Appreciation post: The old guy's trick for a stubborn flange actually worked

I was sure his 'heat the gasket with a torch for 30 seconds before you seat it' advice was just shop lore, but we had a steam valve leaking at the plant last week. Tried it on a new graphite gasket and the seal held perfect on the first pressure test. Anyone else use that trick on high-temp fittings?

3 comments

3 Comments

jadeg992d ago

Okay, the "heat the gasket" part is good advice, but heating a graphite gasket with a torch is a real bad idea. I mean, graphite can oxidize and burn if you get it too hot, it just turns into ash. Maybe your guy meant a different material? For graphite, you usually just want it warm and dry, not cooked. You can wreck the seal before you even start.

robinson.adam1d ago

Yeah, the "turns into ash" part is exactly what I was worried about. I've seen a guy try to warm one up on a cold flange and it just crumbled in his hands. Your point about just wanting it warm and dry makes total sense. It feels like one of those tricks that works until it very much doesn't. I'm with you on this one.

the_andrew2d ago

My buddy's a millwright and he swears by that trick for boiler feed pumps. Said it saved his crew a whole shift of re-torquing bolts last winter.