Poor Maintenance

Other problems affecting cyclone efficiency are usually caused by abuse or poor maintenance. Problems may arise from temperature warpage, rough interior surfaces, overlapping plates and rough welds, or misalignment of parts, such as an uncentered (or cocked) vortex oudet in the barrel. 

Here are a few examples of faults in relief valves themselves. These are not the results of errors in design but of poor maintenance practice. The following have all been seen ... 

Improper use or poor maintenance of portable torches, boilers, driers, and portable heating equipment comprise tliis source of ignition. 

Oil coolers for bearing oil (and often sized for turbine oil requirements when turbine is used) must be a part of the system and are usually mounted on or in the compressor-driver base plate (s). This makes a compact arrangement but is sometimes so congested as to give poor maintenance conditions. The cooler, oil filter, and regulator can also be mounted adjacent to the unit. For some sizes, the compres-... 

Poor maintenance practices lead to dirty and degraded coolant, which affects tool life, surface finish and perhaps the welfare of the operator. Proper filtration is vital, and care must be taken that contamination from other coolants or machine lubricants is kept to a minimum. 

Steel is normally considered a safe material for contact with (reasonably pure) sulphuric acid. However this report is of a fatal explosion when working on a sulphuric acid tank with cutting torches, attributed to hydrogen in the headspace arising from corrosion of the metal ascribed to poor maintenance. 

General problems and the appropriate maintenance procedures are summarized in Table 2.2. The details of individual instruments are well described in the manufacturers manuals. The common problems are due to poor maintenance of the instruments and poor understanding of the specificity of stationary phase... 

Poor maintenance of topsoil is also a major concern. Synthetic fertilizers have no organic bulk and do not provide a food source for soil microorganisms and earthworms. Over time, a soil treated with only these fertilizers loses biological activity, which diminishes the soil s fertility. Soils void of organic bulk become chalky and susceptible to wind erosion. Chalky soils lose their capacity to hold water, which means that more applied fertilizer is leached away. Ever-increasing amounts of fertilizer are thus needed. 

Material failures can be caused by a number of factors, either individually, or in combination, including substandard materials, inappropriate materials selection, poor design, equipment abuse, unexpected stresses or environmental conditions, and poor maintenance practices and/or neglect. Many failures, in one way or another, involve human error to some extent. 

Releases of hazardous materials ean also occur due to loss of containment from other damage mechanisms, e.g., corrosion, poor maintenance, and the indicators for accidental release RCS are presented in Table 3 (see next page) ... 

Poor maintenance procedures, including failure to isolate, drain, and purge properly before maintenance, leading to release when the equipment is opened and failure to reconnect items properly and close drain valves when maintenance is complete ... 

Slack management of operations and poor maintenance may give rise to accelerated and unexpected fouling. For instance, leaks across a heat exchanger, from one stream to the other, may introduce an unexpected and severe fouling problem, because of corrosion or chemical reactions. Again this can result in poor performance and may be expensive to rectify. 

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