River Water Pump Piping Explodes

Imagine the surprise involved when what was viewed as a plain river
water system produced an explosion. A chemical company had been safely
operating three large, high-volume, low-head river water pumps and doing
similar maintenance tasks for about 50 years without incidents. The
explosion and injuries during the removal of the pump were totally
unexpected. It is a pumping system that has not had any significant changes
in decades.
A 30,000-gallon per minute vertical river water pump was performing
poorly. The operators suspected a damaged shaft, so they shut it down at
about 6:30 A.M. on a Monday morning. It was a winter morning and the other
pumps could handle the cooling requirements. Work began on the pump on
the next day about 10:30 A.M.
Three seasoned mechanics were working to remove the pump on
Tuesday. The bedplate bolts were removed and the 3/8-inch well water gland
flush line was disconnected, although pump suction needed no
disconnection, since it was suspended into the river. A welder used an
acetylene torch to cut the 30 bolts holding the discharge piping. As the
welder made his\ final cut on 42-inch diameter coupling on the pump
discharge line, an explosion occurred within the water pump discharge
piping. The force of the explosion knocked the welder back over eight feet.
The welder sustained flash burns to the face and the chest, but returned to
work some weeks later without noticeable scars. Two nearby machinists were
also struck with explosion-propelled debris, but they were not seriously hurt.
The mechanics and their supervisor were astonished because they did
not know of any flammables within this area. Furthermore, the previous hot
work testing on the system did not reveal any flammables.

River Water System Details

At this U.S. Gulf Coast location, the river water can be fresh water
during rainy seasons, but it is often brackish. The river depth and quality
depends upon rainfall, winds, tides, and the season. The water can be fairly
salty during periods of low rainfall. During the fall, the operators sometimes
catch shrimp and blue crabs on the inlet pump screens. The 30,000-gpm
river water pump is one of the original designs installed 50 years ago in a
pump house that shelters five pumps.
As mentioned above, the defective pump was shut down early Monday
morning before sunrise, and the mechanics started work about 10:30 A.M. on
Tuesday, after the equipment was locked out. The pump was idle for about
28 hours before the well water seal flush was disconnected and the
mechanics started disconnecting the 400-hp electric motor.
On the afternoon of the second day, a crew of two machinists and a
welder were assigned to disconnect the pump from the discharge piping. A
hot work permit was issued, after explosion meter tests were conducted at a
nearby coupling to ensure that the piping did not contain any flammables.

The pump and piping are joined by a Dresser coupling. These

Dresser couplings are held together with 30 all-thread, 5/8-inch-diameter
bolts. Once the bolts are cut with an acetylene torch, the coupling is cut. The
coupling is basically a 42-inch diameter short pipe (or collar) about nine
inches wide, and is made of 1/2-inch-thick steel. The welder used his torch to
cut about eight inches of the width of the coupling when sparks entered into
the piping. Next, a machinist started massaging the coupling by pounding it
with a 12-pound sledgehammer. This beating helps free up the piping, as
steel in river water service is subject to corrosion.
The welder then relit his torch and cut the remaining part of the collar.
As he made the final cut, sparks were shooting into the piping. The welder
started to move away from the pipe and the explosion occurred, knocking
him back 8 to 10 feet and covering him with a black material. This black
material was probably a mixture of soot, river water, slime, and metal grit.
The force of the explosion thrust the heavy pump and base plate (about five
tons) backward and deflected a beam. The 180-pound cylinder-shaped
coupling was propelled away from the explosion and was expanded.

What Was the Fuel?

How did a flammable gas enter the pump/piping system? Why did the
explosion meter tests prove negative? What was the fuel within the pump?
Jobs similar to this were repeated over the past 50 years. Why did it happen
at this particular time?
A multi-disciplined team interviewed witnesses and performed tests,
and the evidence was followed to a sound conclusion. Investigators sent the
explosion meters (flammable gas detectors) to the instrument shop for
examination. The welding torch was also inspected. Experts found both the
torch and the meter behaved satisfactorily. There was speculation that some
aquatic life deteriorated and formed methane, but that was not the case.
They concluded that the fuel was dissolved methane from the well water
system that was routed to the pump seal. Trace amounts of dissolved
methane (about 0.02 percent by volume) accumulated in the well water
stream flowing through the 3/8-inch-diameter stream on the pump gland.
This methane collected during the 28-hour period that the river water pump
was shut down. Seal flush well water on a sister pump was monitored to
determine the facts. Many water wells in and along the U.S. Gulf Coast are in
areas that have trace amounts of methane in the water.

Why Was the Presence of Flammable Gas Not Detected?

The geometry of the piping layout trapped the lighter-than-air
flammable gas. The coupling was 42 inches in diameter and there was a
concentric reducer to 36 inches. This was a unique situation. Evidence of
methane and the piping layout led the investigators to understand the most
probable situation. The accumulation of gas was sufficient to be present at
the coupling, but not at the test point on the discharge piping. (See the

sketch of the details of the river water pump system) The low-density
methane was buoyant enough to hover as a separate layer in the upper
portion of the pump and at the coupling. Methanes density is about 0.6 in
air. The methane floated on top of the air like fishing corks float on water.
When the first cut on the coupling was made, the area near the burning was
believed to be fuel rich. After the initial cut and with an open high-point
bleed, the air displaced the methane to get sufficient mixing for a very
energetic combustion. The energy released indicated the methane and air
were well mixed, perhaps by a short-lived slow burn that encouraged thermal
mixing.
Investigators used an adjacent pump of the same detail and size to
inspect for methane accumulation. A small flow of well water was routed to
the gland on an idle sister pump for more than a day. The explosion meter
tests performed after a day revealed that there was sufficient accumulation
of methane to be troublesome.
Why was this different from all the other times? The river water pump
gland was originally lubricated with grease. About 15 years earlier, in an
effort to reduce potential environmental situations, such as an occasional
sheen on the river water discharge, the grease lubrication was replaced with
environmentally friendly well water. Furthermore, it is believed that when a
river water pump was shut down for scheduled maintenance, the motor was
shut off and the well water was turned off immediately. Despite the fact that
this area handled only water, we must be concerned about the impurities
that can be dissolved in the water.

Corrective Actions
Corrective actions included:
Replacing the well water used for lubrication with a river water
stream.
Installing hot work test sample points closer to the cutting location
and in the higher elevations of the piping.
Sharing the incident details with hundreds of mechanics, chemical
process operators, and supervisors within the chemical complex. This
training included stressing the proper flammable gas detection
strategy.
Well water was routinely used within this chemical complex. This
lesson was so unique because it involved such fundamentals as gas density,
flammable limits, and sample point orientation. The company held a series of
meetings and shared their recommendations with over 800 maintenance and
operations employees, engineers, and supervisors.