steam safety valve free sample

A safety valve must always be sized and able to vent any source of steam so that the pressure within the protected apparatus cannot exceed the maximum allowable accumulated pressure (MAAP). This not only means that the valve has to be positioned correctly, but that it is also correctly set. The safety valve must then also be sized correctly, enabling it to pass the required amount of steam at the required pressure under all possible fault conditions.

Once the type of safety valve has been established, along with its set pressure and its position in the system, it is necessary to calculate the required discharge capacity of the valve. Once this is known, the required orifice area and nominal size can be determined using the manufacturer’s specifications.

In order to establish the maximum capacity required, the potential flow through all the relevant branches, upstream of the valve, need to be considered.

In applications where there is more than one possible flow path, the sizing of the safety valve becomes more complicated, as there may be a number of alternative methods of determining its size. Where more than one potential flow path exists, the following alternatives should be considered:

This choice is determined by the risk of two or more devices failing simultaneously. If there is the slightest chance that this may occur, the valve must be sized to allow the combined flows of the failed devices to be discharged. However, where the risk is negligible, cost advantages may dictate that the valve should only be sized on the highest fault flow. The choice of method ultimately lies with the company responsible for insuring the plant.

For example, consider the pressure vessel and automatic pump-trap (APT) system as shown in Figure 9.4.1. The unlikely situation is that both the APT and pressure reducing valve (PRV ‘A’) could fail simultaneously. The discharge capacity of safety valve ‘A’ would either be the fault load of the largest PRV, or alternatively, the combined fault load of both the APT and PRV ‘A’.

This document recommends that where multiple flow paths exist, any relevant safety valve should, at all times, be sized on the possibility that relevant upstream pressure control valves may fail simultaneously.

The supply pressure of this system (Figure 9.4.2) is limited by an upstream safety valve with a set pressure of 11.6 bar g. The fault flow through the PRV can be determined using the steam mass flow equation (Equation 3.21.2):

Once the fault load has been determined, it is usually sufficient to size the safety valve using the manufacturer’s capacity charts. A typical example of a capacity chart is shown in Figure 9.4.3. By knowing the required set pressure and discharge capacity, it is possible to select a suitable nominal size. In this example, the set pressure is 4 bar g and the fault flow is 953 kg/h. A DN32/50 safety valve is required with a capacity of 1 284 kg/h.

Coefficients of discharge are specific to any particular safety valve range and will be approved by the manufacturer. If the valve is independently approved, it is given a ‘certified coefficient of discharge’.

This figure is often derated by further multiplying it by a safety factor 0.9, to give a derated coefficient of discharge. Derated coefficient of discharge is termed Kdr= Kd x 0.9

Critical and sub-critical flow - the flow of gas or vapour through an orifice, such as the flow area of a safety valve, increases as the downstream pressure is decreased. This holds true until the critical pressure is reached, and critical flow is achieved. At this point, any further decrease in the downstream pressure will not result in any further increase in flow.

A relationship (called the critical pressure ratio) exists between the critical pressure and the actual relieving pressure, and, for gases flowing through safety valves, is shown by Equation 9.4.2.

For steam, although ‘k’ is an isentropic coefficient, it is not actually the ratio of cp : c. As an approximation for saturated steam, ‘k’ can be taken as 1.135, and superheated steam, as 1.3. As a guide, for saturated steam, critical pressure is taken as 58% of accumulated inlet pressure in absolute terms.

Overpressure - Before sizing, the design overpressure of the valve must be established. It is not permitted to calculate the capacity of the valve at a lower overpressure than that at which the coefficient of discharge was established. It is however, permitted to use a higher overpressure (see Table 9.2.1, Module 9.2, for typical overpressure values). For DIN type full lift (Vollhub) valves, the design lift must be achieved at 5% overpressure, but for sizing purposes, an overpressure value of 10% may be used.

For liquid applications, the overpressure is 10% according to AD-Merkblatt A2, DIN 3320, TRD 421 and ASME, but for non-certified ASME valves, it is quite common for a figure of 25% to be used.

Two-phase flow - When sizing safety valves for boiling liquids (e.g. hot water) consideration must be given to vaporisation (flashing) during discharge. It is assumed that the medium is in liquid state when the safety valve is closed and that, when the safety valve opens, part of the liquid vaporises due to the drop in pressure through the safety valve. The resulting flow is referred to as two-phase flow.

