Showerthought: I was torquing my boiler flange bolts in a star pattern for years, then a retired guy set me straight
Last week I had a guy named Dale, 30 years in the trade, watching me button up a 4 foot manway on a steam drum, and he asked why I was running the star pattern on a spiral wound gasket. I said that's how I was taught, and he pulled out the gasket maker's sheet showing a cross pattern from the center out in 3 passes at 30, 60, then 100 percent of torque. I felt about 2 inches tall, but he was right, my old way can pinch the gasket and leak. Has anyone else been running a star pattern on spiral wound and switched, or am I the last guy doing it wrong?