hacksaw: we do have a pressure guage, which shows we are certainly not operating at vacuum (abuot 45 psi), hence the confusion.
unclesyd: That seems a very good idea (to drop the condensate drum), but there is a feeling that this may not help. It may be that the design of the condensate lines...
Right, again thanks for the help!
unclesyd:
as you mentioned, i think the issue of draining by gravity etc would lend itself to more equal/abrasive erosion of the matrials, whereas i am told that we certainly experienced pitting damage.
the exchanger is in continuous use for an expected cycle...
firstly, thanks for responding.
steam4:
1)I am not entirely sure what you mean by a vaccuum breaker, but i do not think we have one. Was the reason for asking this for checking whether the steam may be condensing at sub-atmospheric pressures, and possibly pulling in air through loose flanges...
We were recently doing a routine inspection on a heat exchanger in which LP steam is passed through the tubes to provide the reboiler heat to stream of hydrocarbon liquids. We were surprised to find, however, that there was substatial damage to the inside of the tubes and are a little confused...
