A Close Up Look at Eleven Helical Pile Manufacturers' Products

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by Bill Bonekemper

Publisher

April, 2020

This article takes a close look at the helical pile products manufactured by eleven companies - seven of which are based in the United States and three being Canadian based. One company has operations in both Canada and the U.S. The eleven companies include:

Earth Contact Products (ECP) – Olathe, KS
GoliathTech Screw Piles (GoliathTech) - Magog, Quebec, Canada
Helical Anchors, Inc. (HAI) - Minneapolis, MN
Hubbell Power Systems (HPS-Chance) – Centralia, MO
IDEAL Foundation Systems (IDEAL) – East Rochester, NY
MacLean Power Systems, (MPS Civil) – Fort Mill, NC
Patriot Foundation Systems (Patriot) - San Antonio, FL
Ram Jack Systems Distribution (Ram Jack) – Ada, OK
Roterra Piling (Roterra) - Acheson, AB, Canada & The Woodlands, TX
Supportworks – Papillion, NE
Techno Metal Post (TMP) - Thetford Mines, Quebec, Canada

Introduction

Of the eleven companies covered in this article, seven are based in the U.S., three are based in Canada, and one has manufacturing operations in Canada and the U.S. All of the companies offer helical pile, anchor and tieback products designed for the new construction market, as well as for remedial applications like underpinning and earth retention. Additionally, many of the companies offer product solutions for the marine and utility markets including alternative power applications like solar and wind. It is noteworthy that all eleven companies offer a wide variety of pile caps, brackets and other connection-to-structure products, but this article does not cover those products.

HPW published a similar article to this one in October, 2017, and since that time the industry has continued to expand significantly with the number of products offered by manufacturers. The most notable change is the significant increase in the number of large diameter round shaft helical piles that are now being manufactured. Eight of the eleven manufacturers now offer standard products with an 8.625 in. (219 mm) outside diameter, while five manufacturers offer 10.75 in. (273.1 mm) and 12.75 in. (323.9 mm) diameter products. IDEAL and Roterra also offer pile diameters ranging from 16.00 in. (406.4 mm) to 36.00 in (914.4), while Roterra offers 42.00 in (1066.8 mm) and 46.00 in. (1168.4 mm). It is also noteworthy that some manufacturers that do not list the larger diameter sizes in their literature as standard products are willing to provide quotations for these products as special orders.

IDEAL and ECP are the only two manufacturers that offer Hollow Square Tube products, which is a relatively new product in the market compared to RCS and Round Shaft helical piles and anchors.

Also, nearly all of the manufacturers now offer a grouting solution for RCS and Round Shaft products. This is the result of certain patents that have expired in recent years, and also the issuance of new patents.

Specialty Helical Pile Products

The majority of the eleven manufacturers offer specialty products such as pile caps, terminators and specialized connection products for a wide variety of markets and applications including:

Interstate highway signs and lights
Railroad signs and lights
Residential street lights
Oil and gas drilling and pipelines
Electric transmission
Solar arrays
Wind turbines

While these products are not listed on each company’s product table in this article, people interested in these products should visit manufacturers’ websites and/or contact the companies for additional information.

Engineering Support for Dealers and Installers

In addition to offering a wide variety of helical pile products, all eleven of the companies offer in-depth engineering support for their respective network of dealers and installers. This support is essential in today’s helical pile marketplace – especially for installers who do not have engineers on staff. Often times deep foundation projects can be redesigned and/or value engineered, and helical piles can be used as an alternative to other piling systems that may have been specified in the original plans.

Summary of Round Corner Square Shaft and Round Shaft Products Offered by Each Manufacturer

Click here to see a summary of all manufacturers’ product offerings

Helix Bearing Plate Options

All eleven companies offer a variety of helix bearing plates with the most common sizes ranging from 8 in (203 mm) to 14 in (406.4 mm). Several of the manufacturers offer larger diameter bearing plates up to 48 in (1219.2 mm) in diameter and steel thickness ranging from 0.375 in (9.5 mm) to 2.00 in (50.8 mm).

As you can see in the product tables for each company, there are also options available for both the thickness and the grade of steel to be used when manufacturing the bearing plates – greater thickness and/or higher steel grades to achieve greater bearing capacity.

Section Coupling Methods

Nearly all manufacturers specify bolted connections for their smaller diameter Round Corner Square and Round Shaft piles. For the larger diameter piles, welding is the most predominant coupling method, while a few manufacturers offer the option of threaded connections.

Ram Jack is the only manufacturer that offers a threaded coupling method for all of its products as standard. They offer bolted connections as an option.

Techno Metal Post is the only company that specifies welding to be used to couple pile sections for all of its products. The company does offer bolted connection options upon special request.

While the MPS Civil coupling method utilizes bolts as well, the bolts are used in conjunction with a male-female square engagement coupling method. According to company literature, this patented method is designed to virtually eliminate bolt-hole elongation as the bolts are not put in shear during pile installation.

Corrosion Protection Options

All eleven manufacturers offer the black or bare steel option – no coating. All the manufacturers also offer hot dip galvanizing to ASTM specifications as an option for corrosion protection.

Ram Jack is the only manufacturer that offers polymer coating as standard per the ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria AC 228.

Building Code Certifications

Certifications by code officials are issued for each helical pile product separately as submitted by manufacturers. Manufacturers can receive certifications for multiple products, but each product they choose to submit must pass the corresponding acceptance criteria testing. There are national building code certifications for the U.S (International Code Council ICC-ES) and Canada (Canadian Construction Materials Centre (CCMC). Most of the eleven manufacturers have obtained ICC-ES ESR certifications for products. A fewer number have also obtained CCMC certifications.

In addition, there are some local code certifications at the city, county or state level. Several manufacturers have earned some of these certifications for certain products. It is important to note that these certifications are issued for Round Corner Square and Round Shaft products. Currently the maximum outside diameter for a helical pile that can qualify for ICC-ES certification is 4.50 in (114.3 mm).

Code certifications for specific helical pile products are noted on each manufacturer’s product table (see below).

ECP

Click Here To Access ECP Helical Pile Product Table

Earth Contact Products

15612 South Keeler Terrace

Olathe, KS 66062

866-327-0007

www.earthcontactproducts.com

GoliathTech Screw Piles

Click Here to Access GoliathTech Helical Pile Product Table

GoliathTech Screw Piles

175, rue Peladeau