Hi,
Not my place to judge, but I think you should communicate more to the manufacturer prior asking general forum (this forum members also consist of manufacturer, general practitioner, end user, supplier and student). Don’t get me wrong, your question is good (and I believe some people will ask the same too), but the circumstances and background for other people/companies may be different.
Anyway:
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[li]Fire test is referred to ISO 1049. Test report should consist “name and affiliation of individuals witnessing the fire test”. Usually someone from approved NoBo (notified body)
What is this means in general? Valve A tested in year 2000 and pass the fire test. Thus, all exact similar valve design (sizes may vary slightly) with exact same components for xx years ahead is also fire test approved. Thus, every valve production batch afterwards do not require to be fire-tested.
If new development occurs (for instance valve A w/ old type hard facing becomes A+ - newer version of hard facing) or customer want a similar valve but different packing (valve A altered and becomes B), then manufacturer should re-new the fire test
IF you are potential and strategic customer, then manufacturer may share this documents with you. But if you're not, don’t be surprised if they’re willing not share this information (read: their document + Photoshop = new fake document)
If there is no alteration in the design from testing year until now, is the document still valid? This is for you to judge.[/li]
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[li]Pressure test --> this should be clarified with the supplier
Some company produce 1-10 valve per day, some (giant) companies produce hundreds of industrial valves/day. And 15 minutes (body test + seat A + Seat B + handling) per valve cannot meet with such production speed. Due to limited test bench and it is not advisable for rush working under pressure.
So some companies indeed test all the pressure test 100%,
But there is also a consensus that if the valve is not critical and industrial (again this can be interpreted widely), and as long as it is part of production batch (performed by same qualified assemblers), then inspector will perform 100% visible visual inspection and tester will perform 10% of pressure test. If result is satisfactory, then the other 90% might be subject for acceptance.
manufacturing - assembling - pressure test - storage (for xx months or years) - send to customer. Do they need to be re-test the valve before sending it to customer? Traditionally no, unless you and manufacturer agree on such deal to do so.[/li] Imagine a different building and department in-charge between storage area and pressure test. Re-test one or five valve that you have place the order with is considered not economical for some supplier
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Kind regards,
MR
All valves will last for years, except the ones that were poorly manufactured; are still wrongly operated and or were wrongly selected
