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A pancaked valve
2

A pancaked valve

A pancaked valve

(OP)
Hi everybody.
I am not an engineer of any kind but only an humble translator who specializes on engineering matters (the petroleum industry to be more specific).
I have come across a word which has me baffled completely.
What does it mean to pancake a valve for isolation purposes when Hydrotesting? I have found out that there is something called a “pancake blank”, so to pancake a valve does it mean to install a pancake blank? And what is it? What is the difference between a pancake blank and a blind flange, for example?
Thank you.

RE: A pancaked valve

The only reference to "pancake blank" that I could find was in a DOE document, where it's not defined.  From the context, I'd >>>guess<<< that they're talking about a thin blank, made from thin sheet or gasket material, that you would insert between a valve and its mating flange, just to make sure that no fluid passes even if someone accidentally opens the valve.

The word 'pancake', as in 'round' suggests that it might be a paddle blank without the paddle, which sounds like a potentially dangerous thing to install in a pipe.

Or, maybe the food reference is to be taken more literally, i.e., it's a round blank that's intended to be temporary, and intended to be destroyed by the eventual process fluid, saving the cost of physical removal.  What brought that to mind was my Dad's practice of stuffing bread into the end of water lines to make them solderable without draining the system.  Restored pressure flushed the soggy bread right out.

But I've never heard of a "pancake blank" in four decades of screwing around with pipe, outside the petroleum industry.  Maybe it's common knowledge in the oil patch; I wouldn't know.  Sorry.

  

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: A pancaked valve

(OP)
Mike, thanks for trying.
Your guess  may be right.
This is definitely NOT a commonly used term even in the oil industry as I have only found a very few citation in the net and as you said without definition.

Now, taking for good your explanation about a “thin blank…” I only have to find a shorter way to put it into Spanish … not as easy as it sounds.

Thanks again!!

Lara

RE: A pancaked valve

A pancake, gentlemen is when a piece of plate 3/8" - 1/2" thick is cut into a circle with a handle on it, Using the inside bolt diameter as out side diameter of the circle, this "pancake" is inserted between the flanges of the line side to be isolated and the valve, with a gasket on both sides it insures that when pressure testing a line/system. especially if that line/system is connected to a vessel that may not be rated for the test pressure. It differs from a blind flange in that it is sandwiched or "pancaked" between flanges.

I'm not a real engineer, but I play one on T.V.
 A.J. Gest, York Int./JCI

RE: A pancaked valve

(OP)
Yorkman Thaaaaaanks!!!!!!!!!!!
So if I understand you right a pancake blank is practically the same as a skillet blind.
Am I correct?

Lara

RE: A pancaked valve

That's correct! Next week we'll reveiw how to use a flange spreader to extract a 1/4 inch thick pancake that has become a frying pan, due to over pressurization.

I'm not a real engineer, but I play one on T.V.
 A.J. Gest, York Int./JCI

RE: A pancaked valve


I suppose it is no mere coincidence that pancakes are made in a skillet.

Sorry, couldn't resist..........

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

RE: A pancaked valve

(OP)
Guys you are wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you ever need any Spanish terminology or linguistic clarification (God forbid) just put a posting (I’ll be looking) or I think you can mail me trough the site.
I have been looking for this term ALL day, so I am really thankful.

Bye

Lara

P.S. If you don’t mind I may be bothering you again with other terms in the future

RE: A pancaked valve

There is no effective difference here I've copme across the term in the gas industry. It just means effectovely sealing off with a non permeable material to seal off an area in order to test other components.

Might have come from flat as a pancake when valves were squashed flat when overtightened.

RE: A pancaked valve

I was going to say, "pancaked valve" around my shop would imply that one had run over a valve with a steamroller, rendering it a 2d version...

RE: A pancaked valve

I am Portuguese and my understanding to pancake a valve comes from the form of the blind flange used between a valve and its mating flange to avoid leaking if some one accidentally opens the vale. That blind flange is similar to the frying pan where pancakes are jump in the air during its cooking.

Luis

RE: A pancaked valve

A blind flange is a flange with no hole in it, as opposed to your pancake which is not a flange itself but is supposed to be installed BETWEEN two (regular) flanges. The most obvious example of a blind flange is a manhole.

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