4 Maintenance and Cleaning Tips for Your Heat Exchanger

Heat exchangers are an integral part of any plant and it is important for them to function properly. It is essential for any plant or refinery to keep a check on all of their machines and equipment and maintain them regularly. A crucial part of maintenance is cleaning and services.

You can find reputed and experienced heat exchanger cleaning services which help in maintaining your heat exchanger so that it operates to its maximum capacity and there is never a shut down.

1. Fouling

Many processes cause the heat exchanger to foul over the period of time. Fouling can be caused by corrosion, chemical reactions, dust, dirt, etc. it leads to loss of reliability and increase in the operation cost by significantly decreasing the effectiveness of heat exchanger. The fouling agents reduce the heat transfer areas.

Even though some amount of fouling is considered normal and the heat exchanger still operates, cleaning it will help in preventing shutdowns in the long run. The aim of cleaning and maintenance is to balance the process interruptions for cleaning with the economics of keeping things running.

There are two types of cleaning processes,; clean on place and cleaning that needs a shutdown of the heat exchanger system. However, in most industries, the latter type of cleaning is most commonly used. The typical cleaning methods for internal tube cleaning are water or ice blasting and the mechanical cleaning. The mechanical way of cleaning uses various methods but the idea is to accomplish fin fan cleaning with the smallest risk of damage to the heat exchanger.

2. Internal Tube Cleaning

The internal cleaning of the soft deposits such as mold, algae, and dust can be done with the help of brushes known as molded plastic cleaners. These brushes are typically used for cleaning the tubes which enhanced surfaces for better heat transfer such as the twisted tubes, finned surfaces, or spirally indented tubes.

Some heat exchangers may also need hydro-drilling for cleaning the hard deposits. The drillers scrapes the tubes clean when there is deposits of oxides, sulfur, calcium, or asphalt in the tubes.

3. External Tube Cleaning

The heat exchanger cleaning services use high volume low pressure water or high pressure jetting for cleaning the external tube. These tubes are usually more difficult to clean because it is a struggle to access the areas that need to be cleaned.

4. The Maintenance Plant

It is recommended that the heat exchanger cleaning and maintenance plan should be maintained for each individual heat exchanger. Each exchanger is different and one needs appropriate cleaning and maintenance schedules for them. The plants and refineries can keep monitoring devices in places that can predict the right time for cleaning. This will help in minimizing the operation cost and maximizing the running time.

The issue with most companies is that their maintenance and cleaning schedules are never planned until the problems arise. This leads to expense on repairs as well as increase in operation cost. The company must put a great deal of planning in the downtime and production. They must take into consideration how much time is needed to clean and restart the equipment.

Explore the web for more information and suggestions on choosing the best fin fan cleaning services to keep your heat exchanger running efficiently.

Author Bio: Joseph Yap works in a manufacturing plant and he is pro at managing processes related to fin fan cleaning services. He is a keen writer and loves to write about things that can help factory owners and management to manage their plants efficiently and reduce their machinery repair costs. His recent blog about things to consider while choosing a company offering heat exchanger cleaning services was a great post and was loved by many.

Joseph Yap works in a manufacturing plant and he is pro at managing processes related to decontamination services.