The required flow area has to be calculated for the liquid and vapour components of the discharged fluid. The sum of these two areas is then used to select the appropriate orifice size from the chosen valve range. (see Example 9.4.3)

In order to ensure that the maximum allowable accumulation pressure of any system or apparatus protected by a safety valve is never exceeded, careful consideration of the safety valve’s position in the system has to be made. As there is such a wide range of applications, there is no absolute rule as to where the valve should be positioned and therefore, every application needs to be treated separately.

A common steam application for a safety valve is to protect process equipment supplied from a pressure reducing station. Two possible arrangements are shown in Figure 9.3.3.

The safety valve can be fitted within the pressure reducing station itself, that is, before the downstream stop valve, as in Figure 9.3.3 (a), or further downstream, nearer the apparatus as in Figure 9.3.3 (b). Fitting the safety valve before the downstream stop valve has the following advantages:

• The safety valve can be tested in-line by shutting down the downstream stop valve without the chance of downstream apparatus being over pressurised, should the safety valve fail under test.

• When setting the PRV under no-load conditions, the operation of the safety valve can be observed, as this condition is most likely to cause ‘simmer’. If this should occur, the PRV pressure can be adjusted to below the safety valve reseat pressure.

Indeed, a separate safety valve may have to be fitted on the inlet to each downstream piece of apparatus, when the PRV supplies several such pieces of apparatus.

• If supplying one piece of apparatus, which has a MAWP pressure less than the PRV supply pressure, the apparatus must be fitted with a safety valve, preferably close-coupled to its steam inlet connection.

• If a PRV is supplying more than one apparatus and the MAWP of any item is less than the PRV supply pressure, either the PRV station must be fitted with a safety valve set at the lowest possible MAWP of the connected apparatus, or each item of affected apparatus must be fitted with a safety valve.

• The safety valve must be located so that the pressure cannot accumulate in the apparatus viaanother route, for example, from a separate steam line or a bypass line.

It could be argued that every installation deserves special consideration when it comes to safety, but the following applications and situations are a little unusual and worth considering:

• Fire - Any pressure vessel should be protected from overpressure in the event of fire. Although a safety valve mounted for operational protection may also offer protection under fire conditions,such cases require special consideration, which is beyond the scope of this text.

• Exothermic applications - These must be fitted with a safety valve close-coupled to the apparatus steam inlet or the body direct. No alternative applies.

• Safety valves used as warning devices - Sometimes, safety valves are fitted to systems as warning devices. They are not required to relieve fault loads but to warn of pressures increasing above normal working pressures for operational reasons only. In these instances, safety valves are set at the warning pressure and only need to be of minimum size. If there is any danger of systems fitted with such a safety valve exceeding their maximum allowable working pressure, they must be protected by additional safety valves in the usual way.

In order to illustrate the importance of the positioning of a safety valve, consider an automatic pump trap (see Block 14) used to remove condensate from a heating vessel. The automatic pump trap (APT), incorporates a mechanical type pump, which uses the motive force of steam to pump the condensate through the return system. The position of the safety valve will depend on the MAWP of the APT and its required motive inlet pressure.

This arrangement is suitable if the pump-trap motive pressure is less than 1.6 bar g (safety valve set pressure of 2 bar g less 0.3 bar blowdown and a 0.1 bar shut-off margin). Since the MAWP of both the APT and the vessel are greater than the safety valve set pressure, a single safety valve would provide suitable protection for the system.

Here, two separate PRV stations are used each with its own safety valve. If the APT internals failed and steam at 4 bar g passed through the APT and into the vessel, safety valve ‘A’ would relieve this pressure and protect the vessel. Safety valve ‘B’ would not lift as the pressure in the APT is still acceptable and below its set pressure.

It should be noted that safety valve ‘A’ is positioned on the downstream side of the temperature control valve; this is done for both safety and operational reasons:

Operation - There is less chance of safety valve ‘A’ simmering during operation in this position,as the pressure is typically lower after the control valve than before it.

Also, note that if the MAWP of the pump-trap were greater than the pressure upstream of PRV ‘A’, it would be permissible to omit safety valve ‘B’ from the system, but safety valve ‘A’ must be sized to take into account the total fault flow through PRV ‘B’ as well as through PRV ‘A’.

A pharmaceutical factory has twelve jacketed pans on the same production floor, all rated with the same MAWP. Where would the safety valve be positioned?

One solution would be to install a safety valve on the inlet to each pan (Figure 9.3.6). In this instance, each safety valve would have to be sized to pass the entire load, in case the PRV failed open whilst the other eleven pans were shut down.

