Emergency Shut Off Valve-A Complete Guide

The specialization of Instruthinkis in the research and manufacturing of different types of valves that work with the pneumatic and electric actuators. As professional solution providers, many industries use our emergency shut-off valve for water treatment, electric power, and natural gas. The main objective of Instruthinkis to provide high-quality valves, including emergency shut-off valves, to improve the functionalities and life-cycle of your applications.

Following are the answers to all the questions that you are looking for related to the emergency shut off valve: 

Q1 – What is an emergency shut-off valve?

 

The role of the emergency shut-off valve is essential in industries to process in the pipeline systems. Such as terminals, refineries, and distributing safely in the systems. It shuts down the flowing medium (like water, gas, or fuel) in a short time and stops the damage from occurring. The emergency shut-off valve consists of the pneumatic or hydraulic type actuator and a valve body. The emergency shutoff valve structure depends on the flow medium, working temperature, pressure, and response time. The emergency shutoff valve structure can be of any type, like a butterfly, ball, gate, and globe control.

Q2- What are the types of emergency shut-off valves?

 

• Pneumatic Emergency Shut-off Ball Valve: It is an on/off valve with high quality along with the pneumatic actuator. The pneumatic emergency shutoff ball valve has immense circulation capacity and provides good sealing performance and compact structure.
• Pneumatic Eccentric Butterfly Emergency Shut-off Valve: The installation of the Pneumatic eccentric butterfly emergency shut-off valve is helpful in steam pipelines for closing or opening the emergency shut-off valve quickly. Its purpose is to provide safety from the steam turbines whose location is in thermal power plants.
• Fire-safe Ball Valves (150F/300F series): 150 F and 300F have unique designs to procced and use in petrochemical applications. It has a floating ball along with the seat. The device is also available for closing and opening the lock. The spiral shape gasket is with the sealing of metal. There are two O-rings present in this valve: the seat at the back, and the other is for reinforcement of packing the steam. The body of fire-safe ball valves is of stainless steel or carbon steel.
• Emergency Pneumatic Shut Off Valve: The design of this emergency shut-off valve is according to the API 6D. There is a huge variety of sealing materials in emergency shut-off pneumatic ball valves. It includes Nylon, PEEK, and Devlon. This emergency shut-off valve is with the system injecting the stems and seat to permit the intervention and avoid leakage in the steam or seat.
• Spring Return Pneumatic Actuators: The F series of pneumatic actuators are the straightforward and economical solution for using the quarterly turning to the ball valves at 90 degrees Celsius. The valves of the ESD series gather the actuator, which through an explosion-proof of the solenoid valve.

Q3 – How safe are your emergency shut-off valve?

 

While working with industrial applications, safety is among the top priorities and concerns. The emergency shut-off valve stops the flow of harmful chemicals that may lead to an accident. The emergency shutoff valve integration is essential in the processing system to safe the automated mechanisms. The requirement of an emergency shut-off valve is on the equipment to lead the processes. The emergency shut-off valve stops the uncontrollable release of oil in petrochemical plants. These emergency shut-off valves are the safeguards that avoid leakage or any accident. They close instantly when there is any failure existing in the system.

 

Q4 – How to get assurance from an emergency shut-off valve regarding safety for your plant? 

 

The emergency shut-off valve is essential among all the instruments in the system. There are few considerations of an emergency shut-off valve for keeping the plant safe. It depends on SIL certification (integral safety level) and PFD (probability of failure on demand). The selection of emergency shut-off valves according to the use in the application. And for this, you need to consider the type of the valve, temperature, and pressure. Must conduct the SIL assessment before the installation of the emergency shut-off valve. Maintaining and testing increase the life of the emergency shut-off valve. Make the test plan and follow it.

Q5 – What is the P& ID symbol of the emergency shut-off valve? 

 

The abbreviation of P&ID is piping and instrumentation diagram. These diagrams help in representing the processes with a full description. It also tells about the plants’ events, the involvement of the equipment, and their interconnection. Most of the engineers use P& ID symbols in their drafts. It has main lines and different components. It includes vessels, towers, instruments, and compressors. The P&ID symbol helps design the activities related to the processes. For example, below, you can the see P&ID symbol of the emergency shut off valve:

Q6 – How to use an emergency shut-off valve for the sprinkler system?

1. First, shut off the water of your sprinkle system: The location of your emergency shut-off valve is in the basement or some closet. Mostly, they are ball valves along with the handle. Turn it to 90 degrees to shut off the valves that include only your sprinkle system.
2. Location of backflow preventer: Its location is outside the house. The preventer is of metal and small in size. The water flows into the backflow preventer from the house. Later, it is in another pipe and runs in the ground.
3. Draining the water from the system: Open the drain outside your house and catch the flowing water in the bucket. You can find some drains in the home as well. It is near the emergency shut-off valve.
4. Scheduling irrigation for sprinkle and opening of drain:  before shutting down the controller, must use an air compressor to throw out all the water remaining in the pipe. The emergency shut-off valve helps provide irrigation as it doesn’t depend on the drain location.

