What is a Cleaning Pig for Pipelines, and How Do They Work?

Anyone who runs any kind of pipeline or piping network will likely know that keeping track of the entirety of the line can be complex. You may even have used various tools to get your pipe network clean (to no avail)!

Pigging has helped to make maintaining, inspecting and cleaning such pipelines that little bit easier. It’s not simple to know what may be blocking or slowing down pipes. Therefore, if you are experiencing problems with your network, a cleaning pig for pipeline usage may be in order.

But what exactly does a cleaning pig do, apart from the obvious? What can you expect from these conventional pigs when you first deploy them – and how can it benefit you in the long run? Let’s take a quick look at different cleaning pigs Pigtek are proud to support.

What are Brush Pigs?

Brush cleaning pigs tend to be the first cleaning tools we prescribe when it comes to getting nuisance sludge and debris off the inner walls of your pipes. Basically, with brushes fitted to a bi-directional pig, you can be sure that this type of pig will sweep dirt and sludge clear from the inner piping, meaning that you can get rid of anything up to seriously tough deposits up and away.

That, effectively, is going to mean you can run gas, water and oil through the chain as you normally might expect. Liquid and fluid bypass is only possible if your inner walls are scraped and swept clean. Your pipeline is, unfortunately, susceptible to all kinds of contamination – it’s time to get these nasty materials out of your product sampling!

Brushes come in various styles and shapes depending on what you need from your interior clean. For example, you may wish to use a circular brush for smaller diameters, and block brushes for wider diameters. In most cases, you may also consider using pencil brushes, too.

Ultimately, if the blockage is natural, i.e. in the form of dirt, mud or sludge, this type of cleaning pig is your go-to choice. Unlike many other cleaning tools, they’ll get down deep into gas pipelines, for example, and remove unseen build-up on the inside of your pipeline walls.

What are Magnetic Pigs?

Magnetic cleaning pigs for pipelines help to remove debris considered ferrous. This means you can deploy a magnetic pig to effectively pick up metal deposits and remaining scraps from installations, corrosion or otherwise.

These pigs, as their names suggest, arrive with high-powered magnets fitted into their designs, meaning that you can expect them to pick up, collect and carry tough, nuisance metal blockages out of the other end of the pipe.

Magnetic pigs are extremely versatile in that they can and will fit a huge range of pipelines and networks. In fact, you’ll be able to deploy a magnetic pig down pipelines of at least six inches in diameter, all the way up to 56 inches.

For an inspection or a deep clean, we’d recommend magnetic pigs, which you can monitor and program, should you still experience blockages after extensive inspections. Intelligent pigs are used to help you trace your pipe cleaning from start to finish – without having to break apart any point in the pipe wall. Gauging is just as important a process as cleaning – trust us!

How Can Cleaning Pigs for Pipelines Help Me?

It’s not always easy to see what’s going on down the pipeline, and for that reason, we design and deploy pigs that can effectively travel down and clear up any problems that may be clogging the lines on route. To get your fluid, chemicals or other product flowing, you’ll need cleaning pigs to remove all kinds of debris and detritus up and away.

Unfortunately, pipelines of all shapes and sizes are likely to need extensive cleaning at some point. Over time, pipelines will corrode and clog up. That’s why it’s always important to make sure you have a cleaning schedule in place with experts such as Pigtek, who can design and deploy unique pig solutions to inspect, clean and maintain your lines.

Whether you’ve used foam pigs or gel pigs before, or if you have complicated multi diameter pipelines in need of special attention, we’ll measure and recommend cleaning pigs equipped to get your flow up to peak efficiency.

Our main types of foam pigs and batching pigs will improve product flow simply by lifting old, ground-on dirt off the inside of your steel pipelines. Pre-commissioning, we’ll ensure you’re supplied with a high-performance pig to keep your operations rolling forward.

There’s no pressure! Pigtek will be on hand to help you. Why not contact our team directly via phone for details on a quote, or reach out to us via web form, and we’ll get back in touch with you? Don’t risk sludge, dirt, dust, black powder and ferrous material spoiling your fluids – think safety – and think about your customers, too!