Easy fix for low pressure beer barrels
- Thread starter Bernie R
- Start date
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- leaking barrel
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Drunkula
Landlord.
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Aye, but if some kiddy were riding that pressure barrel around the garden like a Space Hopper and the ensuing fizzification of said beer juices causes a rupture that hurled that babby intah actual space like one of them Eel on a Rusk rockets then your neighbours would be on tut council quick as flash. Think on that, sonny jim.
I never mess with any pressure relief device. :wave:
An example of what can happen when pressure rated equipment is abused.
Back in 1979, I was responsible for signing off a series of pressure tests on a brand new gas plant in Iran. I was called out to witness a test that was holding Test Pressure at 2,250psi. The first thing to do is always to check out the Test Equipment before making sure that the valves are open, so that what is being read on the gauge is actually what is being subjected to the test pressure. (Construction Engineers will try every trick in the book to get a Test signed off!)
I straddled the piping to check the Test Date on the gauge and was following the path of the piping when I noticed the plate on top of the system's Check Valve had an ASME 600# rating. I backed away gently before informing the Construction Engineer in charge that I wouldn't be coming back until the check-valve had been changed. "That 600 doesn't mean 600 psi you know!" he said. I pointed out that I didn't know exactly what an ASME 600# flange was rated at, but that I sincerely doubted that it was 2,250psi. A check back in my Portakabin told me that an ASME 600# rated flange is Tested to 2,250 but rated for normal use at only 1,480psi so I felt pretty happy with my decision.
An hour later the Engineer returned and told me they had renewed the check valve and asked me to come and sign the test papers. I returned to discover that the "replacement" check valve was installed so that the ASME rating couldn't be read without dismantling the Test Rig.
I told the Engineer that I didn't believe for one second that he had replaced the check valve, told him to shove his test where the monkey put its nuts and left the site for a four day break. Before leaving the site I told my relief the story and warned him about the check-valve.
When I got back, my relief took great pleasure in showing me a deep gouge that had been made in the plant's concrete flooring and a hand-sized "dent" in the concrete base of a nearby tower. The damage had been caused when the ASME 600# flange had parted company with the check-valve as the Construction Engineer had been pressurising the rig up for another 2,250psi test!
My relief pointed out "He was lucky that the flange was pointing downwards eh?"
"Lucky" didn't exactly reflect my own thoughts on the Construction Engineer himself; and my testicles still twitch at the thought of what might have happened to them as I straddled the check valve!:wave:
PS
When I next checked, the Test Rig sported a brand new ASME 1500# rated check-valve which was spot on for the pressure tests we were running!
Happy Days! :thumb:
Back in 1979, I was responsible for signing off a series of pressure tests on a brand new gas plant in Iran. I was called out to witness a test that was holding Test Pressure at 2,250psi. The first thing to do is always to check out the Test Equipment before making sure that the valves are open, so that what is being read on the gauge is actually what is being subjected to the test pressure. (Construction Engineers will try every trick in the book to get a Test signed off!)
I straddled the piping to check the Test Date on the gauge and was following the path of the piping when I noticed the plate on top of the system's Check Valve had an ASME 600# rating. I backed away gently before informing the Construction Engineer in charge that I wouldn't be coming back until the check-valve had been changed. "That 600 doesn't mean 600 psi you know!" he said. I pointed out that I didn't know exactly what an ASME 600# flange was rated at, but that I sincerely doubted that it was 2,250psi. A check back in my Portakabin told me that an ASME 600# rated flange is Tested to 2,250 but rated for normal use at only 1,480psi so I felt pretty happy with my decision.
An hour later the Engineer returned and told me they had renewed the check valve and asked me to come and sign the test papers. I returned to discover that the "replacement" check valve was installed so that the ASME rating couldn't be read without dismantling the Test Rig.
I told the Engineer that I didn't believe for one second that he had replaced the check valve, told him to shove his test where the monkey put its nuts and left the site for a four day break. Before leaving the site I told my relief the story and warned him about the check-valve.
When I got back, my relief took great pleasure in showing me a deep gouge that had been made in the plant's concrete flooring and a hand-sized "dent" in the concrete base of a nearby tower. The damage had been caused when the ASME 600# flange had parted company with the check-valve as the Construction Engineer had been pressurising the rig up for another 2,250psi test!
My relief pointed out "He was lucky that the flange was pointing downwards eh?"
"Lucky" didn't exactly reflect my own thoughts on the Construction Engineer himself; and my testicles still twitch at the thought of what might have happened to them as I straddled the check valve!:wave:
PS
When I next checked, the Test Rig sported a brand new ASME 1500# rated check-valve which was spot on for the pressure tests we were running!
Happy Days! :thumb:
