Heat Exchanger Tube Cleaning

A factory in Germany has several shell and tube heat exchangers on site that need to be cleaned periodically. The tubes were internally fouled with rust and (light) scale. The tubes were initially cleaned with high pressure, but the cleaning result was too low. Mechanical cleaning had more effect because the rotating brush actually came into contact with the deposits.

The tubes had an internal diameter of 16,0 millimeters. An AWT-100X tube cleaner was chosen in combination with a flexible shaft with water flushing and nylon SGB brushes. These oversized brushes clean and polish the tubes without damaging them. The water flush ensures that all loosened deposits are actually flushed out of the tubes.