Hansen relief vavle recall

[Iceman717]

http://www.hantech.com/notifications/PRVPublicNotice.pdf


Thanks Hansen, that's half the valves in my plant. The rest are Cyrus Shank.

[PaulZ]

Hi Iceman
We got notification of this today. You thing you have problems, we have installed several hundred of these valves that are affected and apparently we will be given $50 to replace each valve, pay for the valve and then return the valve within 2 months to get the price reimbursed and they all have to be replaced in the next 6 months to get the valves replaced under warranty.
For this to happen we would have to have one guy just replacing relief valves to get them all replaced in 6 months. What a joke Hansen, your mistake so why should we have to wear the cost of replacement.
A lot of companies are going to be in the same predicament as us.
Paul

[Josip]

Hi, Iceman717/PaulZ :)

sorry to hear about this, but I think you should go to the court and ask Hansen to reimburse whole expenses to change malfunction valves ... it is not something what can be done within service or work shop ...

Hope you'll succeed in your request.

Best regards, Josip :)

[RANGER1]

Hi Iceman
We got notification of this today. You thing you have problems, we have installed several hundred of these valves that are affected and apparently we will be given $50 to replace each valve, pay for the valve and then return the valve within 2 months to get the price reimbursed and they all have to be replaced in the next 6 months to get the valves replaced under warranty.
For this to happen we would have to have one guy just replacing relief valves to get them all replaced in 6 months. What a joke Hansen, your mistake so why should we have to wear the cost of replacement.
A lot of companies are going to be in the same predicament as us.
Paul
Paul, shop local & use valco, easier to get warranty or take manufacturer to court.

[PaulZ]

Hi Ranger
Unfortunately elster are not making valco valves anymore so we decided to use Hansen exclusively may not have been the best choice.
Paul

[RANGER1]

Paul, out of interest Gbi Melbourne have taken over the manufacture of Valco relief valves so they can manufacture & recallibrate. Not quite as cheap as Hansen but another option.

[PaulZ]

Hi Ranger
I reckon we looked at that but as you say the Hansen valves are cheaper. You don't expect this sort of thing to happen and it could be a once of. I think we will be taking it further.
Paul

[RANGER1]

Hi Ranger
I reckon we looked at that but as you say the Hansen valves are cheaper. You don't expect this sort of thing to happen and it could be a once of. I think we will be taking it further.
Paul
Paul, of course we should take it seriously but also have a sensible approach. They say valves with a potential to have sitting water etc, there can't be to many like that! Also if you inspected them annually as the code recommends it can be closely monitored. The client possibly should also be part of the decision process. The tour these days is not common sense but covering your backside. Maybe suggest an immediate annual check & make a decision on what is found & ensure no water in valves or potential for it.
Many or course may not agree. I'm sure Hansen will pay a big price no matter what they do. It's another worry we all don't need.

[PaulZ]

Ranger
The only valves that would probably be affected are the ones outside. The problem is that if something happened and the relief didn't work who would be responsible the maker or the contractor, even if the client agreed not to change them. The new WHS regs use terms like Duty of Care and Reasonably Practicable and there is a risk even if it is small.
We will probably inspect the valves and then go from there I don't make the decision so I can't say what we would do as a company.
Paul

[Iceman717]

Well technically all of my valves are on an anhydrous system so none of them will be exposed to water. But then you have to look at the possibility that a relief fails for WHATEVER reason and it is determined that it was subject to recall but someone opted not to change it. Could be a big liability there.

It never was addressed who was to pay for the labor involved. I could amost see this turning into a class action suit against Hansen. I'm just glad that my contractor listened to me. We just went through a big upgrade and I told him not to put any Hansen valves in my plant. As I checked the reliefs I was relieved to find that he honored my wishes and used Shanks.
Tom

[Nh34life]

I was with the Hansen rep this afternoon, he didn't reveal too much apart for the fact it was a rather large headache for him, and that nothing has blown up or blown out at this stage it is just a safety precaution. however we already have customers aware of the situation and want the valves replaced but if we are to follow our procedures in replacement, that is empty and isolate the vessel from liquid potential each time we are talking $1000-$2000 per valve pair. $50 just doesn't cut i, for a start it will cost us more than that to send it through the post.
I would say the best thing to do is inform the customer regarding the recall but offer to replace the valves why performing maintenance on another item on the vessel , even pumping out for a good oil draining, cleaning strainers/filters internal inspection is beneficial for the client, you may need to meet them half way with the costs but at least you give them the option of a way forward if they dont accept the upgrade of service, the sudden loss of refrigerant and or the explosion is on them. its a better offer than $50 thats for sure.

If we wana get serious then we want to get a law suit organised now or petition to change the offer to something more realistic, but the reality is were too busy for this and we would be just doing some other poor ******* out of a job ,so i guess just suck it up make a positive from a negative and replace all PRV's with Danfoss or another brand from now on!