If additional apparatus with a lower MAWP than the pans (for example, a shell and tube heat exchanger) were to be included in the system, it would be necessary to fit an additional safety valve. This safety valve would be set to an appropriate lower set pressure and sized to pass the fault flow through the temperature control valve (see Figure 9.3.8).

My name is Kelly Paffel, Technical Manager for Inveno Engineering, LLC, located in Tampa, Florida. We are an engineering firm focused on steam and condensate systems. Today I want to talk about steam safety valves: sizing, selection, installation, best practices. Steam safety valves installed wherever the maximum allowable working steam pressure of a system or over pressurizing a containing vessel is likely to be exceeded. In particular under fault conditions due to a failure of another piece of equipment in the system.

The typical system we have a pressure inducing valve here. We have a pressure 200 PSI here. And our equipment down here is only rated for 150 PSI, then we need to protect it with a safety relief valve. And typically, that safety relief valve will be set for the lowest rated equipment or component in the system; pressure and temperature rating.

The codes for this steam safety valve is governed by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). ASME, through its committees, has established Boiler and Pressure Vessel Codes for safety though rules and formulas indicating a good practice. The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors has the authority to verify, administer and enforce this ASME code wherever it has been adopted. Therefore any safety valve that we must follow the code set out by ASME and under the jurisdiction of the national report.

Steam safety valve codes. In the steam system, we look at section one which is for the boilers or power boilers. Section 4 is for heating boilers and section 8 is for pressure vessels out there away from the boiler in the steam system. So, anything away from the boiler, we’re typically looking at section 8, safety valves. The example shows right here, this picture here shows the safety valve located on the boiler, which is going to be section 1.

The code stamps and it’s meaning, we have A, M, N, PP, S, U, U2, UV, and V. So these are the codes and these are the meanings of the code. For example, PP is pressure piping, S is for power boilers, U is for pressure vessels, and V is for boiler safety valves.

We’re going to discuss sizing and selection of a safety valve. We’re looking at the design type. The design type can be the standard safety valve, which is shown here, or we can use pilot operated. Then we have body drains, a lifting device here. Some people prefer to have a lifting device, some people do not prefer. Of course the materials here have to be rated for the max pressure and temperature of the system. So that depends on the material, so if we get in to the higher pressures, when we’re dealing with super heat, then materials have to be selected for that super heat pressure and temperature.

The sealing adjustments typically is adjustments here for the over pressurization in blow down, and the set point tolerance has got to be come up with on safety valves. Now, we’re now getting into the details on the internals of the safety valve and we’re going to talk about the selection process.

So here’s a typical application, we’re going to do this for pressure reduction. So we’re reducing steam pressure here, downstream here. Our equipment downstream, we have a device that only rated for 100PSI, 338 degrees. So we’re going to have to put in a safety valve here. So we’re reducing the pressure here to 50PSI for our operation, but we have to protect the system which is going to be 100PSI chain.

Now, the thing is that we typically have a 10 percent differential between the operating set pressures recommended, and the thing is that this pressure differential would be, if we’re operating at 100PSI, or our safety valve is set for 100PSI and we want to operate at 90PSI or lower. That’s due to, the safety valve can go into, what we call simmer[inaudible 00:05:27] so we want to be at least 10 percent away from our set pressure of our safety valve for the operating pressure of the system. Now, some people recommend 20 percent, and that gets into the lower pressure operation where we’re reducing pressures down to 10 or 12 PSI and we have our safety valve set there for 5PSI. So if my system safety valve is set for 15PSI, it would operate the system at 10PSI to stay away from that simmer effect of the safety valve and that’s per code that the safety valve can go into simmer.

The total capacity of a safety valve at set pressure must exceed the control valve or pressure-reducing valve’s maximum capacity, if the valve were to fail in a fully open position. So if this valve were to fail in the fully open position, this safety valve has to be able to discharge the total capacity. Now, total capacity of the boilers, is the maximum BTU fuel input on the boiler. So the safety valve must be able to relieve the maximum steam output with the maximum BTU input to that boiler, depending on the type of fuel that you’re using for that boiler. Multiple safety valve installation is possible if the capacity can not be reached with one safety valve. It’s common to find that with boilers that we have two or three safety valves to get to the capacity that’s required for that operation.

The steam safety valves sizing designation is designated by numbers. Excuse me. Letters. So up here you’ll see the letters, here. K, L, M, N, P. That gives us the effective orifice area. So if I have a set pressure here 100 PSI, and a P orifice, we have this capacity here, which is around 37012 pounds per hour. So we look up the safety valve and see 4 by 6 P. P means the orifice inside the safety valve.

