SUSPICIOUS AND COUNTERFEIT VALVES:
AN AVOIDABLE
DANGER
BY PETER
CLEAVELAND
PHOTOGRAPH Y BY GREG JOHNSON, UNITED VALVE
Counterfeit industrial products have been around a long time:
the term “the real McCoy,” for
example, comes from the self-regulating steam engine lubricator
patented in 1872 by Elijah McCoy.
The reason it was called “real” was
that the device worked so well, customers demanded it by name over
imitators.
While the term “counterfeit”
implies a pure manufactured fake, in
the control valve field, used valves
that have been refurbished and resold
by questionable suppliers are just as big a problem as newly made pieces. And valves are
just a small fraction of the overall problem; the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
has broadened the term to Suspect/Counterfeit Items (S/CI).
Ayman Cheta, senior mechanical engineer, Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc., said in a
presentation at the API CRE meeting last April that industrial items commonly counterfeited include “high-strength mechanical fasteners (e.g., bolts, washers, and nuts), lifting
equipment (e.g., slings, shackles, and clevises), valves, pipe-fittings, flanges, batteries,
extension cords, electrical circuit breakers, relays, connectors, and other electronic components, lubricants, and adhesives.”
While most agree the problem is expansive, it’s not easy to find good numerical
estimates of just how wide the problem of suspect and counterfeit valves in the United
States is. There also appears to be significant under-reporting of incidents—
sometimes because companies are unaware and sometimes for legal reasons, according to
Cheta. Some areas of the government, including the Department of Energy (DOE),
