Took me 3 hours to find a leak I could have fixed in 20 minutes

Had a 6-inch steam line at the Port Arthur plant that kept losing pressure... turned out the gasket was sitting crooked because I didn't clean the flange face well enough. Anyone else spend way too long on something that was just a simple fix?

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2 Comments

lilymurphy2mo ago

Man that's the worst... I've done the same thing with a valve flange before. Ended up chasing a pressure drop through the whole system only to find a little chunk of old gasket stuck to the face. Now I just keep a flashlight and a rag with me and double check every time.

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the_jade2mo ago

@lilymurphy thats exactly the kind of thing that gets me. Had a buddy spend 4 hours chasing a vacuum leak on a chemical transfer line. He pulled every gasket, checked every weld, even pressure tested the whole run twice. Turned out the ball valve handle was just barely cracked open from when the shift crew bumped it during a changeover. He could have fixed it in 30 seconds if hed just looked at the damn handle first. Still bugs him when I bring it up.

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