TEST MORE VALVES IN LESS TIME USING THE CALDER HYDROPRO™ VALVE TESTERS!

TEST MORE VALVES IN LESS TIME USING THE CALDER HYDROPRO™ VALVE TESTERS!

Ben Franklin famously said – ‘Lost time is never found again. Time is money… Waste it now. Pay for it later!’ These words ring true in today’s environment where successful businesses are always trying to maximize performance and efficiency and minimize the time it takes to do so.

The process of blind flanging involves bolting and unbolting a solid flange to a valve to conduct a valve pressure test. Blind flanges have been used for testing valves as long as valves have been tested. They are adequate for testing, but the process is very time and labor-intensive involving storage, finding the necessary bolts and gaskets, locating the valve near the test equipment and taking in some cases up to an hour to assemble the flange before testing the valve.

Other blind flanging challenges include:

      • Testing different valve sizes? Blind flanging requires two flanges for each size and pressure class of the valve to be tested.
      • More time! Bolting required will vary in quantity, length and diameter based on valve pressure class. Higher classes require larger bolting, impact wrenches, torque multipliers, and/or hydraulic torque wrenches. Each step adds time, which can be an hour or more per flange.
      • Storage of blind flanges, bolts and equipment takes up a considerable amount of floor space.
      • Typically, a consumable gasket is needed for each blind flange seal.
      • Blind flanges do not assist in completely filling the valve with water for testing.
      • Blind flanging is a very manual process, and the risk of injury is increased.

For valve testing, there are available alternatives to blind flanging that can save operators a lot of time, money, greatly increase output and provide a much safer work environment.

The CALDER HYDROPRO™ Universal Straight Valve Tester (USV) is a press-style valve clamping fixture. The fixture enables the user to quickly and efficiently test straight bodied valves with many different end configurations like raised face, flat face, ring joint, butt welded, socket welded, and threaded valve faces.

Other benefits include:

      • CALDER HYDROPRO™ Universal Straight Valve Tester operators can test, in many cases, up to 15 more valves per day! The HYDROPRO™ USV Tester can provide a sealed valve test in less than 5 minutes compared to blind flanging, which can take up to 1 hour to install the blind flanges.
      • The CALDER USV has tilting capability to quickly and COMPLETELY filling the test valve with water, ensuring a more accurate test.
      • Lower costs per test as the CALDER USV does not require consumable gaskets to provide seals; testing is quicker, reducing labor time.

The CALDER USV provides for quick, easy seal plate changeout in seconds for non-raised faced applications allowing users to test more valves in less time.

The CALDER HYDROPRO™ Universal Flange Valve Tester (UFV) is a claw style clamp fixture, designed to test valves with angled bodies and/or straight bodies that will not allow cross-loading across the body.

Other benefits include:

      • Non-standard configurations can be clamped, enabling the user to test API valves that have multiple flanges as well as valves that aren’t straight, like elbow valves, 90’s and T’s.

How much time does blind flanging cost your valve testing operation? Want to test more valves per day? Contact us today to learn more about how you can save time and make more money!