Hydraulic Lock/Exploding Pipework

[chillerman2006]

Everyone who is not aware of Hydraulic Lock - should be

from the pics you can see this could have caused some-one serious harm

[Magoo]

A potential/ constant problem in industrial systems with sub cooled liquid lines. The power of warming liquid will split wide open a steel walled pipe.

[chillerman2006]

the cause behind this rupture was a fault with the expansion valve & a mistake by the customer

the circuit pumped down creating a fault alarm on the bms, so the customer decided as he had an a/c engineer attending site to carry out maintenance he would be able to rectify the problem more cheaply than my own company

the liquid line valve was closed by the engineer and was not re-opened

leaving subcooled liquid trapped between the two valves

within an hour of the engineer leaving site the trapped liquid's temperature rose & boom

It made such a bang that it was heard by the customer from his office

who needless to say learned very quickly - horses for courses
:D:D:D

[Magoo]

Hi Chillerman 2006,
I think your client has just become a captive listener, and afreind for life.

[chillerman2006]

Hi Chillerman 2006,
I think your client has just become a captive listener, and afreind for life.

Hi Magoo

your not wrong there mate

[install monkey]

horses for courses! haha not in ur case mate!!!haha

the cause behind this rupture was a fault with the expansion valve & a mistake by the customer

the circuit pumped down creating a fault alarm on the bms, so the customer decided as he had an a/c engineer attending site to carry out maintenance he would be able to rectify the problem more cheaply than my own company

the liquid line valve was closed by the engineer and was not re-opened

leaving subcooled liquid trapped between the two valves

within an hour of the engineer leaving site the trapped liquid's temperature rose & boom

It made such a bang that it was heard by the customer from his office

who needless to say learned very quickly - horses for courses
:D:D:D

[chillerman2006]

not in ur case mate

You've obviously been miss-informed, I have had the site now for past 6 years & no-one is allowed near the plant on the roof anymore, there are 12 units totalling just under 5mw of cooling & even though they do their own coil cleaning, I have to be there ! cctv has also been installed ! It is as I said 'horses for courses' you may run rings around me doing a/c installs but your still be at the starting gate when I have finished on this sort of kit. About time we see some of your work pics annit or even a video, explaining how they work, I may even learn something !

[install monkey]

col-i was highlighting the choice of of word-horses- as you say chillers yep-blackmans magic-i can work on em ,change compressors and **** but as for stripdowns,stuff that.
i did an install on sat did 4 flares and didnt **** up haha-will get some pics up-not of me mrs though too many pink pixels haha
You've obviously been miss-informed, I have had the site now for past 6 years & no-one is allowed near the plant on the roof anymore, there are 12 units totalling just under 5mw of cooling & even though they do their own coil cleaning, I have to be there ! cctv has also been installed ! It is as I said 'horses for courses' you may run rings around me doing a/c installs but your still be at the starting gate when I have finished on this sort of kit. About time we see some of your work pics annit or even a video, explaining how they work, I may even learn something !

[chillerman2006]

col-i was highlighting the choice of of word-horses- as you say chillers yep-blackmans magic-i can work on em ,change compressors and **** but as for stripdowns,stuff that.
i did an install on sat did 4 flares and didnt **** up haha-will get some pics up-not of me mrs though too many pink pixels haha

Oh ! ok was looking at it upside down :)

[desA]

The piping schedule seems pretty thin, I must say.

If the correct wall thickness is used, then the piping should have a burst pressure of around 70 bar(g), unless fully annealed. Even then, I'd expect an expanding liquid to be less than this. Would be very interesting to do the calculations on the evolved pressure.

Interesting.

[chillerman2006]

The piping schedule seems pretty thin, I must say.

If the correct wall thickness is used, then the piping should have a burst pressure of around 70 bar(g), unless fully annealed. Even then, I'd expect an expanding liquid to be less than this. Would be very interesting to do the calculations on the evolved pressure.

Interesting.

Phew ! way over my head mate, I am just glad it went pop before I got there to sort it out, otherwise I could have been leaning over that checking out the valve :eek: when i am there next will see if there is still some of the pipe on site & get it shipped out to you

[install monkey]

doubt it the scrap monkeys will have had it off!!!!

[chillerman2006]

doubt it the scrap monkeys will have had it off!!!!

possibly but am sure I just slid it under the unit when I replaced it, & my other tubes still there from when I carried out the mods, just stuck a small peice of tube with an nrv around the solenoid valve to all 24 circuits £$£$ ca-ching ! ;) joys of cctv

[install monkey]

we had to rip out 10x 3m lengths of 800a bus bar track each section weighed 70kg. full of copper bar and about 10kg of plastic/aluminium.we stripped it out and stacked it all up. the customers electrical contractors weighd it in,the project manager went apesh*t accusing us of having it off,luckily theres more cameras in a debenhams loading bay than stock so my arse was covered!! yay the joys of cctv
possibly but am sure I just slid it under the unit when I replaced it, & my other tubes still there from when I carried out the mods, just stuck a small peice of tube with an nrv around the solenoid valve to all 24 circuits £$£$ ca-ching ! ;) joys of cctv