Things are on the up and up. Summer is here and the birds are chirping and things are a lot better on the job front.

This months’ tip

SPRING HANGERS
The selection and sizing of spring hangers can be accomplished using whatever piping stress analysis software program. However, the selection should ALWAYS be checked using the manufacturers’ catalogue. The reason for this is that the stress program does not know what purpose the spring is being used for. For instance if you are trying to limit the loads on pump nozzles to a certain value and have located a spring on the piping close to the nozzle, the selected spring has been chosen by the program after completing a piping system moment calculation and distributing the loads amongst the restraints in order to achieve equilibrium.

The spring does not know that it is supposed to take more than its share of the load in order to reduce the pump nozzle load.
ACTION:    Once the program has selected a spring note the selected sizes and spring scales. Then change ‘hanger’ to a ‘user hanger’ and increase or decrease the selected spring size and/or spring scale. Several iterations will be required to come up with the appropriate nozzle loading.
Another reason for checking is to make sure that the selected spring agrees with the manufacturers’ catalogue and it gives you a better feel for the application.