Servicing and repair of pressure accumulators

The servicing and inspection of pressure accumulators must be performed by an officially authorised person in accordance with the German Industrial Health and Safety Act. An officially authorised person has the required specialist knowledge about servicing and inspection of operational material such as pressure equipment. This knowledge comes from the person’s education and training and professional experience. An officially authorised person must also have passed the relevant examination at the end of the training. Their function within the company does not become effective until they have been named as an officially authorised person by their engineering or operations manager. If you ask us to maintain your equipment, you can count on all the work carried out by HANSA‑FLEX on hydraulic accumulators been done by officially authorised persons for pressure equipment.

Replacing a hydraulic accumulator on a machine or plant with an identical pressure accumulator does not require a new approval. However, the replacement must be recorded in the factory documentation. The time to the first recurring inspection starts from when the new hydraulic accumulator is brought into use and continues at the specified intervals. A properly carried out seal replacement is also not a safety-relevant modification of the hydraulic accumulator. A new initial inspection by an Approved Inspection Body (ZÜS) is therefore not required.

If the pressure accumulator has a new place of use, for example, is installed in another machine, then an inspection before being brought into use is not required provided certain preconditions are fulfilled:

• An inspection has been carried out elsewhere before being brought into use in the new location
• No new method of operation
• Connections and equipment are otherwise unchanged
• No special requirements at the new place of use

Having a suitable replacement to hand is always a good idea. This also applies to pressure accumulators. The following points must be observed for a stored accumulator:

• Corrosion or elastomer ageing can take place in storage.
• A visual inspection normally reveals any damage.
• The inspection interval is not extended during storage.

When having your pressure accumulator serviced, you should ensure that your hydraulic accumulator is always returned to you after maintenance at the manufacturer or service centre. This ensures that you have an exact replacement on hand should the currently installed pressure accumulator fail. HANSA‑FLEX carries out the repair directly for you on site. This saves you time and the cost of shipping. Any work performed on pressure accumulators must comply with the requirements of Section 14 (5) of the German Industrial Health and Safety Act (BetrSichV). You should also be aware that a recurring inspection by the appropriate specialist personnel must be carried out after a repair such as the replacement of a bladder, diaphragm or seal.