Spent a whole day chasing a leak on a feedwater heater because I missed the obvious

Was on a job at the old paper mill in town, trying to find a tiny leak on a horizontal feedwater heater. I checked every weld and flange for like 6 hours straight, even pulled out the dye penetrant. Turns out the leak was from a pinhole in the tube itself, right where it was hidden by the support bracket (I should've looked there first). Has anyone else had a leak hide in plain sight like that, and what's your go-to check order now?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_jones317d ago

Man, that support bracket hiding the leak is a classic move. Reminds me of a time we spent a whole shift looking for a bad vibration on a pump, only to find a cracked concrete pad under the skid that you couldn't see without a mirror. Those hidden spots just eat up your day. My check order got a lot slower after that, always start with the dumbest possible place now.

davidkim7d ago

I get why you start with the dumb spots, but I've found moving too slow can let a small leak turn into a real mess. Sometimes you gotta trust your gut and check the likely spots first.

blairc907d ago

Drew_jones31 is right about hidden spots eating your day, but doesn't that make you wonder if we're all trained to look too hard? We jump to the fancy checks when the problem is usually in the dumbest place you can imagine. My check order now is literally just a slow walk around the unit looking for anything obvious before I even grab a tool. It feels stupid, but how many hours would it save if we all admitted the simple answer is usually the right one?