Hydraulic test pressure for shell-side negative pressure heat exchanger
Thread Content
We are a negative-pressure device; the shell side of the heat exchanger is under negative pressure while the tube side is under positive pressure. If a hydrostatic test is required during maintenance, how should the pressure in the shell side be applied?
Just use the shell-side hydrostatic test pressure specified on your drawings. External pressure is generally subjected to a pressure test in accordance with internal pressure
If the hydrostatic test pressure for the shell side is unknown (it is not specified in the design or the drawings are unavailable), use a design pressure of 0.1 MPa for the shell side, and then determine the hydrostatic test pressure based on the relevant regulations
We have always carried out the hydrostatic pressure tests for the tube side and shell side according to the pressures specified in the drawings, but inspections showed that these pressures were much higher than the design values, resulting in damage to the tube bundle.