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Temecula Station - Downs Energy,-BACK ON LINE
Hello,
Please be advised that the station on Diaz Road is currently in a state of shutdown due to a cascade of smaller failures that conspired together to cause physical damage to the station Monday morning, October 5.
The problem began as a failed (intermittently working) high-pressure sensor. This sensor's function is to detect when the CNG storage banks have reached full pressure, and to then shut down the Cryostar high-pressure LNG pump. When this sensor started having problems it caused the pump to run beyond it's intended 4400PSI shutoff setpoint. At about 9:30 Monday morning the pump continued to run causing a high-pressure mechanical safety valve to blow of and vent the excess pressure. Anyone witness to this event would have heard what sounded like an air riffle firing in sequence with the strokes of the production pump. It was *NOT* quiet. The relieved pressure was then sent to the vertical vent stack and would have been visible as a large vapor plume at the top of the upright LNG tank.
We were alerted to the situation by detectors, unfortunately this had to have been going on for quite a while before it could be detected.
The construction contractor responsible for the station did find and replace the faulty pressure transducer Monday afternoon. When we put the production pump back online we then discovered that the safety valve had been damaged by the severe abuse and was bypassing more and more LNG as the pressure built up. By 3800PSI that valve was bypassing excessive amounts of high-pressure LNG.
Yesterday (Tuesday) were were told the valve was removed and taken to LA to be rebuilt. It's now Wednesday, our customers have been without service since Monday morning.
We are now being told that a temporary valve is being installed at the site this evening between 5 and 6pm. Since it is temporary, we can assume they will shut us down again to install the real valve at some future time.
Obviously this situation is not consistent with how we wish to accommodate our customer base. Everyone's patience is appreciated while we try to get this fixed as quickly as possible.
I will try to post back more information as we become aware of it.
Thank you,
-James Bertok
Systems Administrator
DOWNS ENERGY
Please be advised that the station on Diaz Road is currently in a state of shutdown due to a cascade of smaller failures that conspired together to cause physical damage to the station Monday morning, October 5.
The problem began as a failed (intermittently working) high-pressure sensor. This sensor's function is to detect when the CNG storage banks have reached full pressure, and to then shut down the Cryostar high-pressure LNG pump. When this sensor started having problems it caused the pump to run beyond it's intended 4400PSI shutoff setpoint. At about 9:30 Monday morning the pump continued to run causing a high-pressure mechanical safety valve to blow of and vent the excess pressure. Anyone witness to this event would have heard what sounded like an air riffle firing in sequence with the strokes of the production pump. It was *NOT* quiet. The relieved pressure was then sent to the vertical vent stack and would have been visible as a large vapor plume at the top of the upright LNG tank.
We were alerted to the situation by detectors, unfortunately this had to have been going on for quite a while before it could be detected.
The construction contractor responsible for the station did find and replace the faulty pressure transducer Monday afternoon. When we put the production pump back online we then discovered that the safety valve had been damaged by the severe abuse and was bypassing more and more LNG as the pressure built up. By 3800PSI that valve was bypassing excessive amounts of high-pressure LNG.
Yesterday (Tuesday) were were told the valve was removed and taken to LA to be rebuilt. It's now Wednesday, our customers have been without service since Monday morning.
We are now being told that a temporary valve is being installed at the site this evening between 5 and 6pm. Since it is temporary, we can assume they will shut us down again to install the real valve at some future time.
Obviously this situation is not consistent with how we wish to accommodate our customer base. Everyone's patience is appreciated while we try to get this fixed as quickly as possible.
I will try to post back more information as we become aware of it.
Thank you,
-James Bertok
Systems Administrator
DOWNS ENERGY
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