Story #02 · Shutdown
Twelve hours to get it right
Twelve years into my career, my phone rang at 3 AM. A 16-inch steam line had suffered catastrophic water hammer during commissioning. Three pipe supports had been ripped off the rack. A weld had cracked.
The root cause was straightforward: a low point in the line had no drip leg. The routing had been changed late in design, and when the line was rerouted, nobody relocated the drain. Condensate accumulated. When the line was brought into service, the steam hit the trapped condensate and the water hammer was violent enough to destroy the supports.
Check your drains. Check them again. Every low point in a steam, condensate, or two-phase line needs a drain. When you reroute a line, the first question is: have I moved a low point? Have I created a new one? This check takes minutes. Missing it can take lives.
