Reconsider Live/Hot Bolting

How frequently are you performing live bolting? It may be way too often.  

Every once-in-a-while folks from corporate will put on PPE like a children’s halloween costume and walk the facility. For some reason they like to fixate on rusty bolts. Before you know it, they’ve convinced themselves that replacing the rusty bolts cannot wait until the next turnaround; they must be replaced as soon as possible with the live bolting technique. 

Live bolting (or hot bolting) is the process of replacing bolts while the process is still active. This means replacing bolts at elevated temperatures and pressures that puts the assemblers at an elevated risk. Many times this risk is not worth the problem it is trying to solve. 

Replacing bolts one-at-a-time requires the remaining bolts to keep the flange connection sealed. Sometimes it’s just not possible.

I do not recommend live bolting flanged connections that are limited by the Maximum Bolt Stress, Sbmax, because the gasket is already performing below the Target Assembly Gasket Stress, Sgt.