Leaks can occur in any industrial fluid system. When they do, operations managers must identify them quickly, as the smallest leaks could compromise a facility’s safety and profitability.
Understanding how and why leaks occur is crucial to fluid system operation. All systems should have a proactive maintenance plan in place to address and reduce leaks and technicians should know how to identify and test for leaks quickly and effectively as shown in Figure 1.
To help ensure a facility’s fluid systems are at minimal risk of leaks, consider the following points:
Types of leaks
Identifying the type of leak that’s occurring will dictate the most appropriate corrective measures to deploy. Typically, leaks fall into one of three categories:
• Real leak: A real leak results from the failure of a pressure barrier to contain or isolate a fluid in the system from the surrounding environment. This occurs due to material cracks or gaps between sealing surfaces as shown in Figure 2;
• Virtual leak: A virtual leak releases fluid trapped internally into the environment,...
The cost of fluid system leaks
