How to clean a plate heat exchanger
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With prolonged use, the pipelines get clogged, resulting in poor flow rate.
Unscrew it, remove the pressing plate, and the plates can be taken off one by one. Why not call the manufacturer? It’s not easy to do it by oneself, right?
Check what the attachments are; if they’re easy to clean, a high-pressure water gun will work as well. The prerequisite is to unscrew it and separate the heat exchange fins.
Choose acid cleaning or alkali cleaning depending on the situation. Disassembling it for cleaning and then reassembling it will be very costly.
Take it apart for cleaning; soak your panels in acid, then brush them. Check whether the adhesive strip on the middle of the panel is of the clip-type or the glue-type
If chemical cleaning is possible, go with that; disassemble it as much as needed, but reassembling carries risks: first, if there are no spare gaskets, leaks are inevitable, especially in older heat exchangers; second, if it’s not assembled properly, cross-contamination of fluids can occur. Our mechanics here have done all of these things; some plate exchangers had to be sent back to the factory for repair.
This isn’t easy to handle – as soon as the panels are removed, everything falls apart and scatters. It’s recommended to use two positioning rods first; they should be about twice as long as the heat exchanger, and inserted into the positioning holes in the middle of the flanges before removing the panels. In this way, when things are loosened, they will remain attached to the positioning rods, allowing the panels to be removed one by one for cleaning without them getting scattered everywhere. Those who don’t understand this process won’t be able to assemble it properly
The main concern is risk; if it’s not a heat exchange system using special media, it can be repaired by oneself. It’s better not to skimp on this expense, as problems could arise that could turn into serious issues
To address scaling in heat exchanger pipes, the problem must be solved at its source!