A turnaround is one of the most expensive events on a facility’s calendar. Every day of downtime carries a price tag, every safety incident carries a bigger one, and every schedule slip compounds both. Yet flare systems — the very equipment responsible for safely disposing of gases during a shutdown — are often the last thing scoped in detail and the first thing that causes a delay when something goes wrong.
At Liberty Flare, we’ve spent nearly five decades supporting flare stacks, vent stacks, and related systems across refineries, petrochemical plants, and midstream facilities. The pattern is consistent: turnarounds that build flare planning into the schedule early finish on time and on budget. Turnarounds that treat the flare as an afterthought almost never do.
Here’s what proper flare planning actually looks like, and why it’s one of the highest-leverage decisions a turnaround team can make.
Why Flare Systems Are a Turnaround Risk Multiplier
During a turnaround, the flare system often becomes the busiest piece of equipment on site. It’s relied on to safely handle depressurization, purging, and startup gases, sometimes continuously, for days at a time. If a flare tip, pilot, ignition system, or guy wire assembly isn’t in verified working condition going into the event, the facility has three options: run it anyway and accept the risk, halt other work while emergency repairs happen mid-turnaround, or delay the start of the turnaround altogether.
None of those options are cheap. A flare-related delay doesn’t just cost flare-crew hours, it holds up every other contractor and workstream that depends on the unit being able to safely flare.
The core problem is timing. Flare inspections and repairs are frequently scoped days or weeks before turnaround kickoff, when there’s little runway to fabricate replacement parts, mobilize specialized riggers, or bring in a rental flare if the primary system needs to come offline. Proper planning moves that timeline months earlier, when there’s still room to act on what an inspection finds.
What Proper Flare Planning Actually Involves
Flare planning isn’t a single task, it’s a sequence of decisions made well ahead of turnaround day.
1. Pre-Turnaround Flare Inspections
A thorough inspection covering flare tips, guy wires, pilots, ignition systems, and aviation lighting should happen far enough in advance that findings can actually be acted on. Aerial inspections and flare surveys can identify tip erosion, structural fatigue, or corrosion issues without requiring a shutdown just to get eyes on the equipment. Catching a cracked tip or a compromised guy wire six weeks out is a maintenance line item. Catching it the morning the turnaround starts is a schedule risk.
2. Scoping Maintenance and Fabrication Early
Once an inspection identifies wear, the clock starts on lead time. Flare tip and burner refurbishment, guy wire replacement, and pilot or ignition system upgrades all take time to fabricate and schedule, especially if custom components are involved. Facilities that scope this work as soon as inspection data comes back avoid competing for contractor availability during the busiest weeks of turnaround season.
3. Planning for Redundancy
Any turnaround plan should account for what happens if the primary flare needs to come down for tie-ins, repairs, or inspection during the event itself. Rental flare systems, removable pilot systems, and portable ground weights and plates exist specifically to keep a facility compliant and operational while permanent equipment is serviced. Deciding on a rental strategy in advance, rather than scrambling for one mid-turnaround, is often the difference between a contained delay and a full stop-work event.
4. Coordinating with the Broader Turnaround Schedule
Flare work has to be sequenced against tie-ins, isolations, and unit startups. Bringing an experienced flare contractor into scope-freeze conversations early means flare-related tasks get realistic durations on the critical path instead of optimistic placeholder estimates that get blown through in week one.
5. Building in Retractable and Removable System Options
Where feasible, retractable flare systems with removable pilots and custom-engineered components reduce the need for full shutdowns during future service events. This is an investment that pays off in every turnaround after the current one.
The Real Cost of Skipping It
Facilities that treat flare planning as a checklist item rather than a workstream tend to see the same three consequences:
- Turnaround delays. A single unplanned flare repair discovered mid-event can push completion by days, with every dependent contractor idled or rescheduled at cost.
- Elevated safety risk. Running a flare system that hasn’t been verified, or improvising a fix under time pressure, increases the likelihood of an incident, with regulatory and reputational consequences that outlast the turnaround itself.
- Cost overruns. Emergency mobilization, rush fabrication, and expedited freight all carry a premium over planned work. The same repair scoped three months out typically costs a fraction of the same repair scoped three days out.
Proper planning doesn’t eliminate every variable a turnaround can throw at a team. But it removes the flare system as a source of surprise and in a turnaround, surprises are what blow schedules and budgets.
How Liberty Flare Supports Turnaround Planning
Since 1979, Liberty Flare has worked alongside EPC teams, plant reliability groups, and turnaround planners to make sure flare systems are never the reason a schedule slips. Our teams of riggers, welders, technicians, and engineers support the full lifecycle of turnaround readiness, from aerial and flare survey inspections months out, to maintenance and repairs scoped with real lead time, to rental flare and pilot systems that keep facilities compliant while permanent equipment is serviced, to custom fabrication for tips, burners, and structural components.
We’re also available for 24/7 emergency response when something is discovered late, but our goal, and our recommendation to every turnaround team we work with, is to make sure that call never has to happen in the first place.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should flare planning start relative to a turnaround? Flare inspections and scope development should ideally begin 3–6 months before turnaround kickoff. This gives enough lead time to fabricate replacement components, schedule specialized labor, and arrange rental equipment if the primary flare needs to come offline during the event.
What is the most common cause of flare-related turnaround delays? The most common cause is discovering equipment condition issues such as flare tip erosion, guy wire fatigue, or pilot and ignition system failures too close to turnaround start for repairs to be scheduled without disrupting the critical path.
Do we need a rental flare system during a turnaround? If the primary flare must be taken offline for inspection, tie-ins, or repair while the facility still needs to flare gases safely, a rental flare or removable pilot system is typically required to maintain compliance and avoid a full stop-work situation.
Can flare inspections be done without shutting down the unit? Yes. Aerial inspections and flare surveys can assess flare tips, structural components, and guy wires without requiring the unit to come offline, allowing facilities to plan maintenance well ahead of a scheduled shutdown.
Who should be involved in flare planning for a turnaround? Effective flare planning typically involves the turnaround planning team, plant reliability or maintenance engineers, and an experienced flare systems contractor brought in early enough to scope inspections, repairs, and rental needs against the master schedule.
Is your next turnaround already on the calendar? Talk to a Liberty Flare specialist about scoping flare inspections, maintenance, and rental coverage before the schedule locks in.
