Flange Protection

It would be better to relocate the flange away from the area. Else, try this:

http://www.ramco-safetyshields.com/html/metal.htm

Hello Elak, I understand your concern. However, before you start thinking about how to contain a leak, I respectfully suggest that you might want to do everything possible to prevent such a leak.

A suitable gasket, compressed under sufficient load, between proper seating surfaces, and clamped by bolts of an appropriate size and material is only the beginning. A critical component, often overlooked is how the load is going to be applied. Often this is done by "torquing" the bolts. Unfortunately, if this is done without proper load verification (by measuring the resultant bolt stretch, for example) the integrity (and safety) of the joint is at risk: Bolt "torque" is only a measurement of resistance to input force. Contrary to what many believe, it is not an indication of a bolt's "tightness". In fact, one bolt accurately "torqued" to a prescribed specification could be dangerously loose while another one "torqued" to the same specified "torque" may be tightened to beyond its yield point!

Lots to think about...!

And maybe you can use our heat shrink pipeline sleeving to protect your carbon steel.and detail you can check:http://en.changyuan.com/Catalog_39.aspx

Henry

What about aerogel seal

I hope for such cases, ring tight joint (RTJ) to asme should be ok since the seal is a pure metal ring.

dimensions for the flanges as well the seals are available in the standard.

regards

thyagarajan

Elak,

you do not want to encapsulate the joint, you want to CONTROL it, it must be visible. The liquid does not burn, the vapour does when the concentration is enough. Do not make a bomb, if you suspect that flange is not reliable, then redesign it...

Good luck.

Sounds to me like this is a location for a proper welded joint with flanges, if needed for maintenance reasons, located safely away from the ignition source.

As others have suggested, if the flange is really a problem, you should get rid of it and probably re-route the pipe. The real trick though would be to keep a fire from starting in the first place. What mitigation efforts are you putting in place to keep the hazards in the location minimized?

Re-route, re-route, eliminate the doubt!!!

As already opined by comembers, the best option is to reroute, or if the route cannot be changed, to have a continuous pipe without joint over the fireprone area.

However, if this cannot be avoided,
we can supply special gaskets which tighten under fire,
and we will re-engineer the joint.

But in the event of a fire, after the fire is doused, the joint will need complete replacement if it has to survive another fire.

Kindlly contact offline at havewala@gmail.com, skype NMHavewala.

NMHavewala

Mazda Manufacturers

Bombay, India.

iI also believe the best route is to relocate. If not possible, there have been many good suggestions mentioned. I would suggest when you have applied whatever improvements you have decided to make, consider this. A secondary containment system. A trough that will catch any drips that might develop, and rout to a central location to monitor. Or a sensor in the trough to sound an alarm. In the event of a small leek, it might avoid a much larger problem.

Inside the heaters, furnaces and reformers tubes/pipes with inflammable hydrocarbon fluids crisscross for heat transfer purpose. These tube are well designed for such purpose.

So well designed pipe/tube should be all right for this service with due consideration of not having flanged, threaded joints. Going for higher class will also help.

How well designed is it if it has a flanged joint above a dangerous area?

Yes, I agree your point, Flange joint should not be included in the envelop of dangerous area.

I said, "well designed pipe/tube should be all right for this service with due consideration of not having flanged, threaded joints."