dogbertcountry2
Chemical
- Sep 29, 2003
- 28
I have a set of chillers that require at least one to be layed up for the winter months. Three years ago we laid Machine 1 up from December-April. On start-up we found more than half of the tubes had burst. We attribute the failures to poor layup practice and installed low point drains in every place imaginable. The next year we laid Machine 2 up with the new pradctices and drain spots. When we started it up we had similar results to the year before (hundreds of tube failures). Every evidence appeared as if it had been drained and the drains left open (and tagged) all winter. Local metellurgists examined the failed tubes and found no signs of corrosion and claimed that the failures were caused by confined waterfreezing and expanding.
When we laid up Machine 3 this past winter, we physically removed the heads, blew the tubes out with air and wrapped the ends with plastic. Upon startup, we found one tube had failed. We ran a camera back through the tube and found a similar burst in it as we had in the years before.
In all years, we could not find any evidence of sagging tubes. We did find a small amount of whitish buildup in a couple of tubes that had not burst. (We believe that this is some kind of carbonate from cooling water residual.)
My trouble is that I don't know if this is the same problem happening over and over again or if we have a different problem.
Help!?
When we laid up Machine 3 this past winter, we physically removed the heads, blew the tubes out with air and wrapped the ends with plastic. Upon startup, we found one tube had failed. We ran a camera back through the tube and found a similar burst in it as we had in the years before.
In all years, we could not find any evidence of sagging tubes. We did find a small amount of whitish buildup in a couple of tubes that had not burst. (We believe that this is some kind of carbonate from cooling water residual.)
My trouble is that I don't know if this is the same problem happening over and over again or if we have a different problem.
Help!?