Update on that stubborn flange weld in the Tulsa plant

I was fighting a leak on a 3-inch steam line flange for two days, trying every standard gasket and torque pattern in the book. My foreman told me to try a double-ring graphite gasket with a light coat of high-temp anti-seize on the bolts, which felt wrong but stopped the drip cold. Has anyone run into a situation where the spec sheet torque just wasn't enough for the real heat?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_ruby1mo ago

Stopped the drip cold" sounds good, but is a tiny leak on a 3-inch line really a two-day emergency? Sometimes spec torque is fine, and the real problem was a warped flange or bad surface finish nobody checked.

taylor_flores1mo ago

Exactly, chasing torque specs is a waste of time if the surfaces aren't flat. Seen it a hundred times where someone just cranks it down harder and calls it good. That just hides the real problem until it blows out later. Why do people skip the basic checks first?

tessa3941mo ago

Pride or laziness. Most people skip the prep and hope for the best.