In case of piping system, non-metallic expansion joint is neglected when planning for a standard maintenance plan. These products fall between a commodity item and what is typically defined as engineered item. Therefore, there are always scrambling at the time of substitution.
Before Placing The Order
There are some points that one needs to remember before ordering the non-metallic expansion joint.
- One needs to consider the visual condition of the joint and check the leaking, cracking and soft spots.
- One needs to check the age of the joint.
- The physical dimension of the joint, which includes angular, torsioanal offset, and face-to-face alignment should be checked.
Before ordering, one should also check the service condition of the application, which includes pressure, media, temperature and movement. All these things can be determined by field survey. This can save lot of money and can provide better longevity after installation. Visual examination of joint’s length of service and replacement provides the best insight for selection. For example, damage from over elongation and premature deterioration along with chemical attack can signal the necessity for changing the material.
By field survey, the cost of installation can be reduced. For the operation, the manufacturer can provide the optimum joint size. This will allow the stress free installation of the joint without any alignment pins. With the proper joint size, more than half of installation labour can be saved.
Joint Size
In order to save the downtime one need to choose the correct style for its service condition and proper joint size to ensure for opening as well. The proper joint size ensures that not all the elongation or lateral movement capability and compression is consumed at installation. This condition will impair the condition of the joints to accommodate the desired movement. At time of installation, one has to pull this joint ½ inch in elongation, which leaves no movement capability in elongation, when the system is in operation.
Style
The correct style of this joint is important for service life and optimal performance. The field survey information and specification of design will determine what type of vacuum, pressure, media, temperature and movements are. For these informations, one needs to select and order the proper joint.
