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How to Troubleshoot Condenser Rupture Discs

A condenser is a piece of chemical process equipment used to convert a hot vapor into a liquid through condensation. Typically, the vapor comes from a distillation tower and is transported into the tubes of a condenser. On the outside of the tubes is usually chilled water that takes the heat from the vapor and transforms the vapor into a liquid. A rupture disk is an overpressure protection device that is simply a thin piece of metal engineered to burst apart at a certain pressure. This protects the equipment from a catastrophic failure. There are several different ways a rupture disk can fail.

Instructions

- 1
  Determine if the rupture disk failed to burst at its designed burst pressure. If the disk was supposed to burst at a certain pressure and it did not burst at all, the first troubleshooting step is to remove the rupture disk from service and examine it. Inspect the process side (typically, this is the concave side of the disk) for built-up solids. If there is an excess of built-up solids, this would prevent the disk from operating properly. This would be a possible cause especially if the vapor from the condenser had entrained solids.
- 2
  Determine if the rupture disk burst at a pressure that was lower than the designed burst pressure. Remove the disk from service and examine the process conditions. If there is excessive cycling (low pressure to high pressure), this process condition would weaken the disk̵7;s metal through fatigue. This cause would be found in the process records. A condenser could see pressure cycling if the distillation column is not operating properly.
- 3
  Determine if the rupture disk leaked through the holder and into the discharge side of the piping. Remove the rupture disk and the disk holder and examine for improper installation. Rupture disks are installed in between two flanges called a holder. The holder bolts have to have a specific torque or tightening force. If this torque is not correct, the holder will bend the disk around the edges and the edges will be crimped or bent.

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