Stopping leaks before they start: practical tubing installation lessons from the field

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to the 1895 podcast with me, Tom. - I'm me Rob. - And Rob, it's not just you and I on this episode 'cause we're joined on this episode once again by a friend of the show, I guess we can say now, Swage Lock. - Yeah, absolutely. Always better to have a guest and what better guests than someone with boots on the ground, field experience to tell us about the actual case studies and best practice. - Absolutely, and joining us from Swage Lock today is Joel Martin and we're gonna be discussing stopping leaks before they start and the practical tubing installation lessons from the field. So Joel, thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast. Can't wait to get into this conversation. But before we get into too much of that, perhaps we could get a bit into you, what you do at Swage Lock and what we've actually interrupted today for this recording. - Yeah, absolutely guys. First off, thanks for having me and thanks for continuing the relationship with Swage Lock. So I serve as the technical solutions manager in our engineering services department for our global company at Swage Lock. We're headquartered out of Soleno, Ohio, but we have a global reach through all of our 220 plus sales and service center locations around the globe. In my role as the technical solutions manager, I lead a team of technical subject matter experts and commercialization experts to support our field services around the globe and that's really supporting about 450 different folks that we have representing Swage Lock in the field, supporting customer applications and challenges and creating solutions to their toughest fluid system challenges. - Great, well, who better to join us for this conversation ahead? So let's get into today's theme a bit and start with the basics. So when you're looking at an application in the field, what are top root causes of leak paths or fail fitting makeup that you see? And aren't any quick diagnostics that can help a technician decide the right corrective action right there and then on the spot? - Yeah, you know, a lot of people think that many of the issues come from the product, but like you hinted at, I think a lot of the root causes that we see with leaks or failed fittings really come from the challenges and installation. And so many of the things that we see, probably first and foremost is either improper tightening, so typically either under tightening or over tightening the fitting. Before that, you can have issues with tube preparation, tube bottoming in the fitting. Those are kind of some common installation issues. Obviously, there's lots of manufacturers out there as well. So many times we'll see that there's intermix of different manufacturers components and not all of those components are engineered to work together. And so many times you'll have issues where you use different bits from different manufacturers that causes long-term issues and leaks that can be missing components, inverted components, nuts and ferrals, things like that. So once you're installed, some of the things we also see are tube support issues that, well, that may not create a leak right from the start. It creates some long-term challenges for your installation by creating opportunities for vibration to take hold. CREVUS corrosion or different corrosion challenges around those spaces, if they're not proper. The tubing's not properly run in the right way. Those types of things. I think you also asked about diagnostics. From a diagnostics perspective, obviously, the best diagnostic is to use visual inspection. We've got some tools around that space to help with visual inspection, things like gap gauges, snoop, which is kind of a leak detector in fluid. If you've got a pressurized system, you'll be able to see bubbles and things like that. But a lot of that doesn't happen until you actually can start running the system. So before you run the system, we use things like gap gauges. We can also do what we call kind of invasive inspection as well where you actually open up the fitting, make sure that the ferrals are properly aligned and at the right location. And then certainly Swage Lock fittings, I think most fittings have a remake ability to them as well. So you can remake those fittings for a significant amount of time to make sure that everything's good on the inside. - Great, thanks, John. A great set up for today's conversation. - Absolutely. I said at the top of the episode there, Joel, that there's a bigger and bigger thirst for best practice insights for technology insights for safety information. So what are some of the best practices in your view for CHU preparation? - Yeah, we're always thinking about safety and quality first and foremost. And even before we actually get to the installation piece, we really need to consider two preparation, like you mentioned. My personal opinion is that I think the single best practice that we can help installers with two preparation is to really get them the proper training from the manufacturer. As I mentioned, each manufacturer is different and each manufacturer has the best understanding about how to install their fittings. And so providing them with that proper training to make sure that they have all the tools, all the knowledge, all the information and the connections to the people to help is super valuable. When we talk about two preparation, we really wanna make sure that we have the foundation to do that. So from that perspective, storage and preservation of the components is key and the tubing runs is key. Are we handling them the right way? Are we using the right tools? Are we making sure that the tubing is cleaned out? Do we have any burrs or things like that? And once we've stored and preserved the tubing and the components well, we're setting ourselves up for success on the installation of the product. - Great, thanks for that Joel. I'd like to delve into a bit of a world life or a real life scenario now, if I could. So in a multi-vendor plan, how should crews handle the idea of mixing mechanical grip fittings made by various different manufacturers? You know, are there any quick checks that they can do to prevent incompatible combinations within the field? - Yeah, it is a real practical challenge. There's no question. I think in general, when we start looking at different manufacturers, it's a risky proposition. We talked a