safety valves

[gspatch]

Any one know of regs stating changing of safety valves due to age
I have customer who has been recommended to change them
by the manufacturer.
Is this in any regs or are they making work for themselves?.

[Andy]

Hi, to the best of my knowledge relief valves should be changed every 3 Years, this is more a case of good practice that a mandatory requirement, although some insurance companies require it.
The Insitute oF Refrigeration have guidance notes which cover that sort of thing.
Regards. Andy.

[Jryffel]

Depending on where you are. In the USA you are bound by your
OSHA 1910 Process Safety Management. The general rule is change out every 5 years or after a release. It depends on the following 1) local law 2) insurance company 3) Your Process Safety Management Program which you are bound by.

[Derek]

In the UK you are bound by the Pressure System Safety Regulations PSSR that cover use and maintenance. If the system is over 25kW then you must have a examination scheme (WSE) and that would include inspection and functional test of any PRV's. It would be good practice to have a WSE for smaller systems. If a manufacturer recommends replacement and provides evidence of the requirement I believe you would loose a court case if you didn't and the Health and Safety people pop in.

A history of corrosion or premature failure is all the justification you would need. A single operation on a safety critical system should trigger a replacement.

If you replace a valve watch the Pressure Equipment Directive and En 378 as a differnt specification or catagory may require you to undertake the Essential Safety Requirement ESR assessment.

[Industrial tech]

5 years in Canada as well

[condenseddave]

The pressure vessel inspectors around here only seem to require they be changed if the inspector cannot read the rating on them.

I've never had one fail inspection due to age...

[SteveDixey]

Current advice and our insurers say three years but our insurance people say that after the next review they expect that the period will be extended to five years.

Unfortunately, we cannot extend until after this next review which is after the next cycle of valve replacement is due and we have to change all the valve discharge pipework to suit the new PED style valves that are straight through and not right angled like our present ones So we expect a bill for £6k at least

What was the problem with right angled ones?

Steve