Urecon Standard Polyethylene Outer Jacket

Outer Jacket on Pipe Insulation with enhanced ‘Cold Climate handling’ properties

Urecon offers a complete range of heat tracing cable and controls for freeze protection and temperature maintenance, on both plastic and metal pipe systems.

For more information see Heat Trace Section.

Urecon Standard Polyethylene Outer Jacket

Outer Jacket on Pipe Insulation  with enhanced ‘Cold Climate handling’ properties

Depending on the location of manufacture, the outer protective jacket shall consist of either –

  1. Custom blended black polyethylene, Scapa Tape # 366, 1.27 mm (50 mils),1.90 mm (75 mils) or 2.54 mm (100 mils) thick, UV inhibited factory applied. The jacket shall have a modified butyl rubber adhesive to ensure positive adhesion to the foam insulation and shall be applied hot in multiple layers each 0.64 mm (25 mils) thick providing a shrink tightened waterproof bond throughout its entire length.
  2. Extruded black polyethylene resin, minimum 1.27mm (50 mils) to 6.35mm (250 mils) thick, UV inhibited;  available only at our Calmar, Alberta facility at this time.

Outer jacket characteristics

For the tape wrap system-*
a)    Jacket material: polyethylene UV inhibited, specially formulated for superior cold environment  properties
b)    Sealant: butyl rubber and resin.
c)    Jacket thickness: 1.27 mm (50 mils.), 1.90 mm (75 mils) or 2.54 mm (100 mils)
d)    Minimum elongation: (ASTM D 1000) 300%,  6 month test.
f)    Tensile strength: (ASTM D-1000) 6,83 kg/cm wide (38 lbs/in wide).

For the extruded system-

  1. Jacket material: bimodal polyethylene, UV inhibited, specially formulated for superior cold weather properties.
  2. Jacket thickness: min. 1.27mm (50 mils) to 6.35 mm (250 mils)

*This factory applied polyethylene jacket, UV inhibited, is applied hot in two counterwound and overlapping layers, each 0.64 mm (25 mils) thick. A butyl rubber adhesive backing ensures positive bond to the mirror smooth UIP® polyurethane foam insulation. This provides a shrink tightened, waterproof and mechanically strong outer jacket. This outer jacket has been used on pre-insulated pipe systems dating back to 1974, with proven success from the high Arctic to the Caribbean. If the backfill is particularly rocky or the core pipe is heavy, a 1.90-2.54 mm (75-100 mils) thick jacket is recommended. This outer jacket allows resilient core pipe (polyethylene) to remain resilient, as it provides no beam strength.

Note: Urecon's standard jacket is suitable for H-20 highway loading at 600 mm (24 in) bury.  Live H-20 load transferred to the insulation at 600 mm (24 in) depth of bury is 38 kPa (5.51 lbs/in2).  Our system is rated 414 kPa (60 lbs/in2).  Click here for more information on live loads. 

Urecon Spiwrap® Outer Jacket


Cross section of pressure tight spiral lock seam, similar for all
gauges and materials, (internal seam also available).

Guage Wall Thickness Wall Thickness
  mm in
26 0,55 0.021
24 0,70 0.027
22 0,85 0.033
20 1,0 0.040
18 1,3 0.051

The Urecon Spiwrap®  is an ideal outer jacket for above ground use where durability, beam strength and long term UV resistance is required (at the expense of resiliency).  Spiwrap® galvanized steel outer jacketed pipe is not recommended for burial.

a) Locked seam galvanized steel O-Pipe jacket, 18 to 26 ga. is available
b) Locked seam aluminum O-Pipe jacket, 18 ga. is standard, other gauges available special order
c) Corrugated steel pipe (CSP) jacket 1.6mm or 2.0 mm (0.63 in or 0.79 in)

*Stainless steel Spiwrap or Banded on’ metal of any type and commercially available thickness (as above) is available upon request.

Urecon PE Casing Outer Jacket

For rugged applications and those with ultra violet exposure such as above ground mine tailings lines, bridge crossings, etc. a HDPE cased outer jacket may be an alternative.  HDPE casing provides good mechanical protection, excellent UV resistance but is lacking in beam strength if applied to a semi flexible pipe and unsupported throughout its length.

The factory applied black polyethylene outer protective jacket shall be 3.17 to 6.35 mm (0.125 - 0.250 in) thick, depending on the diameter, UV inhibited with minimum 2% carbon black, manufactured in accordance with ISO 9001-2001 Quality Management Program.

Urecon PVC Outer Jacket

This product is recommended for either above or below ground installations where the properties of a white PVC jacket are desired; primarily for chilled and warm (to 93°C (200°F)) water applications in temperate climates only.

The outer protective jacket on the PVC jacketed system shall be manufactured from type 1, Grade 1 PVC ( cell classification 12454-B) conforming to ASTM resin specification D-1784, and shall incorporate a UV inhibitor (TiO2) to ensure long term performance for above ground applications. The PVC jacket wall thickness varies with pipe diameter and urethane foam thickness required, ranging from 2.08 to 4.06mm (.082 to .160 in) for nominal 25-300mm (1 to 12 in) diameter core pipe.

PVC jacketing is not recommended for cold weather applications.