The installation of heat pipes below ground can be complicated by the presence of unavoidable obstacles such as rivers, buildings, railway lines … In this case, pipes can be installed without having to dig trenches by using the principle of sinking pipes.

The principle used in sinking pipes is to dig a horizontal tunnel under the hurdle. Heat transfer tubes are then placed inside which form the distribution channel of the heating network. There are two methods of doing this:

sinking
micro-tunneling

The choice of one or the other method depends on criteria such as the diametre or the length of the pipes. In both cases, the individual tubes which form the network are telescoped on site and all welds are carefully controlled by radio.

The sinking of interest is to limit disturbance during network installation works. It can be done in different ways (road or rail) without affecting traffic. It also ensures little change on the ground.