Now, a safety relief valve must be mounted in the vertical position. The reason mounted in the vertical position is a safety valve is set up as assembled or manufactured in the vertical position, so you must duplicate how the position is of the safety valve. The system must be free of dirt of course. Upstream piping connection must be at least equal to the valve, so if the end of the valve is 6 inches, then this connection valve here needs to be 6 inches.

With the steam safety valve no shutoff valve can be installed down here, and do not plug the drain valves, and the discharge lines should be no less than the full area of the valve. In the [inaudible 00:08:38] that make sure we have a drip pan elbow put onto the valve, and this just changes direction from horizontal to vertical, and increases the pipe on pipe diameter, and then the vent pipe can come down but does not make contact with the drip pan elbow. The outlet always must discharge where no one can be at harm’s way, typically to the top of the building or the unit, and cut it at a 45 degree angle to signify it’s a steam safety valve. So you cut it at a 45 degree angle, it used to be 7 feet, and this has recently changed, it’s now 10 feet above. That’s a typical installation of a safety valve.

We also have best practices up on the website, to go into more detail on safety valves, but this is just a short version to give you some idea. So if we can be of service, here is out contact information, and have a great day.

Steam and hot water boilers shall be equipped, respectively, with listed or approved steam safety or pressure-relief valves of appropriate discharge capacity and conforming with ASME requirements. A shutoff valve shall not be placed between the relief valve and the boiler or on discharge pipes between such valves and the atmosphere. [NFPA 54:10.3.6]

Boiler explosions have been responsible for widespread damage to companies throughout the years, and that’s why today’s boilers are equipped with safety valves and/or relief valves. Boiler safety valves are designed to prevent excess pressure, which is usually responsible for those devastating explosions. That said, to ensure that boiler safety valves are working properly and providing adequate protection, they must meet regulatory specifications and require ongoing maintenance and periodic testing. Without these precautions, malfunctioning safety valves may fail, resulting in potentially disastrous consequences.

Boiler safety valves are activated by upstream pressure. If the pressure exceeds a defined threshold, the valve activates and automatically releases pressure. Typically used for gas or vapor service, boiler safety valves pop fully open once a pressure threshold is reached and remain open until the boiler pressure reaches a pre-defined, safe lower pressure.

Boiler relief valves serve the same purpose – automatically lowering boiler pressure – but they function a bit differently than safety valves. A relief valve doesn’t open fully when pressure exceeds a defined threshold; instead, it opens gradually when the pressure threshold is exceeded and closes gradually until the lower, safe threshold is reached. Boiler relief valves are typically used for liquid service.

There are also devices known as “safety relief valves” which have the characteristics of both types discussed above. Safety relief valves can be used for either liquid or gas or vapor service.

Nameplates must be fastened securely and permanently to the safety valve and remain readable throughout the lifespan of the valve, so durability is key.

The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors offers guidance and recommendations on boiler and pressure vessel safety rules and regulations. However, most individual states set forth their own rules and regulations, and while they may be similar across states, it’s important to ensure that your boiler safety valves meet all state and local regulatory requirements.

The National Board published NB-131, Recommended Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Legislation, and NB-132, Recommended Administrative Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Rules and Regulationsin order to provide guidance and encourage the development of crucial safety laws in jurisdictions that currently have no laws in place for the “proper construction, installation, inspection, operation, maintenance, alterations, and repairs” necessary to protect workers and the public from dangerous boiler and pressure vessel explosions that may occur without these safeguards in place.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) governs the code that establishes guidelines and requirements for safety valves. Note that it’s up to plant personnel to familiarize themselves with the requirements and understand which parts of the code apply to specific parts of the plant’s steam systems.

High steam capacity requirements, physical or economic constraints may make the use of a single safety valve impossible. In these cases, using multiple safety valves on the same system is considered an acceptable practice, provided that proper sizing and installation requirements are met – including an appropriately sized vent pipe that accounts for the total steam venting capacity of all valves when open at the same time.

The lowest rating (MAWP or maximum allowable working pressure) should always be used among all safety devices within a system, including boilers, pressure vessels, and equipment piping systems, to determine the safety valve set pressure.

Avoid isolating safety valves from the system, such as by installing intervening shut-off valves located between the steam component or system and the inlet.

Contact the valve supplier immediately for any safety valve with a broken wire seal, as this indicates that the valve is unsafe for use. Safety valves are sealed and certified in order to prevent tampering that can prevent proper function.

