Flange leak testing: how to reduce operational and shutdown costs


Traditional leak testing of flanges, whether at onshore oil and gas plants or at offshore petrochemical facilities is a time-consuming process. This is because of the many steps involved in the process including the need to test large portions of the piping system using substantial volumes of pressurized media.


Traditional leak testing of newly erected or modified pipelines is typically carried out by filling the pipeline with pressurised water or gas.  This method is used to monitor any changes in pressure in order to identify a defective joint. For large pipe systems, testing could be carried out in sections by blanking off an area of a system using shut-off valves or blinds.  Depending on the valve location, it may be a large section of pipeline to be pressurised to test just one single flange connection, and in some situations, it may not even be practicable to leak test all joints.


This laborious, traditional leak testing process translates into long production downtimes, high media costs and consequently induces an economic loss in the long term.  Furthermore, there are safety risks associated with this method when nitrogen is used to flood the pipeline. In comparison to the above method, reverse integrity flange testing allows leak testing to be completed on individual connections prior to the introduction of pressure testing media.  How can this be achieved? KLINGER Sentry Reverse Integrity Gaskets is the product solution behind this method, providing a viable and more cost-effective method to flange or pipeline joint testing. 


These innovatively designed gaskets provide validation of individual joint integrity at the time they are each installed, and leak testing is completed for both the primary and secondary sides of the seal.  The ability to perform the leak test and make any adjustments at the time of installation diminishes the need to re-visit the joint and re-test once all joints have been installed on a pipeline. Along with using the product for entire piping systems, the Sentry product also provides quicker and easier leak integrity testing for targeted joints that may need to be remade. For example, let’s look at the scenario of a tested system where a passing valve requires replacement. Rather than having to test or re-test the entire system or test pack, you could simply install a Sentry gasket on the two valve flanges and complete a reverse integrity test to provide assurance of joint integrity.  This represents massive benefits and costs savings, due to the product’s advantage of avoiding the need to pressurise and test the rest of the system.


Additionally, the Sentry gasket provides the ability to leak test golden joints or witness joints that may have otherwise gone untested, thus allowing all joints to be leak tested no matter their location within the facility.  Furthermore, these gaskets allow for monitoring of the individual joint throughout its lifespan.  So if leakage does occur at a later stage after installation, joints can be tested and adjusted in one single visit to the individual flange. 


What these benefits ultimately stack up to is big cost savings for facilities, due to reduced volumes of testing media required, quicker overall leak testing times, and the ability to test and rectify leaking joints that may have otherwise gone untested.  This can equate to operational savings between $30,000 to $1 million+. Product characteristics that make KLINGER Sentry gaskets function as a more effective and quicker leak detection system include pressurised recesses in the annular space of the gasket to monitor pressure, a fluid delivery port to allow fluid communication and pressurisation of the cavities and a high pressure quick release test plug connector for quick attachment.


KLINGER Sentry gaskets are suitable for pipeline joints including ring joint flanges, raised face flanges, and hub connections.  The range includes 4 different types of gaskets to suit various applications including bolted connections, clamped connections, and offshore petrochemical applications. 


View more information on KLINGER Sentry gaskets.

Privacy Settings

Essential
Privacy Settings
Saves the current privacy settings.
Retention period: This cookie will remain for 30 days.
PHP SESSION ID
Saves the current PHP session.
Retention period: This cookie will only remain for the current browser session.
Performance and Analytics Cookies
These technologies allow us to analyze website usage in order to measure and improve performance.
Google Analytics
This is a web analytics service. It allows the user to measure advertising ROI, track flash, video and social networking sites and applications.
Provider: Google Ireland Limited - Google Building Gordon House, 4 Barrow St, Dublin, D04 E5W5, Ireland
Technical name: _ga,_gat_gtag_UA_120928533_6,_gid
Show more details

Data Purposes

This list represents the purposes of the data collection and processing.
- Marketing
- Analytics

Technologies Used

- Cookies
- Pixel

Data Collected

This list represents all (personal) data that is collected by or through the use of this service.

- App updates
- Click path
- Date and time of visit
- Device information
- Downloads
- Flash version
- Location information
- IP address
- JavaScript support
- Pages visited
- Purchase activity
- Referrer URL
- Usage data
- Widget interactions
- Browser information

Legal Basis

In the following the required legal basis for the processing of data is listed.

- Art. 6 para. 1 s. 1 lit. a GDPR

Location of Processing

- European Union

Retention Period

The retention period is the time span the collected data is saved for the processing purposes. The data needs to be deleted as soon as it is no longer needed for the stated processing purposes.
The Retention Period depends on the type of the saved data. Each client can choose how long Google Analytics retains data before automatically deleting it.
Data Recipients

- Google Ireland Limited, Alphabet Inc., Google LLC

Data Protection Officer of Processing Company

Below you can find the email address of the data protection officer of the processing company.

https://support.google.com/policies/contact/general_privacy_form

Transfer to Third Countries

This service may forward the collected data to a different country. Please note that this service might transfer the data outside of the EU/EEA and to a country without the required data protection standards. If the data is transferred to the US, there is a risk that your data can be processed by US authorities, for control and surveillance measures, possibly without legal remedies. Below you can find a list of countries to which the data is being transferred. This can be for different reasons like storing or processing.

United States of America,Singapore,Chile,Taiwan

Click here to read the privacy policy of the data processor https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

Click here to opt out from this processor across all domains https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de

Click here to read the cookie policy of the data processor https://policies.google.com/technologies/cookies?hl=en

Storage Information

Below you can see the longest potential duration for storage on a device, as set when using the cookie method of storage and if there are any other methods used.

- Maximum age of cookie storage: 2 years

Lead Forensics
Visitor Identification software
www.leadforensics.com - Lead Forensics, 3000 Lakeside Western Road, Portsmouth, England, PO6 3EN
  Accept all