FAQs

  • What is included in RFI’s turn-key hot tapping solution?
  • What differentiates RFI’s welders from their peers?
  • What is the thinnest wall pipe that can be hot tapped by RFI?
  • Why is ther a 48-hour delay after welding the branch connection nozzle?
  • What is a Quality Control Package?
  • What is Burn-through?
  • What is Buttering?
  • What is Hydrogen Cracking?

Red Flame Industries’ mission and success has been built on providing the industry with a total turn-key solution for this complex service. Our turn-key, full service solution includes:

  1. Initial engineering assessment
  2. Welding procedure design and qualification
  3. Welder qualification
  4. Welding
  5. Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)
  6. Manufacture of fittings
  7. Quality Control Program.

By choosing RFI, clients can be assured that all areas and options have been addressed to best meet their needs through one company at one price.

Contrary to typical production or maintenance welders who may be involved with in-service welding on rare occasions, RFI welders perform in-service welding on a daily basis. The special requirements for in-service welding are therefore always fresh in their mind. They are also directly involved in the development and qualification of the welding procedures to ensure they have both the knowledge and the skills required and that no disconnects remain between work in the lab and work in the field.

Following RFI’s specialized procedures and training, welders routinely weld on 3.2 mm (o.125) wall thicness pipe at pressures up to 3550 (500 psi).

A 48-hour waiting period is required in order to detect any potential delayed cracking, as recommended in CSA Z662 for welding on in-service pipelines. In some case, an engineering assessment can be performed to reduce or waive that delay.

RFI has been registered and certified by the Alberta’s Boiler Association (ABSA) as a quality Control Authorized Contractor. As part of our full service solution, we provide each client with a thorough and accurate report detailing everything that was performed and supplied for the particular job. This information is useful for future reference by clients.

Area where excessive arc penetration has weakened the pipe wall, allowing the pressurized product to escape. This is a concern for welder safety.

Deposition of several layers of weld metal on the parent metal where the branch connection or sleeve weld will be made, in order to control the microstructure and hardness of the parent metal.

Hydrogen-induced cracking due to a combination of hydrogen in the weld area, susceptible microstructure and stress. This obviously causes a concern for the integrity of the pipe after welding and later in service. In the case of in-service welding, there is a higher risk of cracking resulting from creating a hard microstructure in the steel while welding under the accelerated cooling conditions of a flowing pip. Cracking prevention in that case relies on the control of the weld microstructure and hardness. Non-destructive testing focuses on the detection of cracks.

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