Avoid attaching vent discharge piping directly to a safety valve, which may place unnecessary weight and additional stress on the valve, altering the set pressure.

A little product education can make you look super smart to customers, which usually means more orders for everything you sell. Here’s a few things to keep in mind about safety valves, so your customers will think you’re a genius.

A safety valve is required on anything that has pressure on it. It can be a boiler (high- or low-pressure), a compressor, heat exchanger, economizer, any pressure vessel, deaerator tank, sterilizer, after a reducing valve, etc.

There are four main types of safety valves: conventional, bellows, pilot-operated, and temperature and pressure. For this column, we will deal with conventional valves.

A safety valve is a simple but delicate device. It’s just two pieces of metal squeezed together by a spring. It is passive because it just sits there waiting for system pressure to rise. If everything else in the system works correctly, then the safety valve will never go off.

A safety valve is NOT 100% tight up to the set pressure. This is VERY important. A safety valve functions a little like a tea kettle. As the temperature rises in the kettle, it starts to hiss and spit when the water is almost at a boil. A safety valve functions the same way but with pressure not temperature. The set pressure must be at least 10% above the operating pressure or 5 psig, whichever is greater. So, if a system is operating at 25 psig, then the minimum set pressure of the safety valve would be 30 psig.

Most valve manufacturers prefer a 10 psig differential just so the customer has fewer problems. If a valve is positioned after a reducing valve, find out the max pressure that the equipment downstream can handle. If it can handle 40 psig, then set the valve at 40. If the customer is operating at 100 psig, then 110 would be the minimum. If the max pressure in this case is 150, then set it at 150. The equipment is still protected and they won’t have as many problems with the safety valve.

Here’s another reason the safety valve is set higher than the operating pressure: When it relieves, it needs room to shut off. This is called BLOWDOWN. In a steam and air valve there is at least one if not two adjusting rings to help control blowdown. They are adjusted to shut the valve off when the pressure subsides to 6% below the set pressure. There are variations to 6% but for our purposes it is good enough. So, if you operate a boiler at 100 psig and you set the safety valve at 105, it will probably leak. But if it didn’t, the blowdown would be set at 99, and the valve would never shut off because the operating pressure would be greater than the blowdown.

All safety valves that are on steam or air are required by code to have a test lever. It can be a plain open lever or a completely enclosed packed lever.

Safety valves are sized by flow rate not by pipe size. If a customer wants a 12″ safety valve, ask them the flow rate and the pressure setting. It will probably turn out that they need an 8×10 instead of a 12×16. Safety valves are not like gate valves. If you have a 12″ line, you put in a 12″ gate valve. If safety valves are sized too large, they will not function correctly. They will chatter and beat themselves to death.

Safety valves need to be selected for the worst possible scenario. If you are sizing a pressure reducing station that has 150 psig steam being reduced to 10 psig, you need a safety valve that is rated for 150 psig even though it is set at 15. You can’t put a 15 psig low-pressure boiler valve after the reducing valve because the body of the valve must to be able to handle the 150 psig of steam in case the reducing valve fails.

The seating surface in a safety valve is surprisingly small. In a 3×4 valve, the seating surface is 1/8″ wide and 5″ around. All it takes is one pop with a piece of debris going through and it can leak. Here’s an example: Folgers had a plant in downtown Kansas City that had a 6×8 DISCONTINUED Consolidated 1411Q set at 15 psig. The valve was probably 70 years old. We repaired it, but it leaked when plant maintenance put it back on. It was after a reducing valve, and I asked him if he played with the reducing valve and brought the pressure up to pop the safety valve. He said no, but I didn’t believe him. I told him the valve didn’t leak when it left our shop and to send it back.

If there is a problem with a safety valve, 99% of the time it is not the safety valve or the company that set it. There may be other reasons that the pressure is rising in the system before the safety valve. Some ethanol plants have a problem on starting up their boilers. The valves are set at 150 and they operate at 120 but at startup the pressure gets away from them and there is a spike, which creates enough pressure to cause a leak until things get under control.

If your customer is complaining that the valve is leaking, ask questions before a replacement is sent out. What is the operating pressure below the safety valve? If it is too close to the set pressure then they have to lower their operating pressure or raise the set pressure on the safety valve.

Is the valve installed in a vertical position? If it is on a 45-degree angle, horizontal, or upside down then it needs to be corrected. I have heard of two valves that were upside down in my 47 years. One was on a steam tractor and the other one was on a high-pressure compressor station in the New Mexico desert. He bought a 1/4″ valve set at 5,000 psig. On the outlet side, he left the end cap in the outlet and put a pin hole in it so he could hear if it was leaking or not. He hit the switch and when it got up to 3,500 psig the end cap came flying out like a missile past his nose. I told him to turn that sucker in the right direction and he shouldn’t have any problems. I never heard from him so I guess it worked.

