Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
(OP)
I have a centrifugal pump. It cannot overpressurise the discharge in a dead head (no flow) scenario. Do I need to provide a PSV for fire relief?
Thanks.
Thanks.





RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
Good luck,
Latexman
Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.
RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
If suction side of the pump remains with an open path during fire, hydraulic expansion will have no consequences.
You may consider installing a TSV on pump suction or discharge piping if there is a significant volume of trapped liquid between two isolation points (suction/discharge) and the system qualifies for hydraulic expansion due to absorption of heat.
Dejan IVANOVIC
Process Engineer, MSChE
RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
Good luck,
Latexman
Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.
RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
What does that mean? Can you explain further with more detail?
Good luck,
Latexman
Technically, the glass is always full - 1/2 air and 1/2 water.
RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
The only scenarios in which a pump can catch fire while being isolated on suction and discharge side, are:
1) Sitting in a flammable liquid pool created by leakage from a nearby source (another pump or tank/vessel);
2) Impinged by jet flame from a nearby vessel or piping.
If these two prerequisites exist (isolated pump and source of fire), one may argue if fire relief is required. If one of the two factors is not present, there is absolutely no need to consider fire case relief. Being conservative, you can calculate heat flux for the isolated system and see whether a common TSV will provide the required relief rate. If it doesn't do so, you may go for a higher size orifice.
Based on the description in the OP query, we cannot conclude if any of these criteria are met for this particular pump. You can review the fire scenarios and isolation philosophy in your plant and see if the pump qualifies for further fire safety assessment.
Dejan IVANOVIC
Process Engineer, MSChE
RE: Fire Relief for a Centrifugal Pump
However, if it is in LNG service, sometimes a TERV will be installed on the piping for over pressure due to ambient heat input.