Heat exchangers foul so we clean them, put them back in service, and move on.  But have you ever wondered whether the cleaned heat exchanger is actually delivering clean performance?  Have you evaluated the heat duty right after cleaning to see whether it is what it should be?  Chances are you haven’t, for a multiple […]

When a heat exchanger is cleaned the expectation should be that it will now deliver the maximum possible heat duty.  But an evaluation of most post-clean operation will show that the cleaned heat exchanger is delivering only about 85% of what should be the clean heat duty. For critical heat exchangers which impact process performance […]

Rarely do heat exchangers cause catastrophic events in operating plants. For that reason, they tend to get ignored; little or no proactive maintenance is done and improvements are typically not made unless they become a critical problem. But, if you look at which equipment is responsible for the most economic losses over a period of […]