Power Play: Super Heater Safety Valves Lifting On Startup

Safety valves are designed to lift and relieve line pressure, however frequent startup cycles can cause them to wear out quicker, causing frequent maintenance and operating costs. One of our power customers asked us to help solve this problem. With over 35 years of designing solutions, we have experienced some severe operating conditions and designed valve solutions for a variety of demanding applications.

A power plant had installed metal seated ball valves upstream from several safety valves. These ball valve installations helped prevent the safety valves from lifting, getting damaged, and possibly shutting down the unit. This solution worked most of the time, however it causes severe pressure drop quickly. The ball valves were unable to control the amount of pressure loss by quickly opening and closing. No less the ball valves are non-repairable. The process was costly considering the extended time to get back online, fuel costs to heat the boiler, water, and chemicals.

Based on our long experience with this power customer, and maintenance history of the safety valves (on the ball valves), we were able to design a control valve solution in conjunction with our key control valve manufacturer, Trimteck. We worked with the plant engineers and maintenance managers using the application design criteria to determine how much flow was required.

Trimteck can custom-build control valves to meet any demanding power applications. They manufacture everything in-house (USA), full traceability, a great track record, and the ability to deliver quickly. We were able to offer our power customer several options That are in-line repairable.

We installed the first valve over a year ago and it is performing well- fewer safety valve problems and lower operating costs. More control valves are planned for additional units. Contact us for assistance in designing a solution for your facility.