Mistakes That Can Be Made During DIY Boiler Repairs

Safety valves play an important role in preventing many boiler accidents in industrial establishments. While a safety valve may look like a simple boiler component to repair, several mistakes can be made when a non-professional attempts to fix a defective safety valve. This article discusses some mistakes that a boiler inspector may find and yet you had failed to notice that a novice had made those mistakes.

Addition or Removal of Components

A worker in your industry may decide to take it upon himself or herself to repair a faulty safety valve. As he or she does so, he or she may remove or add a component to the valve assembly. Such an addition or removal may compromise the proper functioning of that valve. For instance, it may be risky for that person to add a plug into the nozzle of a safety valve in order to stop steam from leaking. Such an addition can cause the safety valve to stop working altogether.

Use of Wrong Springs

Springs help to move the safety valve so that any excess pressure is released before it causes some boiler components to burst. A worker who is not trained to repair boilers may use a wrong spring without knowing it. For instance, that person may select a smaller spring to replace a defective one. When a smaller spring is used, pressure may be released from the boiler before it has exceeded the safe levels. This can cause the boiler to consume more fuel than necessary. When a bigger spring is used, any excess pressure may take too long to be released even if it has exceeded the safe limits of that boiler. This can put your personnel and machinery at great risk of injury and damage when boiler components fail under the high pressure.

Mishandling of Valve Components

The DIY repair approach may also result in the over-tightening of the safety valve when one is using a vice to disassemble the safety valve components. This can cause cracks to develop on the surface of the valve. Such cracks can eventually make the valve to fail while the boiler is in operation. Alternatively, the valve may be misaligned after reassembly because the individual accidentally caused it to be deformed as he or she tightened it excessively during the reassembly process.

As you can see from the discussion above, it is very important for you to issue strict instructions to the effect that only trained technicians should repair boiler components. Other employees in the industrial complex should never attempt to repair the boiler because they may inadvertently cause problems that are more serious when the repair is done wrongly. It may also be advisable to have a boiler or pressure equipment inspection done by a third party on a routine basis so that any problems are detected before they compromise the safety of the boiler assembly.

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