Shutdown Lining Inspection: Look Before the Scaffold Comes Down
A shutdown inspection should leave measurements, photographs, locations, and decisions, not a folder of mysterious close-ups discovered after restart.
Shutdown access is expensive and temporary. Once the scaffold comes down and the doors close, every undocumented crack becomes a future argument. A useful inspection is planned around locations, measurements, and decisions before anyone enters the vessel.
Start with history
Bring the lining drawing, material list, installation records, previous inspection, operating changes, hot-spot map, and repair history. Mark known concerns and high-wear zones. Inspecting without that context is sightseeing with a hard hat.
Follow site isolation, atmosphere testing, access, and confined-space procedures. Refractory inspection never outranks safe entry.
Record location and scale
Use a consistent grid or equipment reference. Every photograph should be traceable to a location and include a scale where dimensions matter. Capture an overall view before close-ups so later reviewers know what they are seeing.
Measure remaining thickness where the method allows. Map wear profiles, open joints, displaced bricks, cracks, spalls, anchor exposure, bulging, chemical penetration, and areas that sound or look detached. Note whether cracks are stable hairlines, open working joints, or accompanied by movement.
Investigate the boundary
The edge between damaged and sound lining often contains more information than the centre of the failure. Preserve representative samples through the hot face and unaffected body. Photograph layers before demolition removes the evidence.
Check penetrations, corners, burner blocks, doors, roofs, slag lines, tap holes, supports, and previous repair boundaries. These details concentrate movement and operational abuse.
A repair list says what to replace. A good inspection record explains why, where, how much, and what to watch next campaign.
Close decisions before access closes
Classify findings: acceptable, monitor, local repair, engineered repair, or replace. Define repair limits, material, preparation, anchoring, curing, dry-out, and hold points. Reinspect completed work before removing access.
Finally, update drawings and baseline measurements. The next shutdown should begin with better information than this one did. For repair-grade selection, custom shapes, and planned shutdown supply, send us the inspection details.