In the middle of the grape-harvesting season at the Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena, Calif., workers washing 40,000-gallon fermenting tanks and wooden storage barrels noticed that the water drained slowly while the level in a manhole rose.A contractor inspecting the 150-year-old 3-, 6- and 8-inch asbestos cement lines could not push his camera through the areas where acidic wine fumes had eroded the crown of the pipes, allowing soil to cave in. Other contractors waterjetting the lines pulled in more soil than they removed.Jeff Rodgers, winery superintendent, asked Ryan Peterson, owner of Express Plumbing Affordable Trenchless Co. in Carmichael,
Fruit of the Vine
Old-school methods and pipe bursting help a contractor replace collapsed drain lines without interrupting wine production
May 19, 2011
| by Scottie Dayton |

















