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Am I the only one who was over-tightening boiler tube caps for years?
I was doing a walk-through on a job in Cincinnati and the foreman pointed out the stress marks on my last few caps. He said, 'You're putting your back into it, but the gasket does the sealing.' I just used a torque wrench for the first time yesterday. How do you guys make sure you're hitting the right spec without overdoing it?
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gavin_mason3113d ago
Used to crank them down until my knuckles were white, figured tighter was always better. Saw the same stress marks on a flange last year and it clicked. The old guy on site just shook his head and said the bolt only needs to hold the seal, not crush it. Bought a decent click-type torque wrench and actually read the manual for the gasket. Makes a world of difference, and my forearms don't ache anymore.
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stellag2113d ago
Wait, you were just going by feel before? That's wild.
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