When transporting high-pressure media through long lengths of stainless steel tubing, you want to have as few welds as possible. More welds equate to more risk to your system’s safety and reliability. Excessive welds also drive up installation costs.

HandyTube has an innovative manufacturing process that can produce long lengths of ½, ¾ and 1 inch diameter seamless stainless steel tubing capable of handling working pressures up to 5,500 psi — without any longitudinal or orbital welds — that can be safely and more economically installed than traditional tubing. Long-length stainless steel tubing offers compressed natural gas and hydrogen fueling stations many safety and cost advantages.

HandyTube long-length seamless coils minimize the need for coupling multiple shorter lengths. HandyTube offers unique CNG tubing solutions in three sizes.

A Smarter Choice for High-Pressure Applications

CNG Fueling Stations. Today there are more than 1,850 compressed natural gas fueling stations in North America with new stations continually being built. New station construction involves running underground tubes hundreds of feet from a compressor to high-pressure storage vessels and then to the pump. Here’s how continuous coiled stainless steel tubing compares to traditional installation methods:

• Conventional tubing. One common approach is to join 20 foot lengths of ½ inch “stick” tubing together. With proper installation, mechanical fittings can provide a leak-free connection. However fire regulations prohibit below-grade installation. Instead, contractors typically either lay multiple lines of ½ inch stick tubing through conduit, weld seamless tubing end-to-end, or weld seamless stainless steel pipe end-to-end. These processes present many opportunities for dangerous leaks and failures. They are also slow and involve a lot of costly labor, especially for inspecting each weld.
• A more practical solution. With the right tools, feeding long lengths of coiled large-diameter tubing through conduit not only takes a fraction of the time, reducing labor costs, it’s also much safer, resists corrosion, has no risk of incurring impurities and requires no maintenance. For safe uncoiling, HandyTube designed a special field straightener to help you straighten the coil.

Hydrogen Fueling. Facilities employing large fleets of battery operated forklifts are actively transitioning from battery powered units to hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles. These fuel cells can be refilled in minutes due to the high operating pressure of cryogenically supplied hydrogen systems. Seamless coil products from HandyTube provide safe interconnections of remote hydrogen storage and dispensers with only two connections in each tube-run — one at the source and one at the dispenser.

Clear Advantages Over Conventional Tubing

Many facilities that transport high-pressure or flammable gases can benefit from HandyTube long-length, large-diameter coiled stainless steel tubing. Our advanced tube manufacturing capability allows us to achieve coils up to 700 feet in length. That means designers and builders of natural gas fueling stations or hydrogen delivery systems can enjoy the following benefits:

• Increased safety. Fewer weld joints and fittings mean significantly less opportunity for dangerous leaks or strip edge-induced contamination. HandyTube coiled tubing is 100% hydrostatic tested to ensure structural integrity, and it is also analyzed for material purity.
• Time savings. Feeding long lengths of seamless tubing takes less time and effort, with far fewer welds to perform or inspect.
• Cost savings. Continuous-length stainless steel tubing incurs less labor costs, and its reliability means less repairs.

That’s why for many high-pressure fuel installations, HandyTube long-length seamless stainless steel coiled tubing will look good to the safety inspector and your bottom line.

For more information about HandyTube’s long-length seamless stainless steel coiled tubing for high-pressure applications, download our brochure.