If the set pressure is correct, and the valve is vertical, ask if the outlet piping is supported by something other than the safety valve. If they don’t have pipe hangers or a wall or something to keep the stress off the safety valve, it will leak.

There was a plant in Springfield, Mo. that couldn’t start up because a 2″ valve was leaking on a tank. It was set at 750 psig, and the factory replaced it 5 times. We are not going to replace any valves until certain questions are answered. I was called to solve the problem. The operating pressure was 450 so that wasn’t the problem. It was in a vertical position so we moved on to the piping. You could tell the guy was on his cell phone when I asked if there was any piping on the outlet. He said while looking at the installation that he had a 2″ line coming out into a 2×3 connection going up a story into a 3×4 connection and going up another story. I asked him if there was any support for this mess, and he hung up the phone. He didn’t say thank you, goodbye, or send me a Christmas present.

The primary purpose of a safety valve is to protect life, property and the environment. Safety valves are designed to open and release excess pressure from vessels or equipment and then close again.

The function of safety valves differs depending on the load or main type of the valve. The main types of safety valves are spring-loaded, weight-loaded and controlled safety valves.

Regardless of the type or load, safety valves are set to a specific set pressure at which the medium is discharged in a controlled manner, thus preventing overpressure of the equipment. In dependence of several parameters such as the contained medium, the set pressure is individual for each safety application.

A little product education can make you look super smart to customers, which usually means more orders for everything you sell. Here’s a few things to keep in mind about safety valves, so your customers will think you’re a genius.

A safety valve is required on anything that has pressure on it. It can be a boiler (high- or low-pressure), a compressor, heat exchanger, economizer, any pressure vessel, deaerator tank, sterilizer, after a reducing valve, etc.

There are four main types of safety valves: conventional, bellows, pilot-operated, and temperature and pressure. For this column, we will deal with conventional valves.

A safety valve is a simple but delicate device. It’s just two pieces of metal squeezed together by a spring. It is passive because it just sits there waiting for system pressure to rise. If everything else in the system works correctly, then the safety valve will never go off.

A safety valve is NOT 100% tight up to the set pressure. This is VERY important. A safety valve functions a little like a tea kettle. As the temperature rises in the kettle, it starts to hiss and spit when the water is almost at a boil. A safety valve functions the same way but with pressure not temperature. The set pressure must be at least 10% above the operating pressure or 5 psig, whichever is greater. So, if a system is operating at 25 psig, then the minimum set pressure of the safety valve would be 30 psig.

Most valve manufacturers prefer a 10 psig differential just so the customer has fewer problems. If a valve is positioned after a reducing valve, find out the max pressure that the equipment downstream can handle. If it can handle 40 psig, then set the valve at 40. If the customer is operating at 100 psig, then 110 would be the minimum. If the max pressure in this case is 150, then set it at 150. The equipment is still protected and they won’t have as many problems with the safety valve.

Here’s another reason the safety valve is set higher than the operating pressure: When it relieves, it needs room to shut off. This is called BLOWDOWN. In a steam and air valve there is at least one if not two adjusting rings to help control blowdown. They are adjusted to shut the valve off when the pressure subsides to 6% below the set pressure. There are variations to 6% but for our purposes it is good enough. So, if you operate a boiler at 100 psig and you set the safety valve at 105, it will probably leak. But if it didn’t, the blowdown would be set at 99, and the valve would never shut off because the operating pressure would be greater than the blowdown.

All safety valves that are on steam or air are required by code to have a test lever. It can be a plain open lever or a completely enclosed packed lever.

Safety valves are sized by flow rate not by pipe size. If a customer wants a 12″ safety valve, ask them the flow rate and the pressure setting. It will probably turn out that they need an 8×10 instead of a 12×16. Safety valves are not like gate valves. If you have a 12″ line, you put in a 12″ gate valve. If safety valves are sized too large, they will not function correctly. They will chatter and beat themselves to death.

Safety valves need to be selected for the worst possible scenario. If you are sizing a pressure reducing station that has 150 psig steam being reduced to 10 psig, you need a safety valve that is rated for 150 psig even though it is set at 15. You can’t put a 15 psig low-pressure boiler valve after the reducing valve because the body of the valve must to be able to handle the 150 psig of steam in case the reducing valve fails.