Q7- What is the role of the emergency shut-off valve in the hydraulic emergency shut-off system?

In the early days, tank controlling systems looked for technologies for storing liquid gas and providing security. A hydraulic emergency shutdown system pressurizes the gas in liquid form to the tanks for storage purposes. It is designed to shut off completely wherever there is an emergency due to the damage of the line or from the fire. This system is for LPG, ammonia, and chemicals. The role of the emergency shut-off valve is vital in this system to protect the surroundings, products, and equipment. The emergency shut-off valves also manage and support the life cycle of the project.

Q8 – Where to use the emergency shut-off valve of the solenoid?

 

The emergency shut off valve of the solenoid is helpful in the following circumstances:

• Connection with the instrument for monitoring the combustible gas leakage:  Whenever the instrument finds any gas leakage, the emergency shut-off valve gets close automatically. It immediately disconnects the gas supply and stops occurring of accidents.
• Connectivity with the temperature and pressure within the range for thermal tools:  The gas supply disconnects spontaneously when the limit value of temperature and pressure exceeds. It also breaks the supply of gas.
• Linkage with the instrument for fire-fighting in tall buildings: Whenever the buildings catch fire, the gas supply disconnects instantly to prevent any damage.

• Installation of emergency shut-off valve of solenoid in the gas supply network of the factory: The whole control room is centralizing with gas supplying system, boiler room, and workshop of thermal plant.

Q9 – Which kind of emergency shut-off valves do applications use?

• Main service emergency shut-off valve: Every house should provide accessibility to the emergency shut-off valve to stop the flowing water in the building. As the recommendation, fix the shutoff valve of high quality and update it with the new ball valve—most of the gate valves and the handwheel help control the flow.

• Emergency shut-off valve in water heater: Always fix the water heater close to the inlet of water and have a ball valve to regulate the unit’s water flow. If the emergency shut-off valve is corroding, modify it or change the location.
• Emergency shut-off valve for toilets and faucets: The proper working emergency shut-off valve is necessary for every house. There are two valves in every faucet: one is for hot water, and the other is for cold water. Always use quarterly-turn ball valve for faucets and toilets. Change your fixtures if it has old-style of gate valves or not in good condition.

• Automating the emergency shut-off valve in shale applications: During the extraction from the shale, it requires proper infrastructure for carrying out the development process. The emergency shut-off valve plays a significant role in processing and proceeding the liquids and gases. Oil and gas producers have to be conscious from a safety perspective as any accident can affect the processes. Therefore, the shale applications and the nearby areas need an emergency shut-off valve to monitor medium-flow situations.

Q10 – What are the tips for installing the emergency shut-off valve?

• Connectivity with the compression fittings: Most of the compression fittings are appropriate for plastic pipes and fittings. While using it along with Speedfit pipe, the standard pipe helps before inserting them in the pipeline.
• Connection leading towards the copper pipe with the chromium plating: if you have obliterated the chromium plating, connect the fittings into the copper pipe of chromium coating. It can’t make it impossible to attach fittings to the stainless-steel pipe.
• Joining with the main supply: Nowadays, the water entrance is through polyethylene pipe in most properties. Connect the inner plumbing system with speed it stops valve. So it is with the copper coupler and within the range of underground fittings. Never connect the pipe of speed directly near the boiler. The re-circulating system helps in maintaining the fixed high temperature. Its primary purpose is to supply hot water.
• Compress the olive’s pressure. Do prefer the olives of copper and fix them in the correct place.

Q11 – What is the importance of an emergency shut-off valve in the storage tanks of LPG?

 

The emergency shut-off valve is known as a safety shut-off valve. It shows that you can operate the valve efficiently in emergencies to prevent accidents. The installation of an emergency shutoff valve is critical to decreasing accidents in the petroleum industry. The petroleum gas in liquified form is dangerous indeed. For safety purposes, fix the emergency shut-off valve where there are significant variations of mishap or near the flammable liquids.  There can be a problem in working the pipeline or any climatic conditions.  It is better to use liquified hydrocarbon gas for suitable units.

Q12 – What are the common problems in emergency shut-off valve and their identification?

