Oil Leak Detection In Industrial Insulation

Yes there are.

Keep looking and you will find them.

Have you checked the American Petroleum Institute?

It may require some searching, 'bout .12 seconds.

BTW oil pipelines and turbine bearings are totally different situations. Do you know what you REALLY want?

This is two different cup of teas.

Could turbine bearing leaks be seen by visual inspection? Sensors (temperature, pressure) in the right spot might be able to point to a leak.

Pipeline is another issue. Visual inspection would maybe miss leaks under the insulation.

But regular pipe inspection is necessary to capture any failures. Process control is another way of determinig leaks. If you know what the pressure has to be in the system at any point of operation then any change will indicate if there is a leak.

To answer where the leakage is accumulating: on the lowest spot! it will seep through insulation, drip down. If you know the lowest spot break the insulation there and have a control bucket underneath. Should tell you that there is a leak somewhere if oil can be found in it. Mind the fire regulations I have no idea if this is allowed!

A good Operations Supervisor with a Mk.1 eyeball and Mk.1 nostril is the best defence.

It's been a long time since I've worked in a steam plant, but I don't recall having lube oil lines insulated. Maybe I'm not remembering right, but it seems like just the steam lines were insulated.

Since part of the oil's job is to remove excess heat from the bearings, why have the lines wrapped?

I do agree that oil soaked insulation would be a fire hazard.