How often needs a heat exchanger to be cleaned

It depends on what type of heat exchanger it is and what medium flows through it; our plate-fin heat exchangers need to be cleaned every 3 months.

Heat exchangers, especially those that use circulating water for cooling, will experience a reduction in their heat exchange efficiency over time due to poor water quality and scaling on the tubes, and thus require cleaning. The specific procedure is to remove the head of the heat exchanger and use a water gun to clean each tube one by one, removing sediment and dirt. A water gun can be made from steel pipes that are slightly thinner than those used in heat exchanger tubes; one end of it is connected to pressurized water, while the other end is sealed with a hole drilled in it to increase the jet force. A wire tip can also be welded on to it for rotating back and forth. For the cleaning of some equipment, specially formulated cleaning solutions must also be used.

1. From a structural perspective, heat exchangers come in various forms, and each type requires different handling methods. 2. For devices with a simple structure and clearly defined tube and shell layers, it is necessary to ensure that fluids prone to scaling flow through the tube layer, while cleaner fluids flow through the shell layer; this way, if there are concerns regarding the efficiency of heat exchange, the tube layer can be cleaned easily. 3. For heat exchangers with complex structures, such as plate heat exchangers, the flow direction of the fluids remains complex regardless of the controls in place, making cleaning difficult; therefore, it is more economical to schedule cleaning at intervals that are longer. 4. Timing for cleaning heat exchangers: When the heat exchange efficiency does not meet the requirements of production, or when it falls below the theoretical design efficiency (resulting in increased energy consumption), it is advisable to perform a cleaning inspection every 3 years for heat exchangers that have been operating normally without any disassembly for an extended period. If everything is found to be in order, the next inspection can be postponed until after 5 years. 5. Methods for cleaning heat exchangers: Chemical cleaning – for heat exchangers with complex structures, appropriate chemicals are used for cleaning; Mechanical removal – foreign substances are removed using mechanical forces such as water jets or by manual labor. 6. For the cleaning of heat exchangers, there are professional cleaning companies that can be consulted.

It’s not very reasonable to say that; heat exchangers are designed with a certain level of heat transfer efficiency in mind, and scaling affects this efficiency. Failing to clean the heat exchanger over time prevents it from functioning as intended, which leads to substandard products – an outcome that is not worth the consequences. Additionally, not cleaning the heat exchanger for extended periods can cause significant damage to it. In fact, high-quality heat exchangers, combined with appropriate cleaning cycles, cleaning times, chemical concentrations, and cleaning procedures, can eliminate the need for disassembled cleaning. Our company has experience in this area.

Our company conducts cleaning every six months, mainly using chemical cleaning and high-pressure water cleaning

Our company usually cleans it once after each production cycle, and we generally hire professional teams to do the job.

The cleaning cycle varies depending on the degree to which the medium tends to form scale; it differs from one facility to another, and even among different devices within the same facility. The specific cycle must be determined through practical production experience. Generally, high-pressure water guns are used for mechanical cleaning of heat exchange equipment during major repairs, and some equipment is also cleaned as a precaution before the start of summer.

Heat exchangers generally come with a design margin, and the degree of scaling under various operating conditions varies. The cleaning interval can be determined based on the performance degradation of the heat exchanger under actual usage conditions; the longer the heat exchanger is in use, the shorter the cleaning interval should be.

It’s difficult to specify this definitively; it generally depends on the medium in the heat exchanger. If it is a cooler, then it depends on the quality of the cooling water; better water quality allows for longer cleaning intervals. There is now a non-chemical cleaning technique that allows for cleaning without stopping the system. If you find that the heat exchange efficiency has decreased, you can simply add certain chemicals to the circulating water, which is very convenient.

It is related to the heat exchanger material and the medium

The cleaning time should be determined based on the heat exchange efficiency; it is possible to use a temperature gun to check the temperature regularly or irregularly, and cleaning can be carried out when it is found that the heat exchange efficiency is poor

We only clean it during major maintenance, unless it gets clogged

Generally, the heat exchange efficiency is considered; if it is low to an unacceptable level, the heat exchanger can be short-circuited, allowing for cleaning according to the production schedule.

It’s related to the medium; the cleaning cycle for liquid-liquid heat exchangers is shorter than that for gas-gas heat exchangers； The cleaning cycle for heat exchangers exposed to corrosive media should be shorter than that for those exposed to mildly corrosive media ； The cleaning cycle for heat exchangers exposed to mildly corrosive media should be shorter than that for those exposed to non-corrosive media.

To properly maintain circulating water, it is generally necessary to clean it once every three to four years. The cause of problems should be identified by checking the chemicals added to the circulating water; simply cleaning it over and over again is not only costly and labor-intensive but also can cause damage to the heat exchangers； If the heat exchanger used for processing materials gets clogged, it needs to be cleaned. Usually we have a bypass (or a backup unit), and cleaning is carried out whenever it can no longer meet the production requirements

The cleaning cycle for heat exchangers depends on the hardness of the circulating water and its temperature; the higher the hardness and the higher the temperature, the shorter the cleaning cycle. I disagree with the method of physical cleaning (using high-pressure water guns or probes). High-pressure water guns are only effective against solid particles and impurities deposited inside the heat exchange tubes; they are completely ineffective against silicon scale, which is very hard and has a strong adhesive quality ； Piercing methods can easily damage the inner surface of the heat exchange tubes. I advocate using chemical cleaning methods. For carbon steel heat exchange tubes, a mixture of hydrochloric acid and a corrosion inhibitor can be used, while for stainless steel, a mixture of nitric acid and a corrosion inhibitor can be employed. If there is silica scale in the water scale, some HF can be added to the cleaning solution for soaking, which will remove it while keeping the equipment intact. Corrosion inhibitors include Lan826, CM911, etc., and the typical concentration of nitric acid is 10%.