• Melting or bursting of the pipe: If the pipe gets open from the edges, it later starts melting in the wave’s shape. The melting looks of the pipe are due to the temperature exceeding 128 degrees Celsius. It happens when the pipe is in contact with the heat source like blowtorch by the stream in the system going above the range.
• Inappropriate fitting of the components: sometimes, the fittings blow off the pipe and might lost some parts. It fails because of the chemical attack. Generally, the chemical attack is from solder flux which has the base of the acid. It runs downward during the fixing of copper flux and stays in contact while installing in another way.
• Weeping from the fitting: It occurs when the pipe doesn’t insert entirely at the end. As a result, one or both of the O-rings get damaged by the sharp edges located at the pipe’s end.
• The fitting is blowing off the pipe: mainly, this issue arises when the system’s pressure is not tested. Or pipe stops working when it is not into the fitting. Every part blows out only if the collet (the primary gripping device) is not available. Fully insertion is significant along with the presence of collet, and then pipe receives support from the connector.

Q13 – What is the function of an emergency shut-off valve in marine vessels?

The purpose of designing an emergency shut-off valve is to protect the equipment from damage, and the most important one is the vessel crew. The emergency shut-off valve stops the flow of flammable liquids that might lead to significant accidents. There are different modes to operate the emergency shutoff valve: pneumatic, hydraulic, or manually pulling the wire. Install the emergency shut-off valve in such a way that opposes the globe valves. The fluid flows over the disc and seat. It permits the tank to apply for pressure and help seal the emergency shut-off valve whenever an emergency occurs. The loading of the emergency shut-off valve is mainly in the open position while setting up for operation.

Q14 – How to use your emergency shut-off valve?

For emergency plumbing, you must know the location of the emergency shut-off valve. The emergency shut-off valve helps in shutting off the water and decreases the level of damage. Emergencies can be bursting of the pipes, problems in the waterline, or leakage in the water heater. The location of the emergency shut-off valve depends on the styling of the house. After finding the primary emergency shut-off valve, use the lever’s handle and turn it in the clockwise direction. Install the water meter near the emergency shut-off valve. If you don’t need to shut off valves of the whole house, then look for the other shut-off valves. Below every fixture of the house, there must be a cold and hot isolation valve. This water flows for toilets and water heaters.

Q15 – How to select an emergency shut-off valve?

The selection process of emergency shutoff valves is essential and sensitive in terms of security and safety. The type of emergency shut-off valve depends on the application. The factors of application also need consideration like type, temperature, materials, and pressure. It helps in selecting the emergency shut-off valve. If it is a mismatch, then accidents do happen. Maintenance and testing of the units are also critical from the safety point of view. It is better to schedule maintenance to avoid the emergency shutoff valve issues as it is not easy to keep monitoring the emergency shutoff valve and testing. Testing every month is more suitable. Note and check that all the parts and emergency shut-off valves can work in urgent situations.

Q16 – What are the characteristics of an emergency shut-off valve?

 

Type	Flexible wedge
Operation of emergency shut off valve	Pneumatic
Functionalities of emergency shut off valve	Shut off
Suitable applications	Cryogenic
Major characteristics	● Resistant to corrosion ● In one direction ● Welding of the socket ● Rising of the stem
Rate of the flow	560 us gal/minute
Material of the body	Stainless steel, carbon steel, and alloy steel.

 

Q17 – What are the steps to verify the reliability of the emergency shut-off valve?

 

Emergency shut off valve plays a vital role from a safety perspective. If the emergency shut-off valve doesn’t work properly, the whole plant is in danger. So, it is better to check the reliability of the emergency shut-off valve before proceeding with the processes. Following are the steps essential steps to choose the right emergency shut off valve and confirm whether they are reliable enough during difficult conditions:

1. Definition of the application: The emergency shut-off valve is dependent on the kind of the application and ensures that it will work in case of an emergency. Choose the correct emergency shut-off valve in the beginning according to the application like materials, pressure, and temperature.
2. Completing the calculations: After working the emergency shut-off valve in the application, move forward towards the calculations of safety functionalities. First, make sure you check the emergency shut-off valve document that is the verification regarding its working. Finalizing the system’s safety capability, check all the emergency shutoff valve components like the body of the emergency shutoff valve, actuator, or solenoid.
3. Installation and testing: you can’t forget the emergency shut-off valve after installation. The only solution to maintain the emergency shut-off valve is to keep testing it systematically. You can perform a partial stroke test (PST) without interrupting the operations of the plant. But, the proof test with the details is during the shutting down.

Final thoughts:

Instruthinkhas a well-reputation regarding manufacturing the emergency shut-off valve. The implementation of these valves is at on-site and industrial levels. In these 30 years, Instruthinkis also supplying emergency shut-off valves across the globe. You can choose and order the type of emergency shut-off valve of your choice (pneumatic/hydraulic). Even the selection of valve structure depends on your requirements, such as butterfly valve, gate valve, globe control valve, or ball valve. You can also contact our technical staff who are German base engineers. For any query or further details, call us at 8651786989565 or email us