Another client met me at the door saying, “Your timing is perfect. Come back to the plant and see what you can tell us about this freshly rehabbed vessel that we are having some trouble filling.” The problem was apparent from about ten feet away. We walked on up to the vessel and found a neat hole (about welding wire diameter) that went through the plastic rupture disk cover, the “Do Not Remove” warning and apparently through the rupture disk. The plastic cover and label were removed to reveal the expected “sucked in” rupture disk. This was obvious tampering and one of the few times I’ve seen it done through the rupture disk cover.Vacuum rupture disks plastic covers are put on cryogenic liquid cylinders both to prevent tampering and to protect the very thin disk material from welding and cutting sparks and corrosion. A supplier who is able to consistently assure that all liquids go out with rupture disk covers in place is both protecting their assets and providing a ready visual indicator for drivers to help with spotting potential problems.
Many of the liquid oxygen, argon, and nitrogen bottles that come in with blown rupture disks are clearly tampered with. Spotting problems at the user site and documenting them helps with the possibility for recovering the cost of repairs for damages.
A lot of people believe that “if you take care of the nickels the dollars will follow.” Here is a case in point.
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