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Posted By el nino
El Nino must confess his ignorance when it comes to compressed air - I ask for your help.
Is it acceptable to do maintenance work on equipment where you remove the compressed air feed line whilst the system is live / charged ( we are looking at pressures between .5 and 3 bar )? The line is then open with no safety valve.
What is best practice?
El Nino thanks you in advance.
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Posted By Mike Palfrey
The hazards of pressure are sometimes underestimated. Think of pressure as stored energy.
A jet of .5 Bar is enough to cause eye damage. think aerosol can type pressures. 3 bar is about 43 psi, more than in the average car tyre. This is enough pressure to propel any part that is being removed straight into the face of the operator!
Best advice is never work or break into any system that contains pressure.
Make sure that the air is not required for any safety critical components elsewhere is your system and then shut off and lock off the feed supply and make sure the system is fully vented before you break into any lines. There should be a vent valve somewhere in any pressurised system that can safely vent the pressure.
Then double check the system is flat.
You say there are no relief valves? Get some fitted!
Hope this helps
Regards
Mike
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Posted By MichaelM
Hello El Nino
Only competent people should work with pressure systems and they would make sure it was not live.
Michael
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Posted By Frank Hallett
Evening all!
You don't identify just what the equipment is, nor exactly what you mean with the disconnection, maintenance and open end situation; but it's not acceptable.
May I refer you to the Pressure Systems Safety regs and the Pressure Equipment Regs for the answers to this and many other related questions that you haven't yet asked.
Drop me an email if you really need help.
Frank Hallett
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Posted By el nino
El Nino thanks you all for your responses - I am now on the right track and having some interesting conversations on the subject with our teams.
Have you ever come across this one - cleaning paint brushes by placing them inside an upside down cardboard box, punching a hole in the box for an airline and then blasting them with compressed air!!!!????
El Nino
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Posted By John Beadle
Reference the brush cleaning; I believe you need to get to grips with some seriously dangerous practices before you have a serious possible fatal accident. An awareness of the dangers of compressed air needs to be put in place. I hope your next thread is not about cleaning down overalls whilst wearing them with an air gun.
John
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Posted By Merv Newman
This all comes back to an effective lock-out system. Before breaking into a pressure line, or any equipment which may contain stored energy, liquids or gases, the source must be isolated and the system purged. Then, for the "first break" the person should protect themselves AS IF there were stilled stored energy etc. in the line. Where air pressure is concerned face/eye and hand protection is a must. even as low as 0.3 bar, 5psi. After the "first break" normal work PPE should be sufficient.
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