I guess since I was away for a while I still am not sure what the shape of the riser cut is. I imagine the cut is still not as clean as they were initially hoping for so there are still issues with extra leaking and the (hopefully very small) possibility the seal breaks over it. I heard that once it was cut they did in fact return to using a saw again to try and smooth it. If so I would think that even if the cut was not perfect it is still not a completely uneven mess and they have some elbow room to get the cap on, so to speak. Have you been able to tell what the situation is >
the top of the stub looked really hacked up to me
but if they can contain a good percentage of the outflow it will be a big step forward
Something I’ve been wondering. Could it be that the bell that is intended to slip over the top of this is actually intended to slip down and seal on the outside of the flange, rather than on the 21” pipe itself? In that case, it doesn’t matter if the cut on the pipe is erratic, only that the bell is deep enough to fit over it.
I’ll go out on a limb here and say I think they should abandon
trying to get a seal around this mangled stub. If it’s possible the bolts should be cut on the flange since there is no longer a lot of pressure differential there. Then they would have a nice clean straight flange to deal with. That’s my 2 cents worth.
I observed the operations today for some time and have concluded that the pipe stub out above the point it is welded to the flange is bent slightly out of plumb.
They went in after jaws and made some vertical cuts around the perimeter. I think they will squeeze (or beat with a sledge hammer) so the tabs thus formed bend inward the very small distance to correct the minor out of plumb condition. The cut is not perfectly square but I don’t see that as a factor. The very small bend (kink)is the problem to my eye. Dimensionally, it is in my view quite small.