Expansion Joints
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June 22, 2022
GFS is excited to share that we now provide a variety of Garlock Expansion Joints on our website, readily availabe for purchase. These include the popular and proven style 204 and style 206 Expansion Joints.
About Garlock Expansion Joints:
Garlock Expansion Joints offer superior performance, reliability, and service life, resulting in improved plant safety and increased mechanical integrity of equipment. As specifically engineered products that are inserted in a rigid piping system,
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May 17, 2022
Flue gas desulfurization (FGD) is an efficient process commonly used in coal-fired power stations to remove sulfur dioxide, an environmentally harmful byproduct of burning coal, from flue gas. Because of component operational stresses and unplanned outage concerns, FGD system maintenance can be challenging. Due to the operational cycle length expected in coal-fired plants, regularly scheduled maintenance coupled with optimal component selection is essential to minimizing downtime.
Various
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December 28, 2021
Protecting flexible metal components: why is it so important? After all, they’re made out of metal, right? Corrugated hose and metallic expansion joints are common ways to allow for flexibility in an otherwise inflexible piping system. The corrugations (also called “convolutions”) must change their shape as movements are encountered,
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November 24, 2021
Many members of the Fluid Sealing Association (FSA) Non-Metallic Expansion Joints Division and of the Expansion Joint Manufacturers Association (EJMA) feel that expansion joints are the forgotten components of many piping systems. Other piping system components—flanges, gaskets, strainers, valves, pumps and the pipe itself—seem to get most of the design time.
In many ways, expansion joints are the most important components of a well-designed piping system. They are the “living and breathing”
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September 08, 2021
Many types of expansion devices are used in industrial applications. Why are they necessary? As piping systems heat and cool, they experience changes in length caused by thermal expansion and contraction. The amount of this thermal expansion depends on the length of the piping run, the temperature differential, and the alloy of the pipe. For example, a 100-foot run of carbon steel pipe will expand
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May 07, 2021
During an initial expansion joint Preventative Maintenance and Reliability (PMR) Service performed at the paper mill, it was determined that several competitor joints required replacement. These pipelines carry water, pulp, black/white liquor, bleach, and CIO2.
Though recommended for replacement on the Garlock Preventative Maintenance and Reliability (PMR) report, the mill postponed purchase. To date, four of those items flagged for replacement have failed - with the most recent failure resulting
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January 20, 2021
The Style 204 family of spool-type expansion joints are manufactured with the industry standard narrow arch design. This style is intended to be used in dynamic conditions where both pressure and vacuum concerns are present.
OBSERVATION OF ISSUE(S)
A stainless hosing was used and would continuously fail due to abrasion on the
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March 27, 2020
Facility Issue:
In a brine concentrator, an original competitor’s expansion joint failed upon start up.
Industry:
Water Treatment
Background of the Facility:
This facility is a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) power plant. Water is initially pumped from a well, pre-treated, used as process water, then reclaimed and retreated with a Brine Concentrator for use in their cooling towers. No city water is used and no waste water is disposed of from the site.
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January 21, 2020
Garlock Style 204 Rubber Expansion Joint
The Style 204 family of spool-type expansion joints are manufactured with the industry standard narrow arch design. This style is intended to be used in dynamic conditions
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January 10, 2020
Pay careful attention to these possible rubber expansion joint issues
What's wrong with this picture? A rubber expansion joint is likely the least understood and most abused component in a piping system. They are flexible, stretchy, and easily forced into lots of places despite what the installation instructions say. Most of the time, rubber expansion joints are merely an afterthought in a multimillion-dollar piping systems - until things go awry.
The rubber expansion joint is unmatched for vibration isolation. If properly installed, a rubber joint can greatly reduce equipment nozzle loads. Its resilience allows it to be installed in many different systems under a range of temperatures, pressures, and media. What could possibly go wrong?
Blame Murphy's Law if you want, the fates, or the alignment of planets. The reality of most failures is more straightforward. Most of the time, it is installation. More specifically, not following the manufacturer's instructions. See Images 1 to 7 illustrating the ugly aftermath of ignored installation instructions and unforeseen operating conditions.
Learn these lessons well so your piping system does not become the subject of another article.
Respect the Dimensions
Image 2 Sometimes flexibility is a disadvantage. Why? Because it is easy to compress a joint into a space that is too small, which is exactly the problem in this example. The bead was damaged as the joint was forced into a gap between flanges, resulting in a seal failure. Spherical expansion joints rely on this bead to form a seal between flanges. If the bead is damaged, the building engineer will curse your name for eternity. Do not violate the face-to-face dimensions of an expansion joint.
Alignment is Still Necessary
Image 3 Pipes misaligned? Think a bendy, stretchy rubber expansion joint will fix the situation? Thank again. This joint was installed between two misaligned flanges. A typical scenario may look like this:
- Joint installed between two misaligned flanges
- Joint begins leaking at the flange-to-flang seal in a week (or month, or several months)
- Bolts tightened, leak stops. In the meantime, the rubber bead takes a compression set, becoming less resilient
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 several times
- Bead is compressed to about 1/16th inch, rips apart from the body, pump room is now a water park
Do not turn your pump room into a water park or, even worse, a sewage tank. Align those flanges before installing expansion joints.
Consider Steam Generation
Image 4 Did you know water pumps can generate steam? This operator did not. In this unfortunate scenario (Image 4), the operator closed the pump isolation valves with the pump operating, dead-heading the pump. This situation is fine for a short duration, but eventually all that mechanical energy added to the water has to go somewhere. It went into heat. The water contained in the pump and pipe up to the isolation valves had so much energy added, that it flashed to steam. The expansion joint was the first component to fail, which was fortunate for the pump. The temperatures and pressures exceeded the rubber performance limits and the joint failed, nobly sacrificing itself for the greater good of the pump and piping.
