Coupler System Enables Easy Pipe Placement

Founded in 1952, J. F. Kiely Construction Co. has a long history performing underground utility work in its home state of New Jersey. The firm provides underground installation and restoration of gas, water, electric and sewer, and offers various types of installation processes , from directional drilling to milling and paving. Clients include New Jersey Natural Gas Co., South Jersey Industries, Public Service Electric & Gas Co. and New Jersey American Water Co.

Recently J. F. Kiely was awarded a bid contract by South Jersey Gas Co. to install 25,000 ft. of 24-in. steel pipe in the town of Egg Harbor Township in southern New Jersey's LNG plant in McKey City.

Traditional pipe installation methods called for either all -terrain cranes or side boom crawlers . J.F. Kiely sought to replace these job-specific machines with something more versatile. "We had many concerns about approaching this job from a conventional method, including the overhead power lines present on the jobsite and the large amount of setup room the rough-terrain cranes would need," explains Robert Patterson, vice president of construction services for J.F. Kiely .

The solution was to use hydraulic excavators equipped with JRB Smart Loc coupler systems. The couplers would allow the operator to quickly disconnect the bucket - without leaving the cab of the machine - then use the boom arm to crane pipe into place.

Drew Robustelli, president of sales and rental dealer Jesco Inc., helped J. F. Kiely determine the size of the excavators to use for the project. The 24-in. pipe weighed 98 lbs. per foot. In order to meet production goals, crews needed to pick at least 500 ft. of pipe at a time. Robustelli suggested using two 31-ton John Deere 270 CLC excavators to complement the two 27-ton 230CLC models already in the contractor's fleet. To ensure maximum uptime, Jesco was also subcontracted to provide all maintenance on the machines, since J.F. Kiely's facilities were too far from the jobsite.

All four excavators saw plenty of action throughout the project. The first excavator was used to remove blacktop and road gravel , then load tandems with the material. A second unit excavated the trench and placed soils in a holding area. The third and fourth machines were used to pick and place pipe into the trench.

While the average pick involved 500-ft pipe lengths, the longest lift achieved was 720 ft. "We achieved far greater load distribution through the pipe by using four excavators than we ever could have achieved with sidebooms and cranes ," says Paul Williams, supervisor on the job, "without compromising our reach from the side of the excavation to the midpoint of the trench."

Our productivity came in well above plan," adds John M. Kiely, treasurer for for J. F. Kiely. "Using excavators with quick disconnect buckets is a practice we will consider more often for jobs of this nature."