Welding is an expensive process. Beyond the cost of the weld itself, there are numerous challenges associated with the work as a whole. All of this adds up to time, which leads to increased costs. Fortunately, Lokring is here to help.
Lokring has always had an application in cases where hot work poses a high risk, such as where the atmospheric conditions make welding a significant safety consideration. However, as more and more operators become comfortable with use of the Lokring product, its potential number of applications have expanded.
Initially, these expanded applications included: open and closed hazardous drains and vents, gas-lift, flare gas, propane, butane, liquified petroleum gas, hydrocarbon, sour water and sour gas, diesel and chemical injection.
But more and more, the industry is seeing entire scopes of new pipework installation being carried out using Lokring.
With Lokring, fabrications can be made onsite and can be fully field routed, significantly reducing design, fabrication, and off-site costs while still enhancing safety. This eliminates the requirement to fabricate onshore and ship pipework offshore. This is all done with an ASME B31 code qualified connector, meaning the system is still fully welded.
Several customers have found this to reduce their overall install costs by between 25–45 per cent. The saving is dependent on the requirement of each scope.
As well as offering ease of installation benefits, Lokring does not require post-weld heat treatment, decontamination, flushing, or purging. Additionally, no hot-work permits, enclosures or fire tents, or atmospheric tests are required as part of the installation process. In some cases, there may be less scaffolding required. All of this reduces time and associated costs.
The rework rate of Lokring is also much lower than typical alternatives (0.0015 vs ~10 per cent), while also eliminating heat affected zone issues. The non-destructive testing costs, which is sometimes as much as the weld itself, is also eliminated.
With its unique cold weld design, Lokring is making fluid and gas pipeline installations more efficient and cost-effective than ever.
For more information, visit the company website.
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