Welcome Guest! The IOSH forums are a free resource to both members and non-members. Login or register to use them

Postings made by forum users are personal opinions. IOSH is not responsible for the content or accuracy of any of the information contained in forum postings. Please carefully consider any advice you receive.

Notification

Icon
Error

Options
Go to last post Go to first unread
Admin  
#1 Posted : 28 June 2001 08:57:00(UTC)
Rank: Guest
Admin

Posted By David Neilson I am looking for information regarding the reliability of pressure relief valves for a steam duty. So far I have one reference from an IChemE guide, but I am struggling to find any evidence to either support or contradict it. Can anyone out there help me ?
Admin  
#2 Posted : 28 June 2001 10:58:00(UTC)
Rank: Guest
Admin

Posted By David Allan David, With long and bitter experience of these valves leaking and the potential for serious faults if they go wrng by relieving too early or tooo late or by leaking post lift I agree it is imperative that they are set correctly. Off the top of my head I cannot remember the details (no longer in main stream engineering). However, in the past we used the Furmanite "trevitest" for getting our valves set up very accurately. Contact them on Furmanite International Limited (Head Office): Furman House Shap Road Kendal Cumbria LA9 6RU Phone: + 44 (0) 1539 729009 Fax: +44 (0) 1539 729359 Email: uk.enquiry@furmanite.co.uk They should have the expertise to help. Our own equipment had 2 sets of steam relief valves one set lower than the other to make sure they covered the potential range of tolerance and to ensure that volume could be relieved if there was a significant transient. Hope this helps some David Allan
Admin  
#3 Posted : 05 July 2001 17:55:00(UTC)
Rank: Guest
Admin

Posted By George Wedgwood This topic is fairly specialised and was one with which I was intimately involved some years ago, leading up to a specific concern that the HSE had about valve set-point reliability. There will be quite a lot of HSE words on the subject and Alan Smith was one engineer involved on their behalf. Also involved was the Electricity Industry National Interest Group (NIG)-(David Left, who could direct you to the material and whom I know still leads that NIG) Basically, the requirement under PSSR (Pressure Systems Safety regulations 2000) is for the written scheme of examination to specify inspection and test periods for all parts of the pressure system, including safety and relief valves (as protective devices) and these should be clearly identified, their safe operating limits specified and periods for inspection and test written down and signed by the Competent Person (formal appointment by the employer for pressure systems - usually the engineering inspection company such as Royal & SunAlliance Engineering Limited). Incidentally you also talk to Alan Fitzpatric at RSA Engineering (0161 235 3000 or email at alan.fitz@uk.royalsun.com) and he will talk you through the problems and solutions - he is a friend so mention my name. Such valves are notorious for having their set-points vary in use so regular bench testing or in-situ testing like Trevi Testing by Furmanite can be useful for the larger valves. What you can't do is ignore them and if tasked by the HSE, you should be able to demonstrate that you have a management system for your pressure system and protective devices. You can get some detail on such a system through Croners Publications - Management of Industrial Safety if it is still available, as I wrote a Chapter on this some years ago and it is still valid. If you have any problems with that, contact me on george.wedgwood@pgen.com or call 07836 718908. However, do read the Guidance on the PSSR 2000 and I think you will find it helpful (ISBN 0-7176-1767-X, Price £7.50 from HSE Books). I hope this helps. Regards, George
Users browsing this topic
Guest
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.