Canbar Wood Stave Pipe is the ideal system to meet the needs of the new millennium for durable, safe, environmentally friendly and economical hydro pipelines and penstocks. For 125 years Canbar has been meeting the needs of its customers and they have come to expect the best from Canbar.
With 125 years of experience working with wood, first as a manufacturer of barrels and other corrosive materials containment systems, and then as a water and corrosive materials tank and pipeline manufacturer, Canbar knows wood. We began as a small cooperage in Waterloo, Ontario Canada in 1872. Our wood stave technology has been greatly expanded over the years to include hydro pipelines often 5 kilometers and longer in length.
Canbar has manufactured and installed hundreds of Wood Stave Pipelines from South America and the Caribbean to northern Canada.
The Canbar Wood Stave Pipe is the most environmentally friendly solution to the challenge of building pipelines through fragile environmental areas. The assembly of Wood Stave Pipelines is carried out on site. The wood components and steel bands are easily transported to the site without the need for expensive, heavy equipment. There is minimal need to scar the terrain by building a service road.
In most cases Canbar penstocks “float” on a well prepared gravel bed. There is usually no need for expensive concrete foundations extending below the frost line. Plus as Canbar Wood Stave Pipelines can “bend” and follow natural contours, there is in most cases no need for thrust blocks.
While Canbar penstocks can be completely buried if desired, there is usually no need to do so, with consequent major savings in trenching, blasting, etc. Almost all of the installed Canbar Wood Stave Pipes installed are above ground; the natural conformability of wood eliminates the need for expensive expansion joints.
There are a number of factors that make Canbar Wood Stave Pipe the hands down winner when compared to other pipeline materials. Number one is foundation/burial savings, no thrust blocks. Number two is the fact that expansion joints are not required. Plus, since Wood Stave Pipe is shipped unassembled, the cost of shipping the pipe to the installation site can be a tenth of other materials. A crew of unskilled workers under the direction of a Canbar technician is all that is needed for installation of the Wood Stave Pipe. The lower labor costs and the elimination of the need for heavy installation equipment can make Canbar Wood Stave Pipe significantly less expensive than the other pipeline materials.
Wood Stave Pipe technology is simple and it works. It uses the natural insulating and corrosion resistant qualities of wood and combines them with the structural strength of steel bands to create a secure durable pipeline. The wood absorbs the water and expands against the steel restraining bands, creating a watertight pipeline. Wood’s natural insulation eliminates the need to clad or bury the pipeline to combat temperature changes.
Wood Stave Pipes have been in proven service for 40, 50 and more years from the tropics to the frozen north. You can expect decade after decade of dependable service.
Maintenance:
Canbar Wood Stave Pipes are relatively maintenance free. Simple carpentry methods are used to deal with most required repairs.
Assembling a Canbar Wood Stave Pipe is a study in simplicity. The support system for the pipeline is a wooden cradle which is also assembled on site, eliminating the need for expensive concrete supports. The bottom half of the pipe is laid in the wooden cradles. The top half is then built on top of a moveable building form. Steel bands encircle the pipe and the building form is then moved along as the process repeats itself.
Canbar maintains a staff of Professional Engineers and installers with many years of Wood Stave Pipe experience. We have built pipes up to 18 ft. (5.5m) internal diameter and can accommodate pressure heads up to 400 feet of water. Pipe length is no problem – many of our pipes are 3, 4 and 5 miles long. Talk to us about engineering a Canbar Wood Stave Pipe for your application. Perhaps you have an older Wood Stave Pipeline that you would like evaluated. Our engineering staff can examine your installation and present a report on the condition of your pipe.
