Smart questions
Smart answers
Smart people
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Member Login

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips now!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!

Join Eng-Tips
*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

LINK TO THIS FORUM!

Add Stickiness To Your Site By Linking To This Professionally Managed Technical Forum.
Just copy and paste the
code below into your site.

Partner With Us!

"Best Of Breed" Forums Add Stickiness To Your Site
Partner Button
(Download This Button Today!)

Feedback

"...I've learned more from your forums in 3 days than 3 months at school and on the job combined..."

Geography

Where in the world do Eng-Tips members come from?
ecnamrofrep (Chemical)
21 Dec 05 10:53
I am currently trying to determine the location of air ingress by spraying Helium at suspected leak locations and measuring the amount from the Vacuum pump discharge.  Is there a better way of performing this check on locations that are below the water level?
davefitz (Mechanical)
29 Dec 05 8:21
Maybe. During an outage , drain the condenser hotwell, and use an ultrasonic noise generator and sensing microphone. However, this will not pickup leaks that may be caused by cracks that have opened up  due to on line forces, such as weight of condensate or vaccuum forces.
Inthevalley (Mechanical)
16 Jun 06 5:36
Generally, the only good ways are the following:
1.  Helium/ SF6 gas testing.  In the old days we were able to use Freon - till the greenies complained about the ozone layer.  This method works well, but takes a long time to complete.
2.  Flood testing.  During an outage, fill the condenser with water, and look outside for any leakage.  Just a warning that some condensers are not designed to carry a full volume of water without having supports installed - chek with your OEM.  Also check around your LP heaters and HP heaters if they have a vent to condenser.  Many problems arise from this area.
3.  Ultrasonic leak testing on a power plant to try and find leaks on a vacuum system do not work.  Generally the background noise is just too bad.  
4.  Always try to distinguish between above and below the water line.  Generally leaks below the condenser normal working level is associated with an increase in condensate dissolved oxygen, whereas leaks above the water line is not.  
5.  Never trust your chemist - always have them check their oxygen analyser with a test sample before you cart all the equipment to site.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!

Close Box

Join Eng-Tips® Today!

Join your peers on the Internet's largest technical engineering professional community.
It's easy to join and it's free.

Here's Why Members Love Eng-Tips Forums:

Register now while it's still free!

Already a member? Close this window and log in.

Join Us             Close