The Pressure Vessel Design and Repair Checklist

The process of requesting a pressure vessel design or repair does not have to be high-pressure. At Re:Build Optimation, our mission is to provide a high-quality pressure vessel tailored to your requirements while ensuring a hassle-free experience for your business.

When designing or repairing a pressure vessel, it’s crucial to address a variety of technical and operational considerations to ensure safety, functionality, and compliance with regulations. The Pressure Vessel Checklist is a comprehensive tool designed to guide you through this complex process. This checklist helps you systematically evaluate all necessary aspects of your pressure vessel project, ensuring that you meet both your operational needs and regulatory requirements.

After decades of manufacturing pressure vessels for clients, we’ve identified three common starting points for new conversations:

  • In the first scenario, clients often approach us with detailed specifications for the required pressure vessel. Typically, this happens when they have an internal engineering team experienced in vessel design. Our role is to build and install the vessel precisely according to their specifications.
  • Alternatively, some clients need a pressure vessel due to evolving processes or business growth. While they may not have in-house expertise in vessel design, they understand the operational requirements. In these cases, we take a more consultative approach, assisting with design, manufacturing, and installation to ensure the new vessel meets their needs seamlessly.
  • Lastly, clients sometimes approach us with a need for a pressure vessel driven by regulatory changes or technological advancements in their industry. They may not have prior experience with vessel design or the specific requirements involved. In such instances, we provide comprehensive support, guiding them through the entire process—from initial consultation and design conceptualization to manufacturing and final pressure vessel installation. This ensures compliance with regulations and alignment with the latest technological standards in their field.

In every case, we maintain a checklist that outlines essential initial information. We’re sharing it here so that when you reach out to us, you can either provide specific details or let us know where you need assistance. This straightforward yet effective list ensures we start on the right track together.

Key Components of the Pressure Vessel Checklist

Below, you can find the main components of the checklist, along with explanations for each item:

  • Application
    • Reactor / Storage / Other
    • New / Repair-Upgrade
    • Simple description of process/purpose:
  • Minimum Temperature
    • Environment:
    • Process:
  • Maximum Temperature
    • Environment:
    • Process:
  • Maximum Pressure:
  • Size of the Pressure Vessel
    • Working Volume Required:
    • Constraints
      • Diameter (Width):
      • Length (Height):
  • Contents:
  • Geograph
    • City:
    • County:
    • State:

Application

A pressure vessel conversation always begins with the application. You likely know whether we’re building a reactor, a storage unit, or a vessel you will use in batch manufacturing, which accomplishes both a desired chemical reaction and the storage of compressed fluids.  In every case, we begin here.

You may already have a pressure vessel in service that needs repair. In our industry, any upgrade or process modification unrelated to damage or age wear is classified as a repair.

Minimum & Maximum Operating Temperatures

Material science is bound to the laws of how atoms act and react to temperature. The liquids and gases your vessel will store and/or process and the metal on which the vessel design is based can expand and contract with temperature changes. Understanding both your environmental extremes and your process conditions is crucial.

We’re based in Rochester, NY.  In this region, we can see sub-zero temperatures and temperatures on hot commercial roofs in the sun of July.  While these extremes may not occur in your region and perhaps not in your installation location, every project should ask whether the vessel will encounter environmental extremes and define what those extremes might be.

Additionally, and likely more importantly, the operational minimums and maximums of temperature that your process demands should be documented.

All 4 data points below help us confidently prepare to build the ideal pressure vessel:

Maximum Pressure

Pressure vessels generally solve one of two unique things:

  • Compressed storage of fluids, and/or
  • Chemical Change

In both cases, chemists—our chemists at Re:Build Optimation and yours—can determine the ideal operating pressures or maximum pressures that either application type will require for your fluids. Establishing a maximum pressure requirement early on allows our team to ensure that your application functions effectively and meets the highest safety standards and all regional code requirements.

Size

You likely already know the amount of fluid you need to process or store, as well as the overall volume of your vessel in gallons or liters, which is both a process requirement and a business operation imperative. We will need this information, and it is also useful to understand any constraints related to the service location when possible.

Your vessel may have to fit inside of a building, under an elevated walkway, or embedded within an existing process line. Our design process will take into account the constraints of your installation location to ensure that the vessel’s diameter, length, nozzle locations, and service points are appropriately planned.

Contents

The chemical properties of your vessel’s contents matter. We will work with you to understand what chemicals and fluids are in your process and how they will affect the overall design.

Geography

Your service location matters not only on-site but also from a geopolitical standpoint.  When we know the region within which you will be operating, we can get to work early researching what local, county, state, and country codes will affect your vessel. At the simplest, we are ASME Section VIII Division 1 Certified. This covers the vast majority of build requirements in the United States, but the full scope of certification and local code clearance requires more than our statement that we are certified. We use your in-service information to conduct due diligence where we can assure that you are in full compliance on your vessel the day it goes into service.

Starting a conversation with Re:Build Optimation about your pressure vessel needs is possible without the checklist. However, this tool is extremely useful in giving our clients confidence that they are prepared for a productive discussion. We are ready to help you fill in gaps and make high-quality decisions to meet your business’s needs efficiently.

Let’s Connect​

Looking to connect with an experienced team?
Look no further than Re:Build Optimation! We are excited to connect with you.