Took 4 hours to find a leak that was my own cap nut

Last Tuesday on a 48-inch steam drum at the Marathon refinery, I torqued that cap nut to spec but it still wept and I tore half the insulation off chasing a gasket failure that was never there, has anyone else fought a phantom drip only to find their own wrench marks?

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ericj454d ago

Start by swapping that torque wrench for a fresh gasket when you feel that nagging drip. I did the same thing on a feed water line last year, spent a whole shift convinced the flange face was warped, even dragged a straight edge across it twice. Turned out I had a tiny scratch in the cap nut from a previous job, my own damn tool mark, and it was weeping right past the threads. Now I run my finger over every nut and washer before I crank it down, takes thirty seconds and saves me five hours of crawling around with a mirror. You ain't alone, we all trust the torque spec until it bites us.