Advantages of spring safety over bursting disc:

• A rupture disc can only be used once and must be replaced each time, the holder is reusable, however.
• After bursting and pressure release, no resealing is possible, as with a safety valve, and that part of the installation must be shut down to continue working.
• If one would like to change the process pressure and the corresponding burst pressure, one cannot adjust the spring (provided the new opening pressure falls within the spring range), but must install another plate.
• A final installed rupture disk cannot be tested, therefore one should in fact make two from the same production batch of which one is tested.
• The deviation from the desired rupture pressure can be ±5% for rupture discs, whereas it is more likely to be ±3% for safety valves, more accurate rupture discs are possible but are more expensive.
• If metal fragments tear off (fragmentation) during bursting and enter the pipe, they may damage the safety valve or other devices in the pipe.
• Deposition or crystallisation of product on the rupture disk will affect the rupture pressure. This can be solved by embedding the rupture disc in a housing so that the medium flows underneath it, thus permanently keeping the surface clear or wiping it clean. Hence the English name ‘clean-sweep assembly’. This type is also used for highly viscous liquids.