Spent 14 hours chasing a leak on a 6-inch steam line flange at the old paper mill.

Turned out the gasket was fine, but the flange face had a hairline crack you couldn't see without dye penetrant. Anyone else run into something like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

anthony_burns8d ago

Man, that's the worst kind of problem. It's like when your car makes a weird noise and you replace the whole exhaust, but it was just a loose heat shield rattling. You fix the obvious thing, but the REAL issue is hiding in plain sight. I see it with houses all the time, people will repaint a wall for a stain, but the leak is from a cracked flashing three stories up. The surface fix never works.

the_ivan8d ago

Ever try fixing a squeaky floor by just nailing it down?

tessa_kelly4d ago

Actually, sometimes a few nails are all you need! My dad fixed our old porch that way and it held up for years. Not every squeak means a huge hidden problem.