Walraven RapidRail® fixing rail makes light work of ceiling hanging pipe supports

Chris Illingworth from WTH Heating and Plumbing has started using Walraven RapidRail® fixing rail for his large domestic and light commercial installations and recently found it particularly useful on a job for fabricating ceiling hanging trapeze frames.

This installation was a large, new, ultra-modern house that would be heated by a ground-source heat pump. Chris and his team were tasked with fitting out the plant room and installing all the pipework for the heating system throughout the property.

The Problem – Installing at height

This installation required ceiling hanging pipe supports throughout the property. Usually, Chris and his team would have used a standard 41×41 channel to create trapeze frame supports for suspended pipework. However, the 41×41 strut is heavy, weighing around 2.5kg per metre and comes with basic fixings for attaching pipe clips. This can become challenging when installing overhead due to the weight and fiddly nature of using basic fixings. Chris decided to try Walraven RapidRail® fixing rail, which weighs less than 1kg per metre, to see if using a lighter channel with fully pre-assembled fixings would make the job easier.

The Solution – Walraven RapidRail® fixing rail System

Walraven RapidRail® fixing rail 30×20 was used on this job for both the wall-mounted pipework and for fabricating trapeze frames to carry the pipes through the ceiling space. The trapeze frames were constructed using two Walraven RapidRail® fixing rail pieces with Walraven RapidRail® slide nuts to drop the threaded rod down and connect the two pieces of rail. Walraven’s Hammerfix nuts with pre-cut studs were used to attach the pipe clips quickly and simply!

Chris commented, “Part of the reason for using Walraven RapidRail® fixing rail is that it’s light and easy to use at height on the scaffolds whilst installing the framework. This, alongside the really easy slide nut and Hammerfix connectors that just twist into the rail, really helped bring the installation time down from what we estimated it would be using the heavier 41×41 channel product. The system really exceeded our expectations and made the installation at height much easier.”