plate. The theory being that the compression of the tape would press the encapsulated smooth against the plate, creating a seal. Looks like it worked. Impressed so far.” On JEA Northside performed another “tadpole gasket” style repair, using LLFA® Tape and LLFA® Smooth. Below is an excerpt of the e-mail from JEA. “Hope all is well with you. These pictures show another oil leak that we wrapped. It is on a bearing similar to the one you guys (GTG®) did for me. The difference being that this bearing is larger and was actually leaking about twice as bad, 2.5 + gallons every 24 hours. This is taken 48 hours after wrapping and shows no sign of any leakage. This stuff is good. Thanks “

LLFA® Tape Used for Sealing a City Gas Line Leak!

As we all know, access to clean water as well as properly maintained gas are basic necessities, but it is a huge task to keep all of the systems and infrastructure working. Without these, there are obvious implications, such as low access to potable water and higher incidences of water-related diseases. Access to a suitable water source does not necessarily mean access to clean water. Pipes can be rusted, corroded and contaminated, which can also create dangerous leaks in gas lines. So in a country as heavily populated as China, maintaining proper city infrastructure can present a huge challenge. On April 2nd 2018, a port in southwest China’s gas company used our products, LLFA® Smooth, LLFA® Tape and LLFA® Garde, to seal the city’s main gas line. It had been corroded and had an operating pressure of 7 kg. For this task, the construction crew used LLFA® Smooth to fill in the corroded areas for extra leak blockage, followed by the 2 inch-wide LLFA® compression tape. They also used our LLFA® tensor tool in order to pull the tape to it’s maximum tension for the most effective results. The finished repair was further protected by our LLFA® Garde. In total, sealing this major leak on a main city gas line took 40 minutes to complete with effective results. Thanks to all the diligent city workers who help keep our water and gas lines free of leaks and corrosion!

LLFA® Tape Used to Repair Leak Due to Ice Dam on Roof

In March of 2015, we had a serious flooding in the walls in our heritage home. During the winter, snow and ice had built up in the valleys of the roof, causing water and condensation to gather in the walls until our living room ceiling came crashing down. This process is known as “ice damming”. It required a major renovation from our insurance company contractors, who had to tear down the rotted drywall. When the walls were down and the pipes were exposed, we found this vertical sewer pipe approximately 60-years old. This cast pipe had developed pin hole leaks which had been sealed by an ineffective material that had leaked out of the holes it was intended to plug (*pic A). If they had gotten worse, it would’ve required us to open the wall again. So the prevent future issues, we wrapped the pipe with LLFA® Tape (*Pic B). The benefit to using LLFA® Tape is, once its applied, it fuses with itself, thus forming a bond or “rubber sheath” on the leak or connection. As its primary function is sealing through compression, there is no issue with adhesion and compatibility. It doesn’t lose its tension over time, even in harsh environments.!

LLFA® Tape Repairs ER Leaks on Marine Vessels

The MV Logos, operated by Good Books for All (GBA) travels the world offering school books and hundreds of other books to countries around the world as a resource for learning. Due to a break down of the freezer, the food service was reduced to cold sandwiches and canned goods. The freezer was down because the heating cable had overheated and melted through the compressor drain pipe. It was wrapped around the drain line to stop it from freezing. Replacement parts could not be acquired until later in the journey so a quick and effective solution was needed in order for the food service to continue. LLFA® Tape was applied to the pipe to insulate from any electrical short and melting down the pipe. The heating cable was then reapplied around the pipe and put into service. for example, the ship currently known as the MV Doulos Phos held the record of being the world's oldest active ocean-faring passenger ship until December 2009, having traveled the world's oceans from the time of her building in 1914. When members of GTG® were able to visit to Doulos, there were 200+ persons on board the ship. We were able to tour the Engine room, see the large engines. During the trip, there was a sea water leak located in the engine room. Under normal circumstances, the crew would have had to shut down the engines and drain the system in the middle of the voyage far out at sea. However, the chief engineer knew about our LLFA® products, had a roll in his desk, and decided to try it. LLFA® Tape sealed the leak until they could get to a dry dock port where many other repairs were being done. The pipe was eventually re-welded. In both cases, LLFA® Tape came to the rescue and saved both time and money by offering a quick and economical solution in emergency situations.

LLFA® Tape seals leaks on a large underground water pipe.

Celebrating that LLFA® Tape has provided yet another solution for a valuable customer in Ontario caught in a difficult situation. Repairman were able to seal significant leaks coming from about 25% of the reduction fitting on a 16-18 inch water pipe leak. Here is a picture of the pipe in it's original state before LLFA® Tape was used. The pipe was buried 10 feet underground and was in need of immediate repair. Repairman sealed the leak with LLFA® Tape and fiber wrap to create a secure seal. GTG® uses a tensioner tool to pull the LLFA® Tape to it's tightest possible tension to help seal the leak.