little bit about intermix earlier. These products are designed with precision and they're installed with precision and not all the components will work together interchangeably. And so we have to start with really tight controls at the source and making sure that we have material segregation. That could be material segregation from a size perspective, you know, not mixing metric with standard. It could be from a material perspective, you know, not mixing 2507 with 316 stainless steel. And then also importantly, like we talked about in multi-vendor plants, making sure that you don't mix different vendors' components in the same bin than the same installation. Many of the vendors will have lay lines and information on the product that has information about who the manufacturer is, but not all. And so you do have to, the best scenarios really to keep those separated and segregated from the start. - So I'm guessing, Joel, that many failures or challenges often start with the small installation missteps that will lead to leaks to rework and I don't know, unplanned downtime. I'm kind of thinking here that, let's say you've got a plant or a customer that they've gotta have the connection broken and remade during the commissioning for some reason. So what's the correct procedure to then maintain the ceiling integrity, but without overwork in the ferries? And when is full component replacement, actually the safer choice? - Yeah, another great question and again, a practical one, there's no question. Obviously, when you're doing significant work around large small board tubing systems and fluid system design and installation, inevitably you're gonna install something, find out you have to do something differently or put a different component in or a different system in and then you need to rework that a little bit. And so the benefit of this is that we, we need to not be concerned with opening up those fittings and then reinstalling those fittings. The key there though is you wanna either do it prior to any pressurization or prior to any fluid flowing as you're doing the install or just be extremely careful that before you break open the system, the system has been flushed of any hazardous materials or fluids and then fully depressurized. And that's really for when we're talking about MRO type work. We wanna make sure that that's taken care of again. from a safety perspective before we break in any of those fittings. If and when we do have to break into the fittings, you know, certainly from a Swazot perspective, we advertise that our fittings can be, you know, remade multiple, multiple times over and over again. So there's no issues with that. But we do offer something called a re-verification gauge as do other manufacturers. And those can be used by your inspection team to test whether a fitting has really progressed beyond its useful life. As long as you don't have progression beyond the useful life of the fitting, then there's no issue retighting that fitting up. Following the manufacturer's installation, again, it's maybe a little bit different than the initial installation, but just making sure you're following those directions and then fitting it back up. You know, you did mention how do we know when we need to swap out fittings? That visual inspection is always key. If you see any sort of dings in the components or anything like that, warping, corrosion, anything like that, it's always best to reinstall with a new fitting, a new product to make sure that that's taken care of and you eliminate any safety or quality issues at the start. And you said if and when they're job, if and when you do have to do that, is that fairly normal or commonplace that you'd have to break and remake those connections during the commissioning? Yeah, I think it certainly is. I mean, obviously when we're designing these large systems and we see our customers designing these large systems, inevitably something's going to change in the field where something doesn't quite fit correctly or you need to use your skill as an installer to reroute a tubing or something like that. Yeah, it happens quite often and there's nothing wrong with it, but I think just knowing and understanding what your flexibility is as an installer and really again, to go back to what I said earlier, that starts with getting good installation training from the very start to make sure that you're comfortable in doing those things. But yeah, it happens quite, quite regularly and there's nothing wrong with that, but knowing how to handle it is super important. And if I could continue this journey through the process that we're going through and come to the inspection stage, then what are some of the simple steps and the pressure testing protocols that can be run to validate the installers competency and catch, perhaps any errors before that critical start up? Yeah. Yeah, it's a great question. So we talked a little bit throughout already about having the right kits and the right tools for the installer to do that. I can't overemphasize that enough. When you're provided the right toolbox and you have those at your disposal, you make a lot of good decisions about how to really conduct the inspection and make sure things are looking good from a quality perspective. We talked a little bit about gap inspection gauges. So once you install, you can always use a gap inspection gauge to make sure that there is proper clearance and proper pull up on the fitting. One of the things that we stress as much as possible is to do kind of an in-process inspection. So rather than installing everything and then having to go back and check a sampling of, say, 10% what we call intrusive inspection, which would be opening up those fittings and checking for clearances and proper pull up all those types of things. One of the things that you can do in place is an in-process inspection, which as you're pulling up the fittings, you're doing more detailed inspection throughout, but it doesn't require than an intrusive sampling inspection later on. And one of the ways we at Swage Lock support that is through an installation oversight service where I mentioned we've got 400 to 450 field engineers and technicians around the globe. Those folks can be there to provide trained installation oversight, understanding proper installation of the components that we provide and really help that that quality to be embedded throughout the installation. So you're not worrying about trying to catch something after the