What was failing
BHI Coatings performs Wellhead Flange Face Reforming for industrial plants in Alvin and across the Texas Gulf Coast.
A wellhead flange face corrodes and pits where the gasket seats, and once the sealing surface loses its flat, continuous profile the gasket no longer makes up tight. Product weeps past the joint, the connection cannot be trusted to hold, and the usual fix is to cut the flange out and weld in a replacement.
That means hot work on a live tie-in and pulling the spool, which is costly, slow, and disruptive to keep the wellhead in service. The owner needed the face back to a sound sealing surface without taking the spool out.
How BHI Coatings approaches Wellhead Flange Face Reforming
We work the flange in place. First we machine the face clean to take off the corrosion product and open up the bottom of the pits so the repair has sound metal to key into. Then we cold-rebuild the face with a Belzona 1000 Series metal-repair composite, filling the pitting and the lost profile back up. We bring the rebuilt face down to a flat, even sealing surface that matches the gasket footprint, working cold so there is no hot work and no distortion of the spool. The gasket seats on a continuous surface again, and the joint makes up and holds.
Assess the face
We inspect the flange face to map the pitting and the corroded, low areas across the gasket seating surface.
Machine clean
We machine the face clean to remove corrosion product and open the pits down to sound metal so the rebuild keys in.
Cold-rebuild the face
We fill the pitting and lost profile with a Belzona 1000 Series composite, working cold with no hot work and no spool removal.
Reform to a sealing profile
We bring the rebuilt material down to a flat, even sealing surface that matches the gasket footprint.
Make up and return to service
We confirm the face is sound, the gasket is made up against a continuous surface, and the wellhead goes back into service.
The result
What Wellhead Flange Face Reforming looks like
Repair and protection work of this kind, performed by BHI Coatings crews across the Texas Gulf Coast.
