High Pressure Heater Mis-Design Which Over-compressed the Spiral Wound Gasket

Problem

A high pressure heater with tongue & groove flanges which had no built-in compression stop used a Style R Spiral Wound (very narrow gasket). This design caused the gasket to be over-compressed; additionally it was hard to remove the over-compressed gasket from the groove.

Solution

The goal was to minimize the radiation exposure during maintenance and provide improved sealing. The solution was a Flexpro Style PN Kammprofile Gasket. Unlike a typical spiral wound tongue & groove gasket, A Flexpro gasket does not require a compression stop to prevent over-compression.