Valve World Magazine April 2023 | Page 29

Maintenance

Shutdowns : Proper planning is half the work

Shutdowns – those planned outages required to conduct inspections , repair equipment , and comply with regulations - can be stressful times for all concerned . Having assisted with all manner of valverelated activities during numerous shutdowns , Colin Zegers has some simple yet powerful words of advice : take planning seriously and start well in advance , as proper planning makes for a more efficient shutdown and a quicker plant start-up .
By David Sear , Valve World
Performing fugitive emission testing on a butterfly valve .
Mr Zegers ’ recommendation to start planning shutdowns well in advance is , of course , based on his career-long experiences . During this time , he has seen planning become more and more of an afterthought . “ Recently for example we were called in to provide assistance during a scheduled outage . We were brought in just a few months prior to the job and were additionally told that all preparation would need to be completed in just four weeks ! That was a very challenging timeframe to say the least !” It would have been better all round , he continues , if he and his team had been approached fully twelve months prior to the shutdown . “ We could then have assisted in properly preparing the shutdown . For example , by identifying those valves not requiring maintenance , highlighting valves which could be repaired in-situ and especially in spotting those which needed to be removed from the line and taken to a workshop for thorough repairs . Also , we could have helped to plan workshop capacity . Your local shop may do a perfect job overhauling say twenty control valves a week , but you cannot expect them to suddenly process five or ten times that number in the same timeframe .” Conducting a value audit well in advance would also enable any necessary spares to be ordered in good time , allow workshops to reserve capacity for the tasks ahead , and also for transport
and logistics to be scheduled . “ Some valves , especially when fitted with actuators , can be incredibly large and heavy , so you do have to stop and consider how they will be transported ,” states Mr Zegers . “ In some case , the workshop could even need to bring in a heavy-duty crane . If you are working against a tight deadline it is easy to overlook such basic but essential details , which can otherwise cause serious delays .”
Facing the unexpected
In many sectors , it seems to have become the norm for companies to extend the time between scheduled outages . Whilst understandable in
“ Spare parts for control valves that used to be available within 6 weeks may now take at least 6 months to arrive ” Colin Zegers , ITIS

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