Do tri-clamps ever fail?

[Nubble]

Curious if anyone has ever come across reliability data on tri clover clamps? I'm not super concerned about clamps failing on my personal homebrew equipment but this past weekend I was visiting a brewery and noticed the brewmaster was taking a sample from his 7-barrel brite tank. He was pouring from a small sample tube that was attached near the bottom of the tank via a 1.5-inch tri-clamp. It got me thinking... if the seal ever failed on that thing it would be catastrophic. Not just in the lost beer but in the potential damage that an unplanned ~200 gallon flood could do to brewery operations. Has anyone ever had an issue or are tri-clamps just one of those things that are so simple and effective that we can afford to take them for granted?

just curious...

 

[Drumminguy81]

Very very rarely. I work for a major food manufacture with thousands of triclamp pipes and fittings they pretty much never fail. The clamps can start to stretch out to where they dont clamp as tight but that is usually from frequent removal and over tightening. The gaskets occasionally wear out but not often usually on lines that heavy acids or caustic are used frequently for cleaning. It's good practice to replace them occasionally. When one does fail it's not like it dumps a tank to the floor you will just start to see small drips. Overall they are extremely reliable and last a very very long time. Many of ours have been in service for 25+ years with no issues.

 

[Nubble]

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[schematix]

They can if improperly used.

Funny story at work. Wish I could share all details. Let’s just say you shouldn’t use a crowbar to pull a pipe into position and then clamp it. It will not last and will fail catastrophically.