Webinar: Water Hammer: What is it? How do I prevent it at my facility? This webinar from our in-house experts at DFT® discusses the problem of water hammer.SCV® Check Valves are specifically designed to enable high cycling, tight shutoff, and to protect liquid, steam, and gas systems from the damaging effects of water hammer. Case Maintenance and Replacement Blog Series: Preventing Water Hammer with SCV® Check Valves This particular blog series focuses on the value offered by DFT’s SCV® Check Valves and how they can help you to mitigate or prevent water hammer issues. The DFT® team was able to recommend our Excalibur® valves with severe service trim to extend the service life of their equipment and prevent future failures. This resulted in widespread damage to several pipelines and control valves. Case Study: Water Hammer Issues in Paper Mills A leading manufacturer in the pulp and paper industry experienced a check valve failure which caused black liquor to back up in their piping systems.Reduce pressure severity with silent check valves.Invest in piping systems that feature air chambers as part of the design.Installing pressure reducers and regulators in the supply line.Other effective methods for preventing water hammer include: This reduces the magnitude of shock that would otherwise be directed towards the pipeline. These systems consist of a short segment of pipe, usually in the form of a tee-fitting, with an empty/air-filled chamber that serves as a cushion (shock absorber) for the water to expand when it changes direction suddenly. Silent or spring-assisted check valves, on the other hand, are fitted with an internal spring that silently moves the valve into closed position before flow reversal, thereby reducing or eliminating the possibility of water hammer.Īir chambers are also an effective water hammer solution. This causes water to slam into the valve mechanism, creating a pressure wave that propagates through the piping system. Valve types, such as swing, tilting disc or piston style check valves, depend on gravity and the reversal of flow to return the valves to the closed position. One of the main contributors of water hammer can be the choice of check valve type. Failing to do so will ultimately result in system wide damage, and may spread beyond the flow system to other equipment or facility infrastructure. Additional financial losses may also be incurred due to downtime required for additional maintenance, repairs, or installations.Īs you can see, it is essential that immediate action is taken at the initial signs of water hammer. Property damage can lead to costly repairs or equipment replacements. Depending on the industry and specific facility, unmanaged leaks can also increase the risk of slips, falls, and electrocution. Pipeline rupture can also endanger the health and safety of employees and maintenance personnel. If left unchecked, water leaks can damage electrical equipment and or lead to the corrosion of equipment or infrastructure. The ensuing damage can be extensive, often entailing major replacement operations. Rupture results in local pipeline failure and can cause the entire system and other equipment to fail. Ruptured pipelines due to pressure spikes are especially expensive to repair. Smaller leaks may go unnoticed for quite some time, leaving surrounding equipment susceptible to damage. These leaks often start slowly, gradually increasing in intensity over time. Water hammer can damage fittings, joints, and connections, resulting in leaks. Repeated water hammer may also cause significant damage to pumps, existing valves, and instruments, lead to the catastrophic failure of gasketed joints and expansion joints, and affect the integrity of pipe walls and welded joints. The long-term effects of water hammer can include: Ignoring water hammer can ultimately result in the catastrophic failure of your flow system. These sudden stoppages of flow and the resulting increases in pressure from the shock waves can cause significant damage to the overall piping system either due to a singular event or be cumulative damage occurring over time. While it may look and sound harmless, the impact force on the valve – caused by the fluid’s momentum – can create pressure spikes that may exceed ten times the working pressure of the system.
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