Quality pressure relief and safety valves can provide many years of reliable, efficient performance—up to 20 years for especially well-designed valves such as Kunkle relief valves. However, even valves made from high-quality materials, manufactured with precision, and run through rigorous quality inspection cannot provide their maximum lifetime’s worth of overpressure protection alone. Your valve also requires regular upkeep to ensure longevity and peak performance.
Your Kunkle valves are a long-term investment in your systems’ safety and regulatory compliance. You have a responsibility to protect the full value of that investment by keeping them well-maintained. Our technicians can give you tips for Kunkle relief valve maintenance and help you ensure the quality and longevity you paid for.
The Benefits of Pressure Relief Valve Maintenance
Regular relief valve maintenance prevents corrosion or buildup from dirt, debris, scale, or other deposits from getting out of hand and reducing your valve’s efficiency or its capability to prevent potentially dangerous overpressure situations.
Maintenance also helps you catch signs of wear or issues with valve seating that could grow into more serious problems over time—it is always easier and usually more cost-effective to have small problems repaired before they become much larger problems.
By following best practices for valve maintenance, you do your part to ensure that your systems remain safe from explosions or safety hazards and firmly in compliance with your industry’s strict safety and operational standards for potentially decades.
Valve Maintenance Tips for Kunkle Products
As a whole, Dante Valve technicians have many lifetimes of experience with Kunkle relief valve maintenance and repair. Maintaining your valve is something you can do yourself, as long as you follow best practices:
- Inspect your valves periodically. Valve inspections should be done annually or as recommended by the manufacturer. You may want to inspect your valves every six months or quarterly in especially demanding environments.
- Keep the valve and its surrounding area clean. Check external parts and discharge ports regularly to prevent blockages from affecting performance.
- Perform a “pop test” at least once per year to verify your valve opens at the correct pressure. In this test, you isolate the valve from the system and gradually apply pressure via compressed air through the inlet until it “pops” open. If the valve does not pop, you will want to contact an authorized repair facility for recertification.
- Inspect internal components like seats, springs, and discs for signs of wear. Parts with extensive wear should be replaced—ideally with OEM Kunkle parts, which ensures your valves maintain their original specifications and performance.
- Check your set pressure and make sure your valve reseals properly. If you must make adjustments, consult your manufacturer’s guidelines. The documentation that came with your valve will usually provide advice to ensure that you and nearby personnel remain safe and prevent damage to either the valve itself or downstream equipment.
How to Open a Pressure Relief Valve
While performing maintenance on your valve, you may need to open the valve manually to inspect it. To safely open the valve, follow these steps:
- To protect yourself and others, wear appropriate PPE and confirm the system is depressurized before working on the valve.
- Locate the valve’s lift lever or release mechanism. Consult the valve’s documentation for help.
- Slowly pull or rotate the lever to gradually release pressure. Be prepared for a discharge of fluid or gas.
- Once the pressure is released, carefully return the lever to its original position.
How to Adjust a Pressure Relief Valve
Minor performance and efficiency issues with your valve may require manual adjustments to its pressure setpoint. To make these adjustments:
- Depressurize the system and isolate the valve. Remember to wear appropriate PPE.
- Locate the valve’s adjustment screw, typically found underneath a protective cap.
- To adjust the valve’s pressure setpoint, turn the screw clockwise (to increase the setpoint) or counterclockwise (to decrease it).
- Repressurize the system to test the performance of the valve and verify it operates at the new setpoint.
- Reinstall the cap to secure the adjustment screw and maintain the setting.
How often should pressure relief valves be replaced?
While a high-quality valve, well-maintained, can last for well over a decade at most, its longevity depends on a host of factors—even a valve built to high standards and dutifully maintained will have a shorter lifespan if its operating conditions are especially harsh or high-stress.
As your valve wears out, making repairs to the worn components can extend its service lifetime. Your valve should be replaced when it is no longer more cost-effective to have it repaired than it would be to buy a new valve. One of the purposes of valve maintenance is, like a health check-up, to keep your finger on your valve’s pulse and understand when it is in need of repairs or replacement.
Expert Pressure Relief and Safety Valve Repair with Dante Valve
Dante Valve is your trusted supplier for Kunkle pressure safety and relief valves. As a factory-authorized assembler, our technicians know top-quality valves inside and out and are skilled in Kunkle relief valve maintenance, inspection and repair procedures. We are available to ensure you can trust your valves to ensure safety, efficiency, and compliance to the full extent of their service lifetime.