The seating surface in a safety valve is surprisingly small. In a 3×4 valve, the seating surface is 1/8″ wide and 5″ around. All it takes is one pop with a piece of debris going through and it can leak. Here’s an example: Folgers had a plant in downtown Kansas City that had a 6×8 DISCONTINUED Consolidated 1411Q set at 15 psig. The valve was probably 70 years old. We repaired it, but it leaked when plant maintenance put it back on. It was after a reducing valve, and I asked him if he played with the reducing valve and brought the pressure up to pop the safety valve. He said no, but I didn’t believe him. I told him the valve didn’t leak when it left our shop and to send it back.

If there is a problem with a safety valve, 99% of the time it is not the safety valve or the company that set it. There may be other reasons that the pressure is rising in the system before the safety valve. Some ethanol plants have a problem on starting up their boilers. The valves are set at 150 and they operate at 120 but at startup the pressure gets away from them and there is a spike, which creates enough pressure to cause a leak until things get under control.

If your customer is complaining that the valve is leaking, ask questions before a replacement is sent out. What is the operating pressure below the safety valve? If it is too close to the set pressure then they have to lower their operating pressure or raise the set pressure on the safety valve.

Is the valve installed in a vertical position? If it is on a 45-degree angle, horizontal, or upside down then it needs to be corrected. I have heard of two valves that were upside down in my 47 years. One was on a steam tractor and the other one was on a high-pressure compressor station in the New Mexico desert. He bought a 1/4″ valve set at 5,000 psig. On the outlet side, he left the end cap in the outlet and put a pin hole in it so he could hear if it was leaking or not. He hit the switch and when it got up to 3,500 psig the end cap came flying out like a missile past his nose. I told him to turn that sucker in the right direction and he shouldn’t have any problems. I never heard from him so I guess it worked.

If the set pressure is correct, and the valve is vertical, ask if the outlet piping is supported by something other than the safety valve. If they don’t have pipe hangers or a wall or something to keep the stress off the safety valve, it will leak.

There was a plant in Springfield, Mo. that couldn’t start up because a 2″ valve was leaking on a tank. It was set at 750 psig, and the factory replaced it 5 times. We are not going to replace any valves until certain questions are answered. I was called to solve the problem. The operating pressure was 450 so that wasn’t the problem. It was in a vertical position so we moved on to the piping. You could tell the guy was on his cell phone when I asked if there was any piping on the outlet. He said while looking at the installation that he had a 2″ line coming out into a 2×3 connection going up a story into a 3×4 connection and going up another story. I asked him if there was any support for this mess, and he hung up the phone. He didn’t say thank you, goodbye, or send me a Christmas present.

The Supreme Court has reinforced the theory of the First Amendment as a "safety valve," reasoning that citizens who are free to to express displeasure against government through peaceful protest will be deterred from undertaking violent means. The boundary between what is peaceful and what is violent is not always clear. For example, in this 1965 photo, Alabama State College students participated in a non-violent protest for voter rights when deputies confronted them anyway, breaking up the gathering. (AP Photo/Perry Aycock, used with permission from the Associated Press)

Under the safety valve rationale, citizens are free to make statements concerning controversial societal issues to express their displeasure against government and its policies. In assuming this right, citizens will be deterred from undertaking violent means to draw attention to their causes.

The First Amendment, in safeguarding freedom of speech, religion, peaceable assembly, and a right to petition government, embodies the safety valve theory.

These and other decisions rest on the idea that it is better to allow members of the public to judge ideas for themselves and act accordingly than to have the government act as a censure. The Court has even shown support in cases concerning obscenity or speech that incites violent action. The safety valve theory suggests that such a policy is more likely to lead to civil peace than to civil disruption.

Justice Louis D. Brandeis recognized the potential for the First Amendment to serve as a safety valve in his concurring opinion in Whitney v. California (1927) when he wrote: “fear breeds repression; . . . repression breeds hate; . . . hate menaces stable government; . . . the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies; and the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones.”

What does it take to design a practical and reliable steam sampling system? Find out what you need to know to practically implement steam sampling guidelines in your process environment.

Steam sampling is sometimes viewed as a necessary evil in a process plant. However, the absence of steam due to a boiler shutdown makes for a bad day at a refinery, petrochemical or specialty chemical plant. But one size doesn’t fit all, and a number of variables must be considered to design and implement a practical, reliable steam sampling system.

Steam sampling is a required utility for most chemical, petrochemical and refining processes. Without it, molecules don’t get cracked, reactors don’t get heated, and hopes for high yielding chemical processes don’t materialize.

