Established in 2000, kwik-ZIP spacers and centralizers were developed to solve support, grading and centralisation challenges in the trenchless and pipeline, vertical production drilling, and ground engineering industries.
Standing proudly as the only Australian designed and owned centralizer and spacer system available on the market, the business has recently focused on growing and diversifying through export sales — to the US, Asia, New Zealand, the Middle East and Europe — where kwik-ZIP’s expertise, responsive customer service, cost-effectiveness, innovative range of products and applicability across multiple international industries has driven consistent demand.
Kwik-ZIP spacers are accredited by a number of industry agencies including:
- Kwik-ZIP HDX spacers are approved by WSAA as meeting its product specification PS-324 for casing spacers
- Kwik-ZIP HDX and HD spacers are included on the Accepted Infrastructure Products and Materials (IPAM) list for the South-East Queensland (SEQ) Water Supply and Sewerage Design and Construction Code (SEQ Code)
- Kwik-ZIP HDX and HD spacers are included on the Melbourne Retail Water Agencies (MRWA) Approved Products list. MRWA is a joint association of three water retailers owned by the Victorian government — South East Water, Yarra Valley Water and City West Water
kwik-ZIP spacers are designed for many industry sectors, including production well drilling, trenchless pipelines, Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) and the general civil and construction markets. Key to the success of the business is the versatility of the product range thus enabling the products to be utilised in a wide variety of applications. From standard Pipe-in-Pipe (PIP) applications (Figure 1) such as slip lining and cased crossings for all medium- to heavy-weight pipe materials, the product design enables them to be utilised on many different pipe profiles, within rough or smooth surfaces, open bores, and pipe bundled arrangements, just to name a few.
Highlighting the products ability to handle different pipe profiles, Kwik-ZIP HD-50 and HDX-38 spacers were utilised to facilitate the sliplining of new semi-Elliptical FRP liner pipe around curves into an existing concrete semi-elliptical pipe for a sewer replacement project in Los Angeles (Figure 2).
kwik-ZIP’s HD spacers are well suited for use in environments with rough surfaces as their curved bow design allow them to be easily pulled or pushed over rough ground surfaces (Figure 3) and the GT range (Figure 4) is utilised extensively in the ground engineering market, and can be used on bar, sheathing and conduit, as well as to protect other requirements within the installation, e.g. cables.
Construction and features
- Made from Kwik-ZIP’s modified Acetal (POM) engineering thermoplastic blend, which has: high flexural strength; high temperature resistance; low coefficient of friction; abrasion resistance; and outstanding chemical resistance
- Integrated rubber grip pads under collars to prevent slippage — no requirement to pre-wrap pipe
- Load sharing suspension system allowing heavy loads to be shared across multiple runners, reducing point loading and increasing the overall load capacity of the spacer
- Minimises spacer weight-bearing capacity and reduces point loading via a unique load-sharing runner system
- Ability to combine different runner heights in the same spacer ring to assist in borehole grade correction
- Larger diameters are accommodated by joining additional segments
- Requires only a flat blade screwdriver for installation (HD, HDX models)
For further information on kwik-ZIP products and to discuss your specific project requirements please contact us at sales@kwikzip.com
