Surface Machinery and Methods for Oil-Well Pumping Page: 123

                                
MISCELLANEOUS OPERATING EQUIPMENT AND PRACTICE. 123
equipment that was a part of the formerly used gathering system
and the reduction of operating costs.
PREVENTION OF CORROSION.
In some of the oil fields of the eastern United States, where much
salt water is produced with the oil, the pipe used in the gathering
systems soon corrodes and leaks. These leaks are generally along
the lower side of the pipe, if the gravity system is used. Under such
conditions the life of many pipes has been greatly prolonged by
giving them a quarter turn once a year or oftener so that the effects
of corrosion will be distributed over the interior surface of the pipe.
FLUMES.
In those parts of the Sunset-Midway and Kern River oil fields,
California, where much sand is pumped with the oil, flumes are used
instead of pipe lines to transport oil from the wells to the produc-
tion tanks. Flumes are used because the sand with the oil may plug a
pipe. In the flume system, the oil, water, and sand from a well are
pumped through a short pipe line into the flume, where the oil floats
on top of the water and the sand settles to the bottom.
Plate XXXI, A (p. 120), shows a flume system in the Kern River
field, California. The oil, water, and sand are delivered from the
flume d into the gun-barrel tank a, where the water and sand are
drawn off before the oil goes to the production tanks b and c.
At some properties where flumes are used the mixture of oil, water,
and sand from the well is first pumped into a sump or tank near the
well, where much of the sand and water is drawn off before the oil
is delivered to the flume.
The flumes are made of soldered, galvanized iron with a 12-inch
bottom and flaring sides about 12 inches high, and they are supported
by timber frames made of 2 by 4 inch or 2 by 6 inch lumber used as
posts and braces. The bottom of a flume is generally supported by a
12-inch board, held in place by crosspieces to the frame. At many
flumes supporting posts rest on concrete piers. A runway is built
along a flume that is more than 5 or 6 feet above the ground.
The California fields that use flumes to transport oil are in a hilly
region and full advantage is taken of the topography to gain the
desired gradient for the flume, and at the same time to keep the
flume as near the ground as possible.
TRAPS FOR SAVING GAS AT OIL WELLS.
Traps for saving gas at oil wells have been discussed in a Bureau
of Mines publication,24 whose author summarizes the advantages
" Hamilton, W. R., Traps for saving gas at oil wells: Tech. Paper 209, Bureau of Mines,
1919, 34 pp.