Steam impurity may cause operational issues with turbines and other process equipment, corrosion of process components, and/or scaling of metal surfaces. To mitigate these risks, analysis of process steam and condensate is an important aspect of any chemical processing or refining operation. In order to achieve accurate analysis, EPRI, ASTM and ASME recommend cooling water samples to 77°F (25°C) to ensure consistent, accurate analysis.

A steam sampling system design differs from a gas phase sampling system and from a single-phase liquid sampling system. Steam changes state as its temperature and pressure change and these transitions must be accounted for to avoid inconsistent, non-representative results. As such, you should consider:

Sample probes: Sample extraction requirements differ when sampling saturated steam versus water (single phase liquid) or superheated steam (free from water droplets at the point of extraction).

Is my sample pressure > 500 psig or < 500 psig? If greater, a rod-in-tube device such as a variable pressure reducing element (VREL) is required to avoid dissociation of water and to ensure reliability. This device “spreads” the pressure drop across a large surface area vs. taking the drop across a small surface like a needle valve. A needle valve is acceptable for pressure drop for sample pressures <500 psig.

Is this sample point for grab sample only or am I feeding online analyzers? For high-pressure steam systems, online steam analysis is common. However, in cases where no online analyzer is utilized (low pressure systems), no back pressure regulator is required.

Should an automatic thermal protection safety device be used in the system? Thermal shutoff valves (TSV) are often applied for steam systems where one of the following applies: 1) Operators interact frequently with this system; 2) Expensive analyzers are part of the system; or 3) The steam sampling system is located in a high traffic area. A TSV automatically shuts off sample flow when samples exceed safe temperatures.

A means of sample relief must be provided on each sample line. Combination backpressure regulating/relief valves or variable pressure regulating valves with separate relief valves may be used. A high Cv combination back pressure/relief valve (BPRV) ensures constant sample flow and non-plugging pressure relief function and may eliminate the need for a dedicated pressure relief line.

Setup sample coolers with isolation valves so they can be drained and to provide pressure relief on the shell side of the cooler in the event of a loss of cooling water incident.

In addition, note the cooling water flow globe valve is located downstream of the cooler to maintain a backpressure and minimize cavitation and boiling of cooling water in the cooler.

Learn everything you need to know about designing and implementing a steam sampling solution in Steam Sampling 101: Basics and What Really Matters. Download your free copy now by clicking the button below.

As one of the leading manufacturers of cavity free plug valves and special valves, AZ supplies to production plants in the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, paper, food industries as well as for nuclear power plants and many other areas. Special valves for highest demands in areas with high operating pressures and aggressive, toxic or abrasive media are designed and developed together with our customers. In the 50 years of the company’s existence, AZ has continuously developed to meet the increasing requirements of customers active around the world and today AZ manufactures internationally on four continents.

Valves for industrial applicationsIn order to prevent the uncontrolled rise in pressure in pressure vessels or pressurized pipelines, a safety valve is inserted. The safety valve is designed so that it opens at a given maximum pressure, thereby relieving the line or the container. Safety valves find their use in almost all areas of the pressure vessel and pipeline construction. In cryogenics as a spring-loaded safety valve for example.

Stainless Steel Safety Relief Valve is a safety mechanism deployed in applications to prevent them from bursting under pressure. Suraj Metal Corporationis a leading manufacturer and supplier of the different types such as the Brass Safety Valveand others in various sizes and dimensions. The valves are fitted with the pipelines in a way that when the pressure goes above the threshold level, the Stainless Steel Air Safety Valveopens up and relieves the system of pressure.

This is important to prevent the pipes from being damaged or bursting under high pressure. The Stainless Steel Safety Exhaust Ball Valveis used in the exhaust systems where the temperature plays major role. When the temperature exceeds certain point, it increases pressure and the safety valve opens and balances the pressure in the system. The spring loaded boiler safety valveis used in boilers and heat exchanger systems where steam and hot water are circulated through pipes. There are different gas safety valvetypes and each of these differ in their purpose and functions. Please feel free to contact us for more information on the different types of air compressor pressure relief valveand others with pricing.

We Keep Bulk Stock of CF8 stainless steel Pressure Safety Valve at our stockyard, contact us for Free Sample & stock list, View Brass Safety Valve Dimension chart

find Stainless Steel Safety Exhaust Ball Valve Dimensions, price list, size chart here, Buy ASTM A351 CF8M 316 temperature safety valve at best price in India