How To Weld Dam Liners

Grekkon Limited trains technicians and farmers on how to weld dam liners during installation or pond liner repairs. Welding is for every dam liner who’s width is beyond 8M to fit the water pan or tank. This is because our dam liner rolls are 8M wide. It is irrespective of the fish pond liner’s thickness or material type.

Our dam liners thicknesses are; 0.5mm, 0.75mm, and 1mm, and the dam liner type by material is either a high density polyethylene  (HDPE) geomembrane, or a poly-vinyl chloride (PVC) type. Both materials have anti-UV treatment to withstand solar degradation in UV intense tropical locations

Dam liner welding is done prior to, or during installation. To understand the welding process fully, a grower must first learn the dam liner installation steps

Steps on How to Weld Dam liners in Kenya

Water Pan Excavation

This is the first step and usually takes the longest time. Excavation is manual with hand-tools, or with a machine. Most common machines for dam excavation are backhoe loaders, excavators, and rollers. At excavation, the side walls are inclined at an angle to prevent collapse of the dam.

Smoothening Of The Water Pan

This is to remove any sharp objects that damage the dam liner. Examples are; tree stumps, stones, rocks or sharp sticks. Pour in water on the floor and sides to soften it. A roller will compact the floor while smoothening it

Trench Making

Trenches are dug round the reservoir where the dam liner will be installed. The size of the trench will depend on the size of the dam and the dam liner thickness. The most popular trench sizes are 1ft deep by 1ft wide and 1.5ft deep by 1.5ft wide. The alternative to trenches is to use sand bags to hold the dam liner in place at the top of the water reservoir

 

Welding structures the pond liner to the water pan’s or tank’s shape, so as to hold water. The welded joints must be leak free for the dam liner to work effectively in the tank or water pan. Lined water pans are popular as water storage units for agricultural field crops irrigation in a country that has just one or two rainy seasons

 

How To Weld Dam Liners

1. Factory welding. Depending on the dam liner size, weld it whole or partially in the factory. The weight and volume of the welded material must be easily portable on site.  The latter factor guides on how much of the dam liner material will be put together in the factory
2. Site  or field welding. This is done on site at the point of dam liner installation. It is the joining together of the partially welded dam liner pieces from the factory. Site welding is done when the entire dam liner could not be wholly put together in the factory. This is as a result of weight or bulkiness, which limits lifting and transportation of the bulky and heavy material. The weight size of the portable material depends on the thickness of the dam liner. The thicker it is, the less it is
3. A wedge welding machine or a heat gun/ heat blower is the equipment that does dam liner welding. A wedge machine is what does it in the factory. The heat gun is highly portable, and so is best for field joinery

Dam liner welding involves melting the liner material under high temperature at the point of joining them. Once melted, the 2 layers are laid one over the other and as they harden, become one unit

 

 

 

Both equipment run on electric power. In off grid electricity locations, Grekkon Limited provides a generator to power the heat gun or wedge welding machine