Spent a whole shift chasing a leak on a feedwater heater flange

We had a high-pressure feedwater heater at the plant with a weep on the main flange. Thought it was just a gasket, so we dropped it and put in a new spiral-wound. Tightened it all back up to spec, fired it up, and it was still leaking. Took us another 6 hours to finally find a tiny, almost invisible hairline crack in the flange face itself that you could only see with a dye pen. Had to pull the whole section to weld and machine it. Anyone ever had a leak that just refused to be the obvious fix?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

taylor_fox6mo ago

Ugh, those hidden flange cracks are the absolute worst to track down!

7

paigem766mo ago

Tell me about it. What kind of setup are you running where you keep finding them? I had a job last year where the client swore they did regular checks, but the corrosion was in a spot you'd never see without pulling the whole section apart.

4

dixon.amy6mo ago

Actually, PaigeM76's story shows it's often corrosion that hides them, not just cracks.

1