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Adjustable Pressure Relief Valve 2

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Dale Carter

Mechanical
Jun 26, 2023
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I'm searching for a reliable Adjustable Pressure Relief Valve to use for pneumatic piping testing. Does anyone have any advice/experience with these? Thanks in advance.
 
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First define what you mean.

This sounds like a device to limit pressure to a set maximum which is used as a safety device (i.e. it should never open)?
So usually this would be set at least 10% above your test pressure. Spring relief valves are very reliable and can be adjusted to different pressures.

Then you need to look at what is available from the relief valve suppliers. Most give you springs which only operate within a certain band of pressure before you need to swap springs.

Or do you mean a pressure control valve used to fill the pipe in the first place?

Pneumatic testing of piping and equipment is fraught with risks int he event of failure of any component. You need to take suitable measures to reduce risks as far as possible.

Always remember your test equipment's MAWP is the test pressure of the thing you are testing. So you may need a higher class of flange or thicker pipe than the item under test.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
 
In my opinion, "adjustable pressure relief valves" such as Taylor "relief valves" (Link) are not true relief valves and should not be relied upon for process/equipment safety.

They generally aren't stamped by ASME, are field adjustable meaning you never know what it's set at, and don't meet ASME B31.3 or BPVC as relief devices.
 
For B31.3 pneumatic leak testing, we use 1/2" NPT Swagelok R4 adjustable relief valves on our test rigs. These are set at 10%/50 psig over the test pressure. There is a human operator present at all times at the (remote) test rig who can isolate the nitrogen source and depressurize the test piece from a safe location.
 
We considered the adjustable relief to just be a warning that our primary regulator had failed.
We did have a permanent PRV set at 275psi which was 25psi above the highest test pressure that we ever used.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed
 
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