When it comes to industrial products and applications, much of the discussion is focused on how to pair the right product and the right application. There are many different manufacturers of components that offer different features and benefits to suit the huge variety of factors that can affect plant components regardless of the industry. Vibration, corrosion, media consideration, service life, flow velocities, fluid dynamics…there are too many to list here! But what often gets ignored is how to handle and store those products before they ever get put into service.
After personnel safety, avoiding unplanned downtime is the main priority for all industrial operations. Plants typically keep an inventory of maintenance items like hoses on hand to swap out as needed to minimize lost production time. Unfortunately, this inventory is not always stored or cared for properly. Some power plants keep replacement hoses, pumps, gaskets, and flanges on the ground outside. The end result of this kind of storage often defeats the purpose of having inventory parts because they can fail or lose significant service life before they’re ever even used. While these storage concepts apply to all maintenance components, let’s discuss metal hoses specifically.
The storing of hoses outside may come as a bit of a surprise (or may not) but it’s actually relatively common. Rain or dust seem like insignificant elements to stainless steel but they can actually facilitate a great deal of damage, especially over time. With rain, the phrase “evaporation equals concentration” helps to illustrate this point. Everything that is picked up by the rainwater on its way down (including nearby plant gasses) is delivered in a diluted state, but as the water slowly dries up, it leaves behind a concentrated residue that can cause corrosion (especially if the hose is in a position to collect water that can then pool on the interior).
Dust and particulate matter can do this too, especially inside the plant. Maintenance storage cribs and spare parts inventories can often be found near the equipment they’re meant to service. Heavy dust and particulate matter from process equipment can pick up other chemicals and off gases that are present in the plant, and carry them down onto the outside of uncovered hoses. This new mixture can cause unintentional chemical reactions that can corrode the exterior of the hose. Here is a specific example: In a coal-fired power plant – a baghouse collecting ash was improperly releasing a large amount of particulate…which then combined with lime dust and landed on nearby hose assemblies causing the exterior to become embrittled and fail. Even in cases where corrosion isn’t an issue, these fines can buildup on the outside of the hose in-between the corrugations and underneath the braid. This can be difficult or impossible to clean out, and can affect the hose corrugation’s ability to flex, or can become entrapped in the braid causing increased wear.
Hose Options for Storage
Fortunately, there are simple remedies for most of these issues. It’s always up to the end-user how they want to properly address their plant processes: be it either with a modification of the hose itself, or by rearranging how they store the hoses in the plant. Let’s break down each one separately: Continue reading Maximizing Service Life: Recommendations for Storing Metal Hoses