ACT · Act now — correcting soonVacuum degasser →Cost of fault ≈ $30k+ / incident
Why it matters
A degasser that isn’t removing entrained gas leaves gas-cut mud in the active system — under-reading mud weight, risking pump cavitation, and compromising the primary well-control barrier. On a gas-cut well this is a safety line, not housekeeping.
Likely causes
Vacuum not developing — vacuum pump, belt or motor fault.
Valve line-up wrong — suction or return lined up to the wrong compartment. The classic error.
Vent line plugged or liquid carry-over flooding the vessel.
Mud level wrong — too high floods, too low loses the seal; float fault.
Seal failure / air leak breaking the vacuum.
Mud too viscous to release gas within the vessel residence time.
How to diagnose it
Confirm the gauge actually develops vacuum on start-up.
Walk the valve line-up — suction from the right compartment, return to the right one.
Check the vent line for plugging or liquid carry-over.
Verify mud level and float operation in the vessel.
Inspect seals and gaskets for an air leak.
The fix — step by step
Correct the valve line-up first — most common and fastest fix.
Restore vacuum: check pump, belt and motor; clear the vent line.
Set the correct mud level; fix float operation.
Replace failed seals/gaskets so the vessel holds vacuum.
If rheology is preventing release, address PV/YP upstream.
Confirm it's fixed
✓ Verify: Gauge holding design vacuum, steady throughput, and gas-cut mud weight recovering to the pit average across the vessel. Confirm the flowline-vs-suction mud-weight gap has closed.
Field note. The degasser is well-control hardware that happens to live in the solids-control area — so it gets solids-control attention, which is to say not enough until it’s needed. Prove it works before you need it: the line-up and the vacuum are a 60-second check every tour.