BP Explosion in Durango, CO.

By 99205

Date 06-30-2012 02:43

http://www.hydrocarbonprocessing.com/Article/3051858/Latest-News/BP-probes-blast-at-Colorado-gas-compressor-plant.html

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 06-30-2012 12:37

Pressure being put into a device and the device failed, ouch. I will be watching to hear what the cause was. Unfortunate about the contract worker who passed, contract worker makes me think rig welder. Be careful out there guys and gals, ain't no job worth dying over or paycheck!

By Stringer (***)

Date 07-01-2012 13:48

Yes, it was a non-flammable pressure test by a maintenance crew. Halliburton and Crossfire people.

By Cumminsguy71 (*****)

Date 07-01-2012 13:55

We did one awhile ago, 1300psi nitrogen test on a meter set. Very nervous out there, could've heard a mouse fart.

By Sourdough (****)

Date 07-01-2012 14:40

1300psi is relatively low pressure. Makes me think this was motley pressure, whatever it was.

OR, somebody screwed up and pressured it up too much.........

By Stringer (***)

Date 07-02-2012 23:59

I heard they put 5k on something but that is just plain hear-say from the locals one day after event. I don't know how you'd generate 5k anyhow.

By cmays

Date 07-06-2012 00:31

You could generate 5k easy. They hydro some of the frac heads and spools we build down here to 25k and sometimes more. Not uncommon to see test pressures such as that.

By Jim Hughes (***)

Date 07-05-2012 12:19

Sourdough,
I would have to respectively disagree. 1300 PSI is not low pressure. I think the real issue here is how much stored energy there was? We base our procedure on the NASA Glenn Research Center stored energy calculation which gives you a safe distance calculation. This safe distance figure is the amount of distance between personel and equipment that has the stored energy. Depending on size of vessel or pipe and length, you could have a very high amount of stored energy that would have to be considered.

Jim

By Stringer (***)

Date 07-05-2012 23:40

I'll try to post any further news from the Durango Herald, but so far there hasn't been any follow-up article.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 07-06-2012 03:39

hell a truck tire at 80psi can take off your leg. Here the legal limit is 13psi before it is considered a pressurized vessel. 1300psi can flat out make you history no matter what the future shrapnel holding it in is. If your working at 50k or at 5k either will kill you just as dead.....the difference in working pressure does not matter much when a weld fails, only matters far as design. From what I have learned in the last two years some industries test properly and code the work and some just wing it and pay off when it goes wrong.

By Northweldor (***)

Date 07-06-2012 13:05 Edited 07-06-2012 13:09

Some ASME pressure code DT from the days when men were men....! (2nd pic)

http://www.aws.org/w/a/about/time_by.html

Note the gutsy stance!

By P3T3R ST33L (*)

Date 07-07-2012 05:08

I liked the history in the artical, but someone needs to use spell check if I am catching those typos they are really bad lol.

By Sourdough (****)

Date 07-06-2012 15:47

I am referring to 1300 psi welds failing. That's all. Most vessels are rated for 3k or more. There was a serious uh oh involved here. Had to be.

By Tommyjoking (****)

Date 07-06-2012 19:23

hows the weather up there? You staying in a camper or you slug it out for a motel? 107 here today...you would love it!

By Sourdough (****)

Date 07-07-2012 06:18

Hell, I'm still here at the house, trying to get this other truck rigged out.....

By Rafter_G_Weldin (***)

Date 07-07-2012 15:05

Come to south Texas its been in the high 90s all week last has some 102-107 with a heat index of 111. Don't even need to use a water heater for a shower