Gasket Leakage From Blind Flange

Maybe you crushed the metallic gasket into powder.

Weld it.

Dear lyn,

Due to maintenance point of view we can't weld it.

Sunil Rai

maintenance ?? This is a water-header, and if it requires de-pressurising from time to time, this can be done via a drain valve....Is the flange removed for personnel access ??
You need to re-visit the maintenance requirements, or perhaps modify the pipe to allow personnel access upstream.

I agree with Lyn...welding is the sensible/practical solution to your leakage problem.

Greatings from JSW steel US. Are there torque requirements?

Ron

Silicone sealant (RTV) works for me.

• The age-old remedy for sealing-up a leaking steam boiler is to introduce a mixture of oats, chopped straw and pig-$hit into the boiler contents before firing it.
• Another remedy might be to cast a load of concrete around the leak.

Without knowing the purpose and temperature of the water, there may well be other wild-ar$ed guesses at the solution. Good luck.

I always liked the raw egg in the radiator trick.

Hey - that's a new one.

I'm fairly reliably informed that curry powder is also good for motor radiator leaks.

Wow. Who was the informant?

Indian mechanic.

He actually stated that he used it in my radiator (Sunday after hours job) and it lasted for about 250 kms until he had an opportunity to do a permanent repair.

Don't know whether it was an instant (tinned) curry powder or a genuine masala and spices mix LOL.

That makes it eggs with curry powder!

Not an endorsement to eat, is it?

I actually love curried boiled eggs......

Let me check with the ball of knowledge

It's saying inspect the flange for warpage and hair line cracks and repair as necessary.

A source for the Gore-Tex Teflon gasket string is

http://www.mcmaster.com/#ptfe-gasket-sealants/=q5si7l

It is used extensively for irregular flange surfaces and other sealing surfaces. It is used extensively on pumps as gaskets. It has solved many emergency leaks and also as regular gasket materials. I have also used it as a valve packing, especially in locker room faucets .

The most frequent sources of flange leakage are the flanges not being lined up properly, especially face to face, and failure to tighten the bolts correctly. The bolts should be tightened in small increments that keep the torque of all the bolts near each other. The bolts must also be tightened in the correct order to prevent "wedged" flange faces. These are done in the manner similar to the tightening of head bolts on a car engine. For a 4 bolt flange this would be done in the order of 1-3-2-4. For an 8 bolt flange it would be 1-5-3-7-2-6-4-8. Also gaskets should be changed for new ones after each opening if possible.

Good Luck, Old Salt

had the same problem on a blind end of a HP oil line, found out that they were using the SAME metal gasket over and over again. on closer inspection it was found to be FUBAR as not only were they using the SAME gasket, they had NEVER heard of torquing the bolts.. the bolts were flogged until they could flog no more!

Are you doing the same?

How about a thicker end plate and new gaskets?

Are the bolts too far apart for the plate thickness and pressure?

Maybe even a new plate mounted over the old one with longer bolts plus a new gasket and careful torquing down to the correct value?

...or a couple of substantial stiffeners welded to the back of the flange? Oh, hang on. It might not be weldable.

How about a few Kamikaze G-cramps instead?

As another poster pointed out Flextaulic gaskets are only good for one squeeze.

Maybe the installers didn't use the star pattern when tightening the blind on the first go around and then they resused the gasket on the 2nd and etc rounds of bolt up.

Install New gasket and refer to torque and bolting pattern requirments.

And let us all know how you solved the problem.

PI

Friends,

Just a totally different thought--is it possible that the leakage is due to water hammer? If so, a air chamber to take this hydraulic load may be all you need.

--JMM