Valve Testing
Reduce Energy Waste and Downtime Risks with Ultrasound Inspections.
When valves fail, processes stall, energy is wasted, and ancillary equipment like pumps, compressors, and actuators are forced to work harder. This strain leads to premature wear, increased maintenance, and unexpected breakdowns across your plant.
Ultrasound valve inspection helps you find hidden issues like passing flow, cavitation, or stuck valves before they disrupt operations.
How are Valve Failures Costing You?
Valves control flow and pressure in every industrial process. When they fail, they rarely announce it. No alarms. No alerts. Just costly downtime, leaks, or unplanned maintenance.
If you’re not monitoring valves routinely, internal leakage (passing), cavitation, or mechanical wear can build unnoticed. The result: lost product, increased energy costs, and reliability problems.
Here’s how valve failures impact your plant:
Energy & Production Waste
Passing valves leak product or steam 24/7, inflating costs
Equipment Overload & Stress
Stuck or cavitating valves overload pumps and compressors.
Process Variability
Poor valve control reduces process stability and product quality.
Safety & Compliance Risks
Malfunctioning valves cause emissions or unsafe conditions.
Common Valve Types (and Their Failure Modes)
Primarily used as isolation valves, these are designed to fully open or fully close flow. Ultrasound detects problems quickly with these valves due to their distinct sound signatures.
These valves prevent reverse flow and typically operate automatically. Ultrasound helps confirm proper closure or detect failures.
Critical for regulating flow and pressure, control valves are highly dynamic. Ultrasound identifies early issues before catastrophic failure.
Common for isolation and throttling, butterfly valves can fail silently. Ultrasound makes those issues audible.
Proven Ultrasound Method for Valve Inspection
Valves failures can be costly, disruptive, and hazardous. Using ultrasound technology during routine operations, reliability teams can quickly detect passing, blockage, and cavitation issues in valves before they escalate.
The inspection process is straightforward and non-invasive—simply listening with an ultrasound device to detect distinct ultrasonic signals indicating valve conditions.
We bring extensive hands-on experience, ready and willing to train your team, assist in integrating proactive valve monitoring into your operations, or provide direct inspection services. Our approach helps you maintain valve integrity, minimize energy loss, and significantly reduce the risk of unexpected downtime or safety incidents.
Our Solutions for Valve Inspection
Our route-based data collection solutions combine airborne and contact ultrasound sensors with precision vibration analysis into versatile, multi-purpose reliability data collectors. Fully integrated with the world's most powerful predictive maintenance software, these intuitive tools streamline asset inspections, simplify workflows, and deliver superior reliability outcomes.
Learn MoreOur ultrasound and vibration permanent monitoring solutions offer industry-leading sensitivity for the earliest possible fault detection. Engineered for durability and ease-of-use, these solutions provide remote, automated diagnostics—reducing maintenance costs and delivering a comprehensive, facility-wide view of asset health.
Learn MoreImaging technologies enhance visibility into hidden problems—revealing heat, sound, and motion that the eye can’t see. From thermal and acoustic imaging to motion amplification, reliability teams can use these vision enhancing technologies to detect failures. Our imaging solutions are a powerful way to see more, understand faster, and act with confidence.
Learn MoreUltrasound-guided lubrication empowers maintenance teams to grease bearings with precision by monitoring friction in real time during greasing tasks. By comparing live decibel readings to historical baseline data, technicians can identify when lubrication is truly needed, and when enough has been applied; preventing both under- and over-lubrication.
Learn MoreHow to Inspect Valves in 4 Steps
01
Inspect Upstream
Listen for turbulence or continuous flow that may indicate a passing valve.
02
Listen On the Valve
Evaluate for cavitation, friction, sticking, or internal leakage.
03
Scan Downstream
Check for signs like excess flow or pressure drops, indicating a leaking or stuck trap.
04
Use Temperature
Verify surface temperatures with infrared or a radiometer as complimentary analysis.
Working Together
Valve Inspection Frequently Asked Questions
Gate, globe, check, ball, plug, control valves, steam traps — almost any type that moves fluid.
Passing flow (leaks), cavitation, blockages, sticking or friction, and packing leaks.
Most teams can get started in an hour. Ultrasound is intuitive and easy to learn.
Yes. Valve ultrasound inspections are performed under normal operating conditions.
Monthly, quarterly, or based on criticality and trending results.
Yes. Trending ultrasound levels over inspections lets you catch problems early.
Absolutely. Early detection prevents major repairs and avoids unplanned shutdowns. Ultrasound also delivers fast ROI by identifying energy-wasting leaks, compressed air losses, steam trap failures, and bearing defects across your plant.
Ultrasound complements vibration, thermography, and pressure monitoring for a complete condition monitoring program.
No. Ultrasound is extremely versatile. The same tools are used for valve inspections, compressed air and gas leak detection, steam trap testing, bearing lubrication and fault detection, electrical discharge inspections, and tightness testing.
Yes. Many ultrasound systems integrate with trending and reporting software to document inspections and issue alerts.