×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • 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!

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

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Safety relief valve selection

Safety relief valve selection

Safety relief valve selection

(OP)
I don't live in America and it's the first time I use Section IV of the ASME Code. I can't find out how do I select the relief valve. The Code requires the valve to have "steam relieving capacity, in pounds per hour" rated. And almost all valves I could find available, are rated im MBH. Even if the manufacturer states lb/hr, it's always one number, not a characteristic of lb/hr vs psi! And nobody says whether it's lb/hr steam or water. How do you people select safety relief valves?

Regards,

Konrad Anikiel
Gdynia, Poland
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

RE: Safety relief valve selection

Konrad;
In the US, the selection of safety or safety relief valves for steam service and relief valves for fluid service are based on set pressure (which is based on some percentage of operating or maximum allowable working pressure) and steaming or fluid capacity of the component (depending on the function of the valve). ASME code doesn't specify a particular valve it is up to the owner of the vessel to select appropriate valves and assure proper installation based on code requirements.

I am not familiar with European codes or standards so I included the attached web site which provides information on standards for safety valves and safety devices for protection against over-pressure for Europe and other countries. I would suggest looking into obtaining a copy of this standard for Europe and obtaining ISO 4126;

http://www.steam-toolbox.com/41_439.html

RE: Safety relief valve selection

Konrad,

I'm curious about your comment that "almost all valves I could find available, are rated in MBH."  Where were you looking?  I'm not familiar with the rating units of MBH.

In the US, the typical units used for manufacturer certified relief valve capacities are
air, standard cubic feet per minute (scfm)
water, gallons per minute (gpm)
steam, pounds per hour (lb/hr)

A given valve with a given set pressure will be stamped with a value designating its capacity at 10% overpressure in terms of one of the above fluids.  Otherwise, a manufacturer's catalog will show a valve's capacity at other set pressures as well.

To select a relief valve, you should contact a valve manufacturer, they can provide you with additional assistance.  You may want to visit some of the relief valve manufacturer websites

Farris
http://www.cwfc.com/index.html

Consolidated
http://www.consolidatedvalve.com/

Anderson Greenwood
http://www.andersongreenwood.com/default.asp
The Pressure Relief Valve Engineering Handbook found at this site is a reasonably good reference to have.

RE: Safety relief valve selection

Konrad,

After taking a little time to think about your request, I believe my last post is not  the information you need.  Those links and the valve capacity information I indicated previously are primarily for equipment built to ASME Section VIII.  You are interested in relief valves that might be used on equipment built to ASME Section IV.

That is a little different and I'm not that versed in ASME Section IV relief systems.  Maybe someone else can offer a little more help.  But from what I've seen, typically, relief valves used for Section IV service may show a rating as either btu/hr or lb/hr steam.  It is just a matter of knowing the steam latent heat to convert between the two.  So I suspect that MBH may actually be the units of Million Btus per Hour.  I don't have a complete and up-to-date copy of ASME Section IV but I think part HG-402 will explain about Section IV relief valve capacities.

Again, I would suggest contacting a relief valve manufacturer.  The following are some manufacturers of Section IV valves that I have seen.

Kunkle
http://www.kunklevalve.com/catalog/KUKMC-0388-US.pdf

Bell & Gossett
http://www.bellgossett.com/literature/bulletin/bghyd/a415.PDF

Watts
http://www.watts-regulator.com/pdf-files/productguides/PG-SSRV.pdf

RE: Safety relief valve selection

(OP)
Thank you guys, really. Yes, I didn't dig deep enough, maybe because I was kinda forced by our customer to use Conbraco (www.conbraco.com), which looks like a piece of el cheapo equipment. Now I know at least how to convince him to get rid of his valve.

Regards
Konrad

PS. MBH=1000 btu/hr

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

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! Already a Member? Login



News


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