Ever wonder why a component repeatedly fails in the same place, or have you gotten frustrated by those repeated failures and made a field engineered repair that caused a calamity later? OEM’s put as much engineering behind ensuring that a system fails safely as they do in engineering how it operates. Some examples include switches that fail open or closed to actuate safety devices; compressor piston rods that are engineered to fail at the crosshead to ensure they don’t pull out of the packing case; and rupture discs on air and lube systems that prevent overpressure.

Before you break out the kryptonite and unobtainium welding rods to fix a repeated failure, ensure you don’t field engineer the safety factor out. Did this post make you question something that you have done in the past? Plan to join us at the Eastern Gas Compression Roundtable on September 14-16, 2021 in Pittsburgh, PA. We can get you sorted out.

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