Start-Up Details

One summer evening, the lead operator, accompanied by two operator trainees, started the No. 1 and No. 3 compressors to supply a feedstock to a unit that had been shut down during most of the day shift. The second step of the start-up procedure was to put water on the compressor water jacket. That step was inadvertently omitted in the start-up of the No. 1 compressor, and the temperature must have risen slowly. (Typically the water valves are not operated during brief shutdowns, so it may not have been checked.) 

In retrospect, it was a simple mistake. The cooling water inlet, outlet, and drain valve were left in the closed position. The heat energy developed by the operating compressor 

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