The service record you receive after each valve

1. What the record covers

Every valve we treat in service gets its own written record. The record is completed on site, before the team leaves, and a copy stays with you. It follows one fixed structure through four entries.

1. The condition found when the valve was handed over.
2. The treatment applied, product by product and point by point.
3. The result observed after treatment, with the evidence behind it.
4. The work we recommend next, and when we advise it.

This structure is one thing worth demanding when choosing an online valve maintenance provider. A report you cannot read valve by valve has little value later.

2. Condition: what we found

The condition entry states the fault as found. The valve may be hard to operate, passing at the seat, or leaking to atmosphere. Each observation is written as evidence, never as a verdict.

A hiss at the seat suggests a seat leak. A stiff handwheel suggests dried lubricant or deposits. Neither observation is treated as proof.

The entry also records the checks that allowed treatment. These cover fitting condition, valve design suited to injection, and the site permit. Where the maker's documents set limits, the record shows they were consulted.

Where seat tightness matters, the record points to the confirming step. That step is a seat-leak test under agreed conditions, for example pressure decay across the closed valve. Agreeing this early is covered in agreeing acceptance evidence before the job starts.

3. Treatment: what was done

The treatment entry lists what went into the valve and where. It names each product by purpose: cleaner, lubricant or sealant. It names the injection point used for each dose.

It records the amount injected, kept within the equipment and fitting ratings. It records how the pressure responded at every step. It notes where the team stopped, and why it stopped there.

Dwell times appear as the times actually used, not as standard figures. They vary with the valve, the product and the state of the seat. Anything that limited the work, such as a blocked point, is written down.

This entry is the paper trail behind our clean, lubricate and seal service. A reader can later reconstruct the job from it.

4. Result: what changed

The result entry compares the valve before and after treatment. It uses the same kind of evidence on both sides. If the before entry relied on feel and sound, the after entry does the same.

Both readings are marked as indications. A valve that turns freely and sounds quiet is improved, not proven tight. Where tightness matters, the result names the agreed test and its conditions.

The test might be pressure decay, double block and bleed monitoring, or a witnessed leak test. Factory references such as API 598 set acceptance classes for new valves. They do not replace an agreed field test. See what the API 598 test does and does not prove.

Some entries end without a clean result. A valve that still passes after treatment is recorded as such. The recommendation then becomes a proper assessment, or replacement where warranted.

5. Recommended work: what comes next

The final entry looks forward. It may advise a lubricant top-up at a stated interval, as advice for your service. Intervals follow the valve, the product and the duty, not a fixed rule.

It may advise a cycling routine, because idle valves tend to seize in time. It may list practical repairs, such as a renewed buttonhead fitting or a cleaned injection point.

Where your operators inject products themselves, the entry may point to training. See what an operator training programme covers. Trained operators keep the benefits of the visit for longer.

Each recommendation carries a reason drawn from the condition entry. You can accept it, defer it or query it on its merits.

6. Using the record after we leave

Keep the records in a per-valve file, not a per-visit file. Repeated entries then show patterns over time. The same valve may pass each year, or the same fitting may block repeatedly.

That habit is the subject of per-valve service records and what to log. The records also feed planning for the next round of work. They show which valves need simple top-ups and which need closer attention.

This is useful when defining scope for a multi-valve campaign. Our field teams use this same format across the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Whoever opens the file next, the history reads the same way.