Hydraulic testing of jacketed vessels
Thread Content
For the hydrostatic testing of vessels with jackets, when the inner cylinder cannot withstand the hydrostatic test pressure of the jacket, a certain pressure is generally maintained in the inner cylinder while applying pressure to the jacket. What I want to ask is: when performing a hydrostatic test on the jacket while maintaining pressure in the inner cylinder, how can one detect whether there are leaks in the inner cylinder area, and how can the welds of the inner cylinder be inspected? How do ordinary manufacturing plants do it?
Use water of different colors in the jacket to check whether the water inside the tube changes color.
Is that how your company does it?
I’m not from the equipment manufacturing industry. One should check the changes in the pressure gauge to determine if there is a leak.
So if there’s a leak, how do you determine where it’s leaking?
One can first try to detect leaks using internal pressure, and then conduct a pressure retention test on the jacket pressure; or use gas for the internal pressure and water for the jacket, and look for leaks after releasing pressure
Only after releasing the pressure and draining the water can air be used for pressure testing, followed by someone entering to conduct an inspection.
It seems that the pressure test of the inner cylinder should be carried out first, followed by welding the jacket, and then conducting a pressure test on the jacket
If the pressure for the jacket’s hydrostatic test is higher than that for the inner cylinder’s test, performing the hydrostatic test on the inner cylinder first does not guarantee that there will be no leaks in the inner cylinder during the jacket’s test
First, conduct a leak test on the jacket, and then proceed with the official pressure test.
So, could we follow the approach used for heat exchangers: either increase the test pressure of the inner tube to that of the jacket, or conduct an ammonia leak test after the hydraulic testing of the inner tube, then weld the jacket, and finally carry out a hydraulic test on the jacket?