Safety Alert 246 - Stainless Steel Tubing-Related Fires

Safety Alert No. 246 In two separate incidents, tubing-related failures resulted in fires that caused damage to their respective
facilities.
In one incident, the investigation revealed that a ½-inch stainless steel tubing between the glycol pump and the glycol tower parted from a fitting located at the base of the glycol tower and upstream of the tower SDV, resulting in glycol, condensate, and gas spraying onto the glycol reboiler and igniting. Most of the glycol equipment required replacement. PSV’s within the glycol unit’s skid were piped locally and resulted in difficulty extinguishing the fire. The cause of the parting of the tubing from the fitting was concluded to be vibration caused by the glycol pump.