Apparatus and method having multiple operating modes for fusing polyethylene pipe

A multi-mode butt fusion machine for joining sections of polyethylene (PE) pipe, comprising:

• a carriage assembly powered by a hydraulic system embodied in the fusion machine;
• a carriage controller of the fusion machine operatively coupled to a carriage display and to at least one hand-operated control;
• a non-volatile memory in the carriage controller;
• and
• programmed instructions stored in the non-volatile memory including a set-up sequence of the carriage controller to prepare the carriage assembly for selectively operating the fusion machine in three independently selectable manual, automatic, and semi-automatic modes for fusing PE pipe ends together in a heat fusion process;
• wherein
• selection of the semi-automatic mode includes a sequence of steps of the programmed instructions having at least one step of requiring intervention by an operator before resuming execution of the sequence of steps.