“Assembling a large manifold in a new building consisting of a 2-inch main with 11 schedule 80 PVC TEEs, each with a 2 x ½ inch reducer bushing, I received a new set of architectural drawings changing all of the bushings to ¾”.

I had just glued the half inch bushings into place that morning. Rebuilding that manifold would have required 11 new TEEs and half a day. My customer invoice would have been $480 in materials plus $360 in labor plus $180 time to chase parts for a total of $1020.

Also I couldn’t find 11 2” TEES in my city so I wouldn’t have been able to complete the work until the next day.

What I actually did was use a sawzall to cut the spokes out of each bushing leaving a thick wall glued in the TEEs. The remaining wall thickness of the cut bushing was a little thicker than 2 inch schedule 80 pipe, so I used the next larger size, 2.5” schedule 80 and selected that cycle on my Pipe Debonder. The resulting cycle time was 8.5 minutes. I used my small Pipe Debonder to unglue all 11 bushings in about 90 minutes. I was able to reuse every TEE.

After I picked up the new bushings, I re-glued the 11 TEEs in 30 minutes, completing the job in about 2 hours.

Total cost: $180 labor plus $148 for bushings plus $180 for a total of $508, a savings of $512. Plus I could complete the change order the same day.

This one job paid half of the cost of my Pipe Debonder.”

Pumps, pipes, and fittings at a water park.

This time, we’ll let a customer in Arizona do the writing:

“When I received my Debonder, I read the well-written operation manual and I thought I understood the tool pretty well without having operated it.  I practiced on a smaller joint and it really worked, just as the guy at Pipe Debonder told me it would.

The next morning I was on the job at a water park where I had a leaking 6 inch schedule 40 ELL coming out of the concrete.  Digging it up would take a long time and make a mess for the park.  I brought along two 6” ELLs anyway just in case it didn’t go well.

After 30 minutes of arriving on the job, I had shut off the water, drained the line, cut off the pipe (too long, I add), and plugged in the Mid-Size Debonder.  The cycle was 11 minutes.  Because I foolishly cut the pipe off 1/2′” too long, the Debonder was not inserted far enough into the fitting, but the extraction tool removed the broken pipe anyway.  It was very easy to do.

To my amazement, the fitting was not an ELL, but a TEE and I didn’t have one with me.  After removing the broken pipe, I cemented a new piece of pipe to the TEE.  Then I cut out the ELL above it and using two couplings and an ELL, I reconnected the system and turned on the water.

All in 30 minutes.

I was amazed how much time and money this Debonder tool saved me on just this one job alone.

Knowing how simple it is to reuse fittings, I now wonder how I got along without this tool all these years.

I called the folks at Pipe Debonder to congratulate them on a well designed and well built tool.  They asked me why I didn’t debond the ELL and reuse it rather than replace it.  Honestly, I didn’t even think of it because the part is not expensive for Schedule 40, but I can see that there would be no couplings in the system and the repair would be undetectable had I used my head and my new Debonder to save that ELL as well.

GREAT NEW INVENTION!”

Plumbers need to know the latest in technology so they can enter the field prepared to save their customers, and their businesses or employers, time and money.

When a vocational school in Massachusetts received its new Debonder, the plumbing teacher and the students weren’t exactly sure what to expect. It became clear pretty quickly that the tool would be a hit. The instructor told us,

This is the best plumbing tool I’ve ever been able to teach students to use.  It saves the school a ton of money because we can reuse fittings. The students love using it in class and are excited to get out in the field and use this tool. It gives them a great opportunity to learn new innovative technology. It’s really cool. Once the machine warms up, which only takes a couple of minutes, we can keep that thing hot and working for us all day. We’re really happy with this Debonder.

Have you tried a Debonder yet?

These demos generated considerable buzz at the show and our booth was VERY busy! At one point a distinguished gentleman came up to me with a very disapproving look on his face. “This can’t be done” he declared. “What can’t be done?” I replied. It turned out that the man was a glue chemist from one of the glue manufacturers also there at the show. “This can’t be done with MY glue” he challenged. “Bring it on!” I responded. And the contest was on.

He went to another area and returned with an old glue joint using his glue. I placed the DEBONDER in his hands and he was completely dumbfounded when he proceeded to debond and extract the pipe. He couldn’t explain it, but I can. Pipe glue is intended to resist sheer forces that want to pull the pipe out of the socket. The glue is very strong in this function. The glue has almost no strength in tension and that’s how we unglue it by shrinking the diameter of the pipe when we extract. We pull the pipe from the fitting in tension. It’s never been done before.

One thing that has helped in this product development is my training as a chemical engineer. There is considerable misunderstanding about how glue truly works chemically. The bond that is formed is still chemically a separate structure from the pipe wall. Certainly there is bonding, but there is no fusing into the pipe itself. And the truth is that this bond can be broken with the proper application of heat and force. That is what we do with the debonding technology. Yes, sir, it CAN be done, and many across the United States are benefiting from that physical reality every day with the successful use of the DEBONDER in all repair applications.

From that discovery an invention was born. At the time I was leading Tate Technology, the company I founded which specializes in Electronics and PCB assembly. We were brought on board to help design and engineer the early DEBONDERS. A couple of years later we had developed the first generation product called “Come Unglued.”

That year we went to the annual trade show of the International Irrigation Association to introduce the product. The reception of the product exceeded our wildest dreams. The Pipe DEBONDER received the new product of the year award. So many were amazed and excited about the breakthrough technology of debonding plastic pipe. To this day, my passion is to get the word out about this amazing and useful technology. We anticipate releasing larger sizes up to 30″ in the future using the same technology.