Manway Tightening Prior to Shipping

[jweld97]

Hello everyone,

I am wondering if anyone has come across a situation where a client has requested that manways in pressure vessels NOT be torqued prior to shipping to help with the inspections when the vessel arrives on site. We have a client that has asked us not to fully torque ONLY the manway studs prior to shipping but we want to make sure that if we agree to this, that we can identify and label the affected manway(s) and also to document that the manway(s) have not been tightened. All required inspections have been performed and signed off by our AI, so it would just be a shipping request more than anything, I would think. Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[LittleInch]

I would simply affix a wooden plate to the manhole hole painted yellow and seal that with bolts and tape. Then ship the manhole flange and gasket loose in a separate box.

Alternatively ship it with only 4 or 5 sets of bolts, again painted a distinctive colour and ship a full set of proper bolts separately

To try and note that only one set of flange bolts is not tight is taking too much of a risk IMHO.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[roca]

Vessels are always opened up at site - especially if they have internals which could have moved in transit, and even if they don't - the vessel might inadvertently had water or other unwanted matter ingress. This is nothing new.
Only flanges that should be torqued up are those fitted with in-service blind flanges or removeable dip pipes.
Adding a label as such is a good idea.

 

[jweld97]

Thanks LittleInch and roca.