Winter night shift skills are extremely important
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Last night, during the night shift at minus 10 degrees, I was working on a control valve; I made a mistake in my assessment, thinking that there was a problem with the valve’s diaphragm. But when I opened it, the diaphragm spring was fine. There are 12 screws on that valve, and most of them were rusted. So, taking it apart and putting it back together took almost 2 hours on site, at minus 10 degrees. After that, the valve seat of the control valve was removed, and it was found that a piece of rebar was stuck inside the valve seat; it couldn’t be taken out. The side flange was then removed, which took another 2 hours on site. During this time, the backflow valve didn’t close properly, causing more delays. Finally, we arrived at the site at 6 o’clock and returned to the break room at 11 o’clock. I believe that two hours were lost due to insufficient technical skills – having extensive technical experience is really important. After returning, I went to the site again at 1 a.m. due to a malfunction in a flow differential transmitter. Upon arrival, it was determined that the gauge head had frozen; after blowing it with steam, the pressure conduit on the left side became unobstructed, but not the one on the right. The length of the pressure conduit was less than a meter, and it was equipped with heating – although the insulation wasn’t perfect, it shouldn’t have been cold enough to cause freezing. It was concluded that there was an obstruction. Since this gauge didn’t have a antifreeze pressurization system, it could only be pumped manually. For this to work, the primary valve had to close tightly first. The fluid used in this gauge was gasoline, and if the connection were opened carelessly and the valve didn’t close properly, gasoline could spray out under pressure, leading to an accident. So I discussed with my colleague to loosen the connection only by 2.3 turns, and upon inspection it was confirmed that the primary valve indeed didn’t close tightly. The pressure wasn’t extremely high, but the connection wasn’t removed either, as doing so would likely result in an accident – the extent of the obstruction was unknown. After blowing the area with steam to remove some dirt, the gauge worked normally again. Thankfully, all the efforts weren’t in vain; another 3 hours passed. I would like to say that extreme caution must be exercised when dealing with blockages in the instrument pipelines that lack a antifreeze flushing system, as the greatest potential risk lies in the valves not closing properly. It is quite common for valves to fail to close properly in refining and chemical processing plants, and given that the fluids involved are flammable, explosive, and highly toxic, improper handling can lead to disastrous consequences. I started my night shift at 5 p.m. last night and didn’t go to bed until 5 a.m. the next day; there were also some minor tasks to handle, but I won’t go into details. It was indeed tiring, but having a summary of what I did can be considered a form of progress for me. I’ve been working in instrument maintenance for many years, but I still feel that there’s room for improvement when working on-site. One must keep learning throughout their career – after all, instrument maintenance involves a wide range of aspects, and the conditions on-site vary as well. Safety comes first; it’s important to keep learning more
Your insights are very profound; the experiences of that night highlighted the challenges of carrying out technical work in harsh conditions, as well as the importance of extensive practical experience and technical judgment in improving efficiency and ensuring safety. Operating under conditions of low temperature, flammability, and high pressure requires extreme caution in every decision and action. Due to the harsh environment, issues such as equipment rusting and valves not sealing properly increase the difficulty and risk of maintenance. Therefore, not only extensive knowledge and experience are required, but also strong skills in problem diagnosis and risk assessment. Based on what you’ve described, you and your colleagues place a high emphasis on safety, are able to assess risks properly, and take appropriate measures to address them. When diagnosing blockages in the instrument piping, considering the risk of a faulty primary valve, connectors were not removed recklessly; instead, a more reliable steam purging method was employed. Such a rigorous attitude is crucial for safety maintenance work. Your summary also highlights an important point: learning and progress are ongoing processes, especially in technical fields, where new challenges and unknown situations always arise. Through continuous learning and practice, you can improve your ability to handle various on-site problems, while also paying more attention to safety and enhancing work efficiency. It’s tiring, but every such experience is a valuable learning opportunity that allows you to understand more deeply the problems encountered at work and how to solve them better. Maintaining a humble and eager-to-learn attitude, and continuously accumulating experience, will help you handle future tasks more effortlessly. Please continue to prioritize safety, take good care of your health, and keep learning and improving. Wishing you greater professionalism in instrument maintenance work, as well as better ability to ensure the safety and smooth progress of on-site operations. .
Thank you for your comments and encouragement; such support will motivate me to work harder and identify my shortcomings. Progress cannot be achieved without putting in hard effort. This winter, I will take care of each task carefully and conduct reviews, aiming to gain more work experience during this cold season. No matter how tired or cold it gets, as long as I can make progress, it doesn’t matter
Experience is important, as is the ability to analyze and solve problems. Many of the problems I dealt with during my time in the refining industry are still vivid in my mind; even after over a decade, some of those typical issues remain clear to me. By starting with the handling of common faults and gradually moving on to those with a low probability of occurring, there will be no problems. Some problems, once solved, seem simple when looked at in retrospect, but it’s hard to ensure that one hits the core of the issue right away; it’s very important to keep summarizing and reflecting. I really miss those days at the refining plant. .
Yes, the tiring days are the most unforgettable. Thank you for your comments
The poster’s proactive work attitude is truly worth learning from and acknowledging!
Experience is needed, and one has to go to the site to troubleshoot in order to identify the problem; sometimes the issue isn’t that clear-cut – it doesn’t matter who does it!
It’s a device from the north, right? It’s not that cold in the south, but I still want to learn more about the \"antifreeze flushing system\". Could you explain it in detail? Thank you