CHAPTER 6
PIPING SYSTEM COMPONENTS
As a GSE3 or GSM3, some portion of your
discuss valve construction and the most common
daily routine will involve working with valves,
types of valves you will use in the day-to-day
steam traps, filters and strainers, heat exchangers,
operation and maintenance of the various ship-
piping, gasket and packing materials, fasteners,
board engineering systems. Valves are typed or
and insulation. You will be responsible for routine
classified according to their use in a system.
maintenance of this equipment in your spaces and
possibly throughout the ship. The machinery of
VALVE CONSTRUCTION
a system cannot work properly unless the piping
system components that make up that system are
Valves are usually made of bronze, brass, cast
in good working order. The information in this
or malleable iron, or steel. Steel valves are either
chapter, as it is throughout the book, is of a broad
cast or forged and are made of either plain steel
and general nature. You should refer to the
or alloy steel. Alloy steel valves are used in high-
appropriate manufacturer's technical manuals
pressure, high-temperature systems; the disks and
and/or ship's plans, information books, and plant
seats (internal sealing surfaces) of these valves are
or valve manuals for specific problems with
usually surfaced with a chromium-cobalt alloy
individual equipment.
known as Stellite. Stellite is extremely hard.
After studying this chapter, you should have
Brass and bronze valves are never used in
the knowledge to be able to (1) identify,
systems where temperatures exceed 550F. Steel
maintain, and repair the various types of
valves are used for all services above 550F and
manually, mechanically, remotely, electrically,
in lower temperature systems where internal or
and pneumatically operated valves common to the
external conditions of high pressure, vibration,
gas turbine propelled class ships; the various types
or shock would be too severe for valves made of
of steam traps common in the waste heat systems;
brass or bronze. Bronze valves are used almost
the various types of strainers and filters used in
exclusively in systems that carry salt water. The
the ships' fuel oil, lube oil, hydraulic oil, and air
seats and disks of these valves are usually made
systems; the various types of heat exchangers used
of Monel, a metal that has excellent corrosion-
in ships' auxiliary systems; the various types of
and erosion-resistant qualities.
piping, tubing, and hose assemblies; and the
Most submarine seawater valves are made of
various fittings, unions, joints, supports, hangers,
an alloy of 70 percent copper to 30 percent nickel
and safety shields used with the above com-
(70/30).
ponents; (2) identify, select, and properly use
gaskets, packing material, and O-rings used for
VALVE TYPES
repair and maintenance; (3) identify, inspect, and
Although many different types of valves are
select the correct fasteners used for securing the
components of various piping systems or valves;
used to control the flow of fluids, the basic valve
and (4) select and install the correct insulation
types can be divided into two general groups: stop
materials used in today's modern naval ship
valves and check valves.
systems.
Besides the basic types of valves, many special
valves, which cannot really be classified as either
stop valves or check valves, are found in the
VALVES
engineering spaces. Many of these valves serve to
control the pressure of fluids and are known as
A valve is any device used for the control of
pressure-control valves. Other valves are identified
fluids in a closed system. In this section we will
by names that indicate their general function, such
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