The tube heat exchanger is leaking! ! !
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One of the heat exchangers in our facility is used to cool steam exhaust/ground water, with the cooled steam water being used as soft water within the system. In the tube side of this heat exchanger, steam exhaust flows, while circulating water is used for cooling on the shell side. Additionally, the temperature of the incoming circulating water is maintained at around 27 degrees, and that of the returned water at around 33 degrees. However, some time ago, it was discovered that this heat exchanger was leaking, with a large amount of circulating water entering the system... I wonder if anyone else has encountered such a situation with a heat exchanger leaking – what could be the reasons? ? ? Thank you first
There are two possible causes of leakage in this type of shell-and-tube heat exchanger: 1) leakage due to loose gaskets, 2) leakage caused by broken tubes. Leaks in this type of heat exchanger are easy to fix; if it’s due to loose expansion joints, using an expansion tool to tighten them will suffice ； If it’s a pipe that’s cracked, just fabricate iron plugs and seal both ends to fix it. However, the amount of insulation should not be excessive, as this will affect the heat exchange efficiency; it generally should not exceed 5% of the total number of tubes.
The approach taken on the 2nd floor is correct; now you just need to open the heat exchanger and take a look. Treatment method: Disassemble the tube boxes at both ends of the heat exchanger and pressurize the shell side. If pressurized water leaks from the expansion joint (or weld) between the heat exchange tube and the tube sheet, it is a quality issue with the expansion joint (or weld). If pressurized water leaks out of the heat exchange tubes, it means the tubes have ruptured; if the number is small, follow the advice given on floor 2. When the quantity is large, the tube needs to be replaced.
Excluding manufacturing defects in the heat exchanger itself, the likely cause of the leakage is excessive chlorine levels in the circulating water, which corrodes the tubes and leads to pipe leakage. I don’t know why the circulating water doesn’t flow through the tube side; as a result, scaling in the circulating water is more severe, which makes cleaning difficult. Last edited by sister on 2009-4-18 08:34]