Proactive Maintenance of your heat exchanger

Servicing intervals depend on fluids, pressures, temperatures and the age of the equipment. Monitoring equipment in the form of temperature and pressure gauges helps to see if a unit is operating at or near maximum limits. Failure detection can be associated with sudden temperature and pressure changes. The net effect allows for regular scheduling of overhauling so that time and money are not wasted in unexpected failures and delayed downtimes.

Proactive maintenance is the conception of investing in monitoring equipment such as pressure and temperature gauges, filters and back-flush valves so that errors in unit efficiency can be observed, examined and used to ascertain a schedule of maintenance. Since the methods of providing maintenance to plate heat exchangers are no different in either a reactive or proactive maintenance approach, it is important to remember that it becomes, then, a choice to tackle a current problem as it take place or as an expected part of the scheduled work cycle.

So, while proactive maintenance is the best method of dealing with unit break down, it is not the end-all-and-be-all of maintenance approach. Some surprises will arise, and clearly, reactive maintenance procedures will need to be followed. A mixture of the two systems is the most realistic course, ensuring the least downtime and least expense in repairs and lost production.