fact. Another good practice is really to bring in that independent inspection partner who's competent and capable of understanding what's in there and what's going on. It's always great to get a second set of eyes, either within your organization, within the installer team, or sometimes like I said, from a third party perspective that can help catch those errors before they become quality or safety issues that start up. Sure. We've set up a formal set. Again, safety is always paramount in these processes and it's great to see that running through Swage Lock's DNA. Absolutely. I was actually just about to say, Tom, we said it before that it's great to know there's a company like Swage Lock there for that sense of assurance, answering those questions. Even that earlier question around, is it normal just for things to be broken and remade? Yes, it is. It's great to have that assurance. On that note, Joel, you talked a bit about the installation and being there for customers. When customers ask Swage Lock for support, what types of services can help to reduce the risk? I mean, how does engagement work through the local sales and service centres and even the field engineers? Yeah. Our approach is really to surround the customer and be a partner at every step of the process. If you were to look historically 20 to 25 years ago, Swage Lock got it started in the service side of the industry, really doing retrospective services, evaluation advisory service, far after things had been installed. Potentially when customers were having issues and we would come in and look at their system and help diagnose some problems, make some suggestions from there. That still remains a bread and butter capability that we have, but we've also significantly expanded our total engineering project services to include training that I mentioned early on, reviewing technical specifications with customers very early and like a project stage, regardless of what size the project might be, that technical training, building, small board tubing and fluid system control systems that can be plug and play into a larger system. And then I mentioned in the last question we just talked about our installation oversight service, which is really a partnership service to help provide industry best practices. Think HSE or Energy Institute, things like that from an installation oversight perspective, we provide those anywhere in the globe. Our team can be there to help support from that fundamental fluid system expertise. So if there's any questions, if there's any concerns or even just, hey, I want somebody that's confident and the tools that I'm using, the products that I'm using there, kind of looking over my shoulder to help support that, we can do that and support any issues around pressure, temperature, flow, best practice, provide any advice, things like that. And we've seen that pay off quite a bit. Some of our field engineering team, just recently in the last couple of months here, we found over $200,000 in gas savings at a welding company just by taking a different perspective and looking at that system, evaluating some areas where they could improve that small board tubing system and saving that on the process gas from the start. So some pretty cool wins when you have a good partner there that understands and knows these small board tubings and fluid system delivery systems that we're all dealing with on a regular basis. Absolutely, that's great to hear. And one kind of closing question from me, I guess Joel, I mean, we've talked about some of the top issues that are faced and you've covered our questions in installation and maintenance and inspection and even more. But what's the one thing that sort of keeps you up at night? Hmm, yeah. I think the biggest challenge that I have that I worry about is probably folks getting out there intentionally trying to do the right thing but just not understanding and knowing the criticality of some of the things that they're doing. So, you know, tubing installation, we do our best to make it simple. We say this often. We do our best to make it simple, but it's still precise. And folks still need to be trained. They still need to have hands-on experience. It's not anyone that can come in and just turn a wrench and it'd be good to go. And so I think my biggest concern is knowing that there's people out there that maybe not understand the level of precision that's necessary. But I think we can all do our part to get our teams the right education, the right support throughout that process. So they feel empowered to make the right decisions and they feel supported to be successful in the installations that they're involved with. So. Good example there of when a little knowledge is, or can be an interesting. Absolutely. And just to get your concluding thoughts here, Joe, final question of this episode of the podcast or not even question. But if you heard one key message or just one key takeaway for those who might have been listening to today's conversation about those practical tubing installation lessons that you've learned and passed on to the field, what would be your one message to them? Yeah, you know, we've hit on safety and quality quite a bit and many of our customers say this. We certainly say this at Swage Lock, but it's really safety. Everyone is responsible for safety. safety and quality. It starts at the manufacturing site through the packaging, through the warehouse, all the way to the installation, and certainly the folks that are turning wrenches and installing these key components. Everyone has to have a commitment to that. It's one of those things where if you have concerns, see something, say something, and there's people out there that are committed to this as a partner with you, get us involved and we'd love to help make sure that everyone feels safer and feels like we've got a quality installation in these gas applications. A great message to end on, I think Rob. Absolutely, especially for all of our new listeners as well. Absolutely. Well, Joel, thank you for your time. Thank you for joining us on the 1895 podcast today. I know that Swage Lockingham be joining us for a few more episodes throughout the year, so listeners should keep an ear out for that, not going to tease who we're going to be speaking to, but some great names ahead. Absolutely. I'm always looking forward to that. Yes, absolutely. In the meantime, do please like, follow and share the 1895 podcast and we'll be back again next time.