Oversizing pressure regulators creates premature failure, mechanical noise, and performance issues. Always choose the smallest product/orifice/body size that meets the maximum flow requirements at the minimum inlet pressure condition.
The top reasons for oversized regulators:
1. Selecting a regulator based off future demand, ignoring current demand that is merely a fraction.
2. Reasoning: more is always better, right?
3. Using the 30% monitor reduction sizing practice instead of proper monitor sizing
4. Choosing the regulator size based off the piping size instead of sizing off process conditions
5. Expecting too much turndown out of a single run of regulators instead of using parallel runs
6. Focusing more on outlet pipe velocity than proper regulator sizing. (Tip: Correctly size the regulator, then swage up the outlet piping to lower velocity)
7. Not trusting published flow values. Emerson stands by the published flow values because we’ve established them through extensive testing.