The gasket on the reboiler head has been damaged
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When checking for air tightness, it was found that asbestos gaskets were used, and there was slight leakage. However, these gaskets came with the product; it was planned to use heat tightening during the water testing process. To our surprise, they broke after just two uses, so there was no choice but to replace them. It would be great if it could be replaced with metal, but a mat that’s 1.6 meters long would have to be custom-made, which would take a month or so (due to manufacturing issues). As a last resort, maybe something made of PTFE or graphite could be used, but it seems that the necessary conditions aren’t available; in that case, we’d have to go back to using asbestos. I wonder, what kind of gaskets do your reboilers come with out of the factory, and have they been replaced? The pressure tower has been scrapped (0.55 MPA), and the others are pretty much the same
This has also happened to us; the manufacturer provided asbestos pads. We also replaced them with asbestos gaskets during the test drive
In my opinion, the gaskets provided by the manufacturer are meant for use during pressure testing; when the system is put into actual operation, appropriate gaskets must be selected based on the properties of the materials and the pressure levels involved
Our plant’s reboilers use graphite gaskets; after the heating coil is removed, new gaskets are installed, and these gaskets are also custom-made.