Tag
#maintenance
8 topics across all disciplines.
Gaskets and bolting — why most flange leaks are assembly, not hardware
How a bolted joint actually seals, reading a spiral wound gasket by its colours, choosing stud and nut materials, and the bolt-up sequence that decides whether any of it works.
Expansion joints and bellows — pressure thrust and why they are the last resort
What a bellows can and cannot absorb, the pressure thrust that dwarfs the thermal force it was fitted to relieve, tied and hinged and gimbal arrangements, guide spacing, cycle life, and the installation errors that kill them early.
Spring hanger selection — variable, constant, and the pin nobody pulled
Choosing a spring for a line that moves vertically. Hot and cold load, the load variation limit and when it forces a constant effort unit, travel and rod swing, why the pointer is the most useful thing on a walkdown, and the installation errors that make a spring worse than no spring.
Access, operability and maintenance space — what the plant is judged on afterwards
Valve reach and stem orientation, why a chain operator is a confession, platforms and the dead-end with one ladder, headroom, bundle pull and rotor withdrawal, drop-out areas and davits, and the model review that is the last chance to find any of it.
Risk-based inspection — deciding what to inspect, and how often
Why nobody inspects everything equally, how likelihood and consequence combine into an inspection plan, why naming the damage mechanism is the whole job, and the ways an RBI programme quietly goes wrong.
Ex installation and inspection — where compliance is actually won or lost
Certified equipment is the easy part. Glands, unused entries, flame paths, IS segregation and the inspection regime are where hazardous area compliance is genuinely decided.
Inspecting and repairing structures — the other forty years
Construction is a small part of a plant's life. What degrades, why the worst mechanisms are the hidden ones, how risk-based inspection decides where to look, and why structures quietly become overloaded.
Permit to work — how a plant decides a job is safe to start
What a permit actually is and what it is not, why proving an isolation matters more than making one, why confined spaces kill rescuers, and the ways a permit system quietly becomes paperwork.