What do safety valves protect against?
1 June 2023Safety is absolutely crucial in any kind of property. It could be a private home, a school, a hospital, or a heavy industrial facility. Whatever the case, there must be systems in place to ensure everything is safe for inhabitants. There will likely need to be a selection of valves and silencers to address pressure and noise. We can help with the latter, offering safety valve silencer solutions and more.
An unsung hero
Most people won’t even know how reliant they are on safety valves. They can be present in every single property in one form or another. This is because they are generally necessary on building systems such as water and gas lines, HVAC, and more. Their role here is to open automatically once pressure conditions become hazardous.
These valves protect against a number of unwanted situations. We want to have a look at some of the main ones here.
The most common application for safety valves is to protect against over-pressurisation. It can happen with water, gas, steam, and a wide range of other gases and fluids. If there is no failsafe in place, the pressure can simply build and build until there is a failure. This can result in leaks, rupturing, or even a large explosion.
The valves can also protection against pressure accumulation. It can happen for a number of reasons, including blockages, the failure of components, or even excess heat. The latter can cause fluids to expand, increasing the pressure.
Most systems will be designed with specific operating conditions in mind. However, it is surprisingly common for them to change over time. It can happen due to changes in operations, demand, or new additions. It is important to be careful here because a change can have an impact on performance and safety. The valves will be necessary in case the changes exceed safe limits.
Silencers
As you can see, the valves protect against potentially devastating failures. They can preserve boilers, pressure vessels, pipelines, and more. However, when you use them, you also need to think about the impact on noise. It may require the use of safety valve silencers too.
The most effective way to depressurise a system is to release whatever is inside it as quickly as possible. This could be steam, gas, water, or other substances. Doing so can cause hazards in its own right though. The major one is it can generate a huge amount of noise, especially when dealing with gases. Depending on the pressure, it could be so loud that anyone nearby is at risk of hearing damage.
It is important to manage the risk here. You must think about how close people will be and the level of noise. A silencer may be necessary to reduce the volume.
Ask us if you need a safety valve silencer
Ventx is the UK’s top specialist, excelling at delivering silencers that provide the best of all worlds. Each one is bespoke to ensure a great fit. Plus, they are made of high quality materials to provide long term protection. At the same time, they will reduce noise as much as possible. Finally, they have the potential to boost the performance of entire systems.
So, if you want a safety valve silencer or another model, please contact us. We’ll get you the products you need.