Corrosion on Air-Cooler tube plugs 2

[LuizSouza]

Dear Fellows,

At our plant we're experiencing corrosion on ID air-coolers CS tubes, the solution we've found is to plug those tubes with plugs made of the same material of the tubes. My question: Does those plugs will not corrode just like the tubes, as the corrosion cause wasn't still found? Could use SS plugs?

Thanks and very Happy New Year

Luiz Souza
Wood Group Brazil

http://www.woorgroup.com

 

[EdStainless]

I would stay with matching materials. Introducing another material may create other issues.
Are all of the tubes corroding? No, only some. This may be due to minor variations in material or flow. How do the tubesheets look? If they look pretty good then using plugs of that same material should work fine.

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Corrosion never sleeps, but it can be managed.

http://www.trenttube.com/Trent/tech_form.htm

 

[LuizSouza]

Thanks once again EdStainless,

You're pretty sure, only some tubes corroded. Tubesheet looks fine. I'll follow your recommendation.

Regards

Luiz Souza
Wood Group Brazil

http://www.woodgroup.com

 

[mshimko]

Non-metallic plugs would be my first choice. If a metallic plug is considered a better or only option, then I cuncur 100% with previous advice to match the materials as closely as possible.

 

[LuizSouza]

Also Thanks, mshimko,
But, what kind of non-metallic plugs? It's easier to have on hand CS to produce the plugs, concern to non-metallic, we should keep it as parts.

 

[unclesyd]

Here is one supplier that has several different non-metallic plugs.

http://www.tubeplug.com/index.html

 

[LuizSouza]

Thanks, unclesyd,

 

[oldcorreng]

Agree with EdStainless, keep the tube plug material the same as the tubes. If you are experiencing internal tube corrosion, you may need to investigate injection of an inhibitor(s), neutralizing and/or filming.

 

[PVRV]

How many tubes were plugged?
What is the service tube and shell side?
What is the service stream of the tube?