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No.1011
Leaking Gas Valves - Cause for Concern?
Periodically Combustion Safety Inc. comes across little known safety items or procedures that can greatly enhance a plant's ability to safely maintain combustion equipment. We developed email-based Combustion Safety Program Updates to more completely get the word out. Let us know if this update helped.
Engineers at Combustion Safety, Inc. have recently reviewed the results of more than 1,000 gas-fired boiler inspections conducted over the past three years. Approximately 500 of these were primarily industrial field erected boilers in the range from 50,000 to 150,000 pph. We have also tested more than 500 smaller boilers in the 500 to 10,000 pph range during the same period of time. We have found that automatic valves fail the recommended tightness test at the rate of 10 - 15% for large size boilers and 2 - 3% for smaller boilers.
Our analysis indicates that in about 75% of the cases it has been the blocking valve that leaked excessively and not the safety shut-off valve. Therefore, we decided to investigate further and explain the following important issues:
- Why are so many valves leaking?
- Why is it typically the blocking valve?
- What can be done to reduce the probability of a leaking valve, and the risk of a possible explosion or fire at your site?
To find out the possible causes and suggested remedies, click here.
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