Is it effective to use magnesium anodes to address the poor quality of water in the cooler’s circulation system?

May I ask why is it a tube process? What is the cooling temperature?

Installing magnesium anodes inside the tube box is not as effective as the impressed current protection method; the anode blocks placed inside take up space and are prone to corrosion due to erosion by the medium, resulting in a short service life.

Have you used other sacrificial anode methods? We plan to test it in a heat exchanger in the next couple of days; could you share some experience? Thank you!

At present, these are the only two methods available for corrosion prevention. Whether it’s for tube boxes or tube banks, corrosion prevention merely serves to reduce the rate of corrosion and extend their service life; ultimately, the issue of water quality still needs to be addressed. Currently, there is a company that installs a water purification system (with self-cleaning capabilities) before heat exchangers, which can effectively reduce the harmful effects of water quality. Combined with current-based or anodic methods, this approach should also be effective.

That’s right; if the water cooler tube bundle lacks anti-corrosion protection, it should be installed simultaneously in both the tube box and the small floating head. This needs to be calculated based on the electrical conductivity of the water and the area of the tube bundle to be protected. If the metal surface is not protected against corrosion, and protection is to last for one cycle (3 years), a larger amount of magnesium is required; however, the effectiveness may not be good. Because the sacrificial anode consumes magnesium blocks relatively quickly for the corrosion protection of bare metal tubes. Furthermore, the metal protection for magnesium blocks that are far away from the metal is not good. The use of a sacrificial anode is employed after the tube bundle has been coated for a certain period of time; in cases where the coating is damaged over time, the sacrificial anode is used to polarize the exposed metal, thereby preventing further corrosion of the metal surface and ensuring that the magnesium block is not consumed too rapidly. Therefore, electrochemical protection is not recommended in this case.

Here are two photos of the anode blocks inside the heat exchanger; judging from the degree of corrosion, their condition is quite good. I hope everyone can give some suggestions.

It was used in the tube side of the overhead condenser; after 3 months of use, no significant corrosion was observed in the tube bundle. Due to the poor quality of our circulating water, the magnesium anodes were consumed at a high rate, with their volume decreasing by one-third per month compared to when they were first installed

May I ask whether the purifier is installed on the main circulating water pipeline or at the inlet of each individual cooler? What is the approximate cost of one purifier?

Hello, may I ask how to calculate the electrical conductivity of water and the area of the tube bundle? Also, what is the weight required for installing magnesium anodes? For example, my cooler has a diameter of 1 meter, with a heat exchange area of 270㎡ per side – what weight of magnesium anodes is needed in this case?