Steam line fitting blew on me during a startup at the paper mill in Tacoma last Tuesday

I was bringing a high pressure steam line up to temp and a 2 inch flange gasket just let go right when I hit 150 psi. Had to lock out the whole section and wait for it to cool before I could pull the bolts and replace the gasket. Anyone else run into gaskets failing on initial startup like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

theagarcia9d ago

Gasket said "I'm out" faster than my ex during rent week.

grace5659d ago

Gaskets letting go during warm up is a classic problem when the torque sequence wasn't dialed in right during the last maintenance... happens more than people want to admit. Thermal expansion puts uneven stress on the flange faces and the gasket just finds the path of least resistance. A slow, careful warm up with a couple extra bolts torqued to spec usually helps avoid those sudden blowouts.