Plate type HX problem

David Woycio

Hot Rod,

What cleaner do you use?

Thanks

S Ebels

Cruded up flat Plate HX's

I've been noticing a recurring problem related to these outdoor wood burning heaters. Many of them have plate type heat exchangers somewhere in the system and after 2-3 years the outdoor boiler side plugs up with crud, gunk, lime or whatever. My question is, how can you clean one of these thing out. I've tried circulating muratic acid through them, soaking them in acid solutions, CLR type stuff etc. Nothing seems to cut the buildup in these things. I've even had calls from customers with copper tube type HX's that are used in the plenum of a furnace related to degraded performance/buildup. Any ideas?

Unknown

do u

Have you installed 'y' strainer with deep sump in front of exchanger? My heating engineer requested them and boy, was I glad, every year I get gunks (less each year) from it.. What's the water quanity?

Brad White_72

Steve

Is it raw water (as in domestic) or recirculated water? Seems that a closed system would not have that condition assuming no leaks nor make-up water.

I agree 100% with rjphd that a strainer upstream is essential regardless. (BPE's are excellent strainers in and of themselves -and they never say "eez not my chob" )

I have used the Spirovent "Dirt" model with good success but I currently use a Neptune filter feeder with a 5 mic bag for polishing. And don't forget the Rhomar.

If an open system, not much you can do but reverse flow, muriatic acid washing and all on a more regular basis.

On larger types (industrial plate and frame types) I design-in a back-flushing valve arrangement to reverse the flow. Probably not practical on a BPE but you could do the same thing with drain/purge valves and a good 80 psi+ hosing.

hr

face reality

if they are in fact installed on an open system OWF maintenance will be an issue. The hotter you run them the quicker they scale up

I'd install them with Webstone valves to facilitate easy flushing. Same as you should with instantanous water heaters. In fact Webstone makes a kit for instantanous water heater installations. A red and blue handled set of these valves with union ends.

I stick a plastic Little Giant submersible pump in a 5 gallon bucket of cleaner and let it run over night. a couple wash machine hoses and away you go.

Comes a point when these FP hx "cement" themselves shut and nothing short of a replacement will bring them back to a heat transferable condition.

I cut open an old one to show a customer how small those passageway really are. This pic is AFTER an extended acid bath.

Personally I feel the small Triangle Tube indirects make the best HX for those installations. Their tank in tank HX surfaces are more "cleanable"

Filling and refilling with softened water should make a huge difference also. It's usually lime and calcium that most softners can handle.

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S Ebels

Brad

These are all open systems. The installs that we have done are all set up with a strainer and with valving to facilitate cleaning in place. (Gotta say that the acid can sure stink up a house) Chemical treatment for adjusting PH as time goes by, often left to the HO, gets marginal attention in all the cases I've seen. People just think that burnign wood un one of these requires no mainteneace becaue it's outside or something.........I don't know.

The problem with the BPE's is that they can't be disassembled to clean and the passageways are often less than .020". Doesn't take much to plug that off.

Tom_80

HX fouling

Try a product called RYDLYME instead of acid. It gets rid of scale and dirt. www.rydlyme.com for local distributor. Works great on condensers. You'll like it.

hr

Hercules Sizzle

but there are plenty of other acid based cleaners available. Sizzle is safe for potable water use, according to the label. Works well on indirect tanks and water heaters in general. Easy to find in small containers, also.


Great for cleaning old dirty copper fittings

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