Requirement for heat exchange equipment timely cleaning

Heat exchangers are devices that transfer heat from a heat-transfer medium to the medium that requires heating. The heat-transfer medium in such devices is a liquid, the circulation of which makes substances dissolved therein settle out, which results in the heat exchanger clogging and impairs its performance.

The heat exchanger should be timely cleaned (2-4 times a year) in order to ensure its proper operation and long service life. The heat exchange equipment will fail unless regularly and thoroughly cleaned. The most dangerous heat exchange equipment contamination is scale, which is salts or a corrosion product. The chemicals and mechanical cleaning method help to remove it.

The chemical selection for the chemical cleaning depends on the scale composition. When cleaning heat-exchange equipment with the chemical method, a washing solution heated to a certain temperature (the temperature depends on the solution composition and heat exchange equipment features) is fed into it. This solution shall circulate through the equipment for a certain period of time. If the heat exchanger is contaminated with various deposits, then several solutions are used by turns. It is required to carefully check the heat exchange equipment after chemical cleaning in order to prevent its failure.

The heat exchange equipment is disassembled, thoroughly cleaned and reassembled during mechanical cleaning. This method is used when the equipment is heavily contaminated with various deposits. In this case, no chemicals are used. However, the hydrodynamic equipment supplying high-pressure water jets may be used. A number of tests is required prior to putting the heat exchange equipment into operation, to ensure that there are no leaks and other faults that could result from the disassembling and subsequent incorrect reassembling of the equipment.

In complicated cases, the heat exchange equipment integrated cleaning is used. The equipment is disassembled and thoroughly cleaned using chemicals and hydrodynamic devices. When carried out on time, such procedure allows to avoid accidents and extends the heat exchange equipment service life.