Gaskets are near the bottom of the food chain of valve components; trim, body materials and packing seem to get a lot more press. But gaskets serve an important purpose: They are the static seal between non-moving valve components—usually the body and bonnet. Without gaskets, those two (and sometimes three) body or body/bonnet parts would have great difficulty sealing after assembly. It’s important for maintenance and repair personnel to understand what gaskets are and how they work because so many of those gaskets will need to be replaced or repaired.

Hurricane Harvey stalled over Houston in August 2017 creating what has been called the most extreme rain event in U.S. history. The storm dropped more than 50 inches of water on the city. What’s more, it was the third 500-year flood Houston experienced in as many years, and while much of the city is well into the rebuilding process, it will no doubt take years for the damage to homes and businesses to be fully calculated and corrected.

Most valve professionals take more notice of the oil or fluid flowing through the valve than the oil that lubricates the valve’s mechanical parts. That should not be the case. Virtually every valve with moving metallic parts needs lubrication, and some valves such as lubricated plug valves simply cannot function without it.

The words, “maintenance” and “repair” are so common in everyone’s vocabulary that we use them almost daily, and sometimes we’re not exactly happy about it. Whether it’s our cars and the oil change or tires they need or the washing machine that’s been making strange noises, most of us aren’t happy with the necessity of maintenance or repair in our personal lives. So why is it so different in our business lives? It isn’t. We hear phrases all the time such as: “run to failure,” “budget cuts,” “extended outage periods” that make us shudder. But are there better ways to deal with what’s happening?