Heat exchanger water pressure issue
Thread Content
The water pressure in the tube side of the heat exchanger is higher than that in the shell side, and the thickness of the shell side is insufficient. What methods can be used as an alternative to a hydrostatic test without increasing the thickness of the shell side?
Pneumatic pressure can be used as a substitute for hydrostatic testing.
Conduct the pipe side test in accordance with the standards. The shell side pressure is set according to the design.
There is a question: what is the relationship between the tube side water pressure and the shell side thickness?
You’re not using the pressure from the pipe side to test the shell side
When the test pressure of the tube side is higher than that of the shell side, what should be specified are the testing methods for the welding joints between the heat exchange tubes and the tube sheet, such as helium leak testing
Same question: how can high tube side pressure affect the shell side thickness?
Air pressure cannot be used as a substitute for water pressure casually. To check the tightness of the connection between the heat exchange tubes and the tube sheet, in addition to increasing the hydrostatic test pressure for the shell side, it is also possible to conduct hydrostatic tests at the designed pressures for each side respectively, followed by detection methods such as ammonia leakage testing.
Under normal conditions, the pressure in the tube side is higher than that in the shell side; the water pressure in the shell side is increased to match that in the tube side. In your case, perform a pressure test on the shell side using the corresponding pressure values, and then add an additional pressure due to ammonia penetration
Perform pressure testing separately. The tube side is pressurized using a hydrostatic test pressure calculated based on its design pressure, while the shell side is pressurized using a hydrostatic test pressure determined from its design pressure. Finally, ammonia is filled into the shell side to carry out ammonia penetration testing
I’m hearing about this method of yours for the first time