Is it possible to prevent the oil from the workshop from reaching the heat transfer oil furnace, thus avoiding oil overflow from the expansion tank?
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This post was last edited by Chu Shui on 2015-9-9 at 20:13. Dear experienced colleagues: Our workshop is currently shut down for maintenance; two 3000L jacketed reactors need to have their heat transfer oil drained in order to remove them. The shift supervisor pumped the oil from the jackets of these two reactors into the workshop’s cold oil storage tank so that it could be transferred into barrels. Considering that the workshop was shut down, I contacted the head of the power department to arrange for the oil to be sent directly to their oil furnace room. I also arranged for the supervisor and the person from the power department to meet in person and communicate using walkie-talkies. We used the jacket of another reactor that wasn’t being removed to allow the hot oil to flow back in while cold oil flowed in as well, thereby transferring oil to the furnace room. However, after 12 minutes, they said that the oil was overflowing. Only then did I realize that the oil first went to the high-level tank before flowing into the storage tank through the overflow pipe. It’s possible that we pumped the oil too quickly, causing the high-level tank (expansion tank) in the furnace room not to have enough time to discharge the excess oil, which led to it overflowing from the vent. Later, the head of the power department said it was our workshop’s responsibility, but I believe we didn’t know much about the situation in the furnace room; we thought the oil would go directly into the storage tank. After learning more about the structure of the furnace room, I think that if some preparatory measures were taken there, this problem could have been avoided (ignoring the issue of rapid oil transfer from our side). For example, opening the series valves for the hot oil inlet and outlet, opening the drain valve below the expansion tank, and opening the valves on the pipes connecting the storage tank to the oil furnace, etc. I’m not an expert, and I’ve only just learned about the structure of the furnace room. Or are there any other ways to carry out operations in the oil furnace room, so that even if the workshop pumps oil into it at a fast rate, an oil spill accident will not occur?
In addition to overflow pipes, the expansion tank and oil storage tank are also equipped with a pipe running from the oil discharge port at the bottom of the expansion tank to the oil storage tank, fitted with a shut-off valve. It remains closed under normal conditions, and the valve opening is activated during oil unloading. In your case, this valve needs to be opened.
The oil level in the expansion tank is generally kept high; there is already little space at the top of the overflow pipe. It is best to open the drain valve of the expansion tank first to empty the oil before adding new oil. But isn’t it unnecessary to use an oil injection pump to feed oil into the expansion tank? Generally, the flow rate of oil injection pumps is not very high
This post was last edited by Chu Shui on 2015-9-10 at 17:49. The reason for this is that there is too much oil in the cold oil tank in the workshop; it’s quite difficult to drain and transfer the oil into barrels, as it takes an hour to fill one barrel. Currently, the workshop is shut down, so the heat transfer oil isn’t in use. I want to use the cold oil pump in the workshop to transfer the heat transfer oil from that tank to the tank located in the oil furnace room. I thought it would be possible to directly transfer the oil to that storage tank, but I’m not sure whether it will flow into the storage tank through the expansion tank. What I mean is: if the people in the oil furnace room carry out the necessary work, can we prevent the cold oil from leaking out through the overflow pipe in the expansion tank? Our head of the power department believes there’s no problem there, but I think that if they open the valve that connects the hot oil return pipe with the inlet pipe, as well as the valve at the bottom of the expansion tank, this issue could be resolved. It was only after searching for relevant information that I learned about the structure of heat transfer oil
You are also responsible for this; you made a decision without knowing the process. Moreover, in the chemical industry, assumptions are not acceptable; things must be determined with certainty. And before doing it, you should ask if it’s feasible in the oil furnace room. If something goes wrong now and they say they didn’t know, that’s just shirking responsibility. The people in the oil furnace room don’t know when you’ll bring oil over. And it was you who ordered this to be done, so the responsibility definitely lies with you
Take a look at the original post I sent; I’ve already gotten in touch with the oil furnace room. As for the situation there, I’m not aware of it, so I don’t think the workshop can be blamed
In a heat transfer oil system, oil is replenished through the expansion tank; I’ve never heard of oil being discharged back into the expansion tank as well – isn’t that unnecessary?