First Valve Repair Event

Repair and maintenance is one of the most critical areas of today’s valve world and attendees at the Valve Repair Council’s first Valve Repair Meeting & Exhibition last fall found out why. From the value of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tagging to the latest proposed standards, speakers brought their audiences up to date while vendors to the industry showed the latest in products and services that can keep this nation’s facilities in tip-top shape.

The November 2012 event took place in Houston. Here are some highlights from the presentations made at the conference:

PRV Reliability

To keep the nation’s industries running smoothly requires a way to test and assure that valves and other equipment are operating like they should. The presentations began with Joseph F. Ball, P.E., director of the Pressure Relief Department at the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors, who presented findings from a survey of nearly 22,000 tests of reliability for pressure relief valves (PRVs). The sample included data from the national board’s test lab and other accepted test labs and started from the year 2000. The standards for testing come from the ASME pressure vessel code. To ensure that facilities meet those standards, inspectors check out the manufacture and assembly process, then test valves chosen from stock. The valves in this sample of 22,000 reliability studies were tested with air, steam and water.

While about 85% of tested valves passed (figures that look positive), Ball pointed out that this means a 15% failure rate (Figure 1).

He also said that, while not all failures are critical, those that fall into the critical range include those with set pressure higher than 116%, valve capacity less than half of what the valve is rated, and rupture disc failures to open. He stressed that the codes and standards are vital and that it is important to recognize the value of ASME Code/NB Certification and Repair Certification. These tight requirements provide extra margins for safety, and the test issues cause suppliers to be more vigilant than might otherwise be the case. He also said it’s important for valve users to provide feedback on any issues they have come up against, and if there is any suspicion about the validity of certification, they should go to the national board.

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