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Safety Valve
2011-03-02
I have worked for years in the industrial field and have installed hundreds of safety valves. Depending on the facility that I worked in, it may have been referred to as a Pressure Safety Valve (PSV) or A Relief Valve (RV), etc. A safety valve is designed with a set pressure at which it will open itself and release it's pressure and contents, either to atmosphere or into a particular controlled location. It is commonly installed in pipe systems, tanks, vessels, etc. If you want to see what one looks like, take a look at your water heater. There will be a small brass valve on the side near the top or directly on the top. Just like the systems in the industrial industry, your water heater has this safety device that is installed to prevent ruptures and or explosions. The safety valve on my water heater has some pipe coming off of that is open ended to the floor. Some safety valves are open ended without any pipe on them. Mine is designed to open at either 150psi or 210F degrees. Because water heaters do just what their name implies, it has a heat source. Your water heater's heat source can be adjusted to where it heats the water to a certain temperature and then stops heating. If something was broke that keep the water heating, it would keep heating and rising in pressure until it reached 150psi and send hot water blasting onto my floor.
When installing these safety valves in the industrial field, I knew that it was extremely important that these safety valves were installed in the correct lines. If I installed a valve in a line that needed to vent at a certain pressure, but the valve was designed to vent at a higher pressure, the line could rupture or explode. Likewise, if I installed a 150psi safety valve in a line that was designed to operate at 225psi, the line would never reach it's necessary operating pressure and be useless.
All of us have a "set pressure" at which we must vent. If we do not have a "safety valve", when we reach that point we will rupture or explode. My safety valve works like this; when I am under heat or pressure to the point that I may rupture, I shut down the entire system. I don't try to back the pressure down, adjust the heat or anything to moderate or control it. I just shut the whole thing down. I will walk away, completely stop talking or some equivalent. Again, this is when I am nearing the rupture pressure. I know when that is. It's the point where I want to just start getting in the flesh and saying things to hurt. In my opinion, my "set pressure" is actually very high. Over the years, the Lord as steadily adjusted that set pressure to allow me to handle more heat and pressure before I need to vent. I'm not talking about an unhealthy "holding things in", but a healthy resistance to anger. It's important that we know our set pressure and ensure that our release of the frustration and anger is controlled.
God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13b)
Having our set pressure at an appropriate level is critical for relationships.
