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Plate Heat Exchanger External Leakage

Plate heat exchangers can supply reliable operating service for years with proper maintenance,
but what about when something goes wrong? Is your plate heat exchanger leaking? Is the leak
slow or fast? How can you know what the problem is and the best way to address it. We'll review
some of the basics to help you troubleshoot problems with gaskets or the maintenance condition
of your plate exchanger.

Plate Heat Exchangers: External Leakage

External leaks in a plate heat exchanger can generally be classified

into one of two (2) categories: end plate to frame plate leaks and
channel plate leaks. We discussed end plate to frame leakage in our
article entitled "Plate Heat Exchanger Frame Corrosion". The second
type of leakage, channel plate leakage, can have different causes and
solutions. Channel plate leakage will occur within the body of the
plate pack rather than near the frame plate of the heat exchanger as
shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Channel Channel plate leaks can be further classified into "general" leaks or
Plate Leakage "isolated" leaks. Generally speaking, if you find an area of your plate
pack spanning more than one plate which is leaking badly or weeping externally, this is a
"general" leak. Alternatively, if you have a single gasket failure causing a single leak point and
all of the other gaskets appear to be properly sealed, we refer to this as an "isolated" leak.

We'll address each type of plate pack leak separately to find the cause as quickly as possible.

Troubleshooting a "General Leak"

The very first step in evaluating a "general" leak on your plate heat exchanger is to assess the age
of the gaskets. While the following are not meant to serve as strict rules, they will give you some
feel for whether or not your gaskets may simply be at the end of their service life:

NBR or Nitrile gaskets operating above 200 °F should last 4-6 years. Between 150°F and 200 °F,
they may last 7-10 years. Below 150 °F, Nitrile gaskets should last in excess of 10 years.

EPDM gaskets operating above 300 °F should last 4-6 years. Between 250 °F and 300 °F, they
may last 6-8 years. Between 200 °F and 250 °F, EPDM may last 8-10 years. Below 200 °F,
EPDM gaskets should last in excess of 10 years.

Fluoropolymer type gaskets will generally be somewhere in between EPDM and Nitrile in life
and operating temperature. If your process duty could use either Nitrile or EPDM gaskets (water
to water duties for example), always choice EPDM. The additional cost is virtually negligible
and you'll get better service life as you can see from the above.

At this point, even if you've determined that your gaskets may be nearing the end of their service
life, you should check the A or tightening dimension of your plate pack. If the plate pack is not
properly tightened, the gaskets will have no opportunity to seal properly. If the plate pack is not
tightened to the proper dimension at the top, bottom, and center of the plate pack, make the
appropriate adjustments.

DO NOT, HOWEVER, TIGHTEN THE PLATE PACK PAST THE MANUFACTURER'S

RECOMMENDED DIMENSION IN AN EFFORT TO STOP THE LEAKING

Overtightening a plate heat exchanger can cause damage to the plates. If your heat exchanger is
properly tightened and still experiencing general leakage, it's time for additional steps.

Look at the top and bottom of the heat exchanger and look for any misaligned plates or damage
to the hanger areas. Over time, through handling, the hanger can become bent and cause
misalignment in the gasket sealing area. If you notice some misalignment, evaluate whether or
not this misalignment corresponds to the areas of the plate pack where the leaks are occuring.
If so, this may be the cause of the problem. During the next shut down, remove these plates and
try to fix the damaged area. If the plate alignment cannot be fixed, there are two (2) options:
remove the plates and put the unit back together, or replace the plates with new plates.

It's important to note that you will lose heat transfer area and
increase the pressure loss through the unit by removing plates.
However, if you're removing five (5) plates from a unit with 200
plates, the impact will be minimal. However, if you're removing
over 10% of the plates in the pack, the process may be impacted
adversely.

Figure 2: Honeycomb If new plates are needed, take a moment to consider replacing all of
Pattern vs. Plate Hung the gaskets in the heat exchanger as well, especially if the gaskets
Improperly may be reaching the end of their service life.

If, upon examination, no alignment problems are visible, then examine the plate pack for proper
hanging of the plates. Most plate heat exchangers should have a consistent "honeycomb" pattern
throughout as shown in Figure 2. If some plates are found to be hung improperly, schedule the
unit to be fixed during the next outage.

If you've followed these steps and still haven't found the problem, it's time to schedule the unit to
be taken apart at the next outage. Remove the plates from the heat exchanger and look for any
signs of corrosion under the gaskets. Examine the gaskets themselves. Do the gasket appear
brittle or show cracks when bent? If so, they need replaced and that may be the simply answer to
your leakage problem.

If the gaskets appears to be in good condition, examine the plates further and look for signs of
deformation. Again, carefully examine the hangers as well. Physically count the plates and
confirm the proper tightening dimension of the unit. Over time, plates are sometimes added or
removed and the original tightening dimension may no longer be correct.
Troubleshooting an "Isolated Leak"

If you're problem is a single (or a couple) isolated leaks at very specific gasket locations on the
plate pack, we approach the troubleshooting a little differently. In this scenario, we start by
checking for the consistent honeycomb pattern as shown in Figure 2. This is the most common
cause of an isolated leak in plate exchangers. You in the leak areas for a plate may be hung
incorrectly in the unit. The simple fix is to remove this plate and reinstall it correctly in the heat
exchanger. Notice that you may have to swap a plate from another location in the pack to avoid
having to rotate additional plates in the heat exchanger.

If the plates are hung correctly, take a close look in the leakage area and see if you notice a
"pinched" gasket or a gasket that has come out of the gasket groove. Sometimes, this can be
quickly repair by loosening the unit and pushing the gasket back into the groove. While the unit
is loose, look for any other gaskets that may be pinched out as well. Gaskets can be installed in a
pinched position and not leak for some time. Also, pressure surges can also cause gaskets to
unseat from their sealing area as well.

If the plates are hung properly and no gaskets appear to be pinched, the begin checking
the vertical alignment of the plates near the leak site. Are these plates sitting a little higher or
lower than the surrounding plates. This could be the cause of the leak and can be addressed as
described earlier.

Beyond these steps, we recommend removing the plate or plates causing the problems (or install
new gaskets on the plates) and putting the unit back together. The root cause in these cases
could be a quality problem with one or more of the gaskets or a simply physical defect or
damage to the gasket. Perhaps the gasket has a hole in it or was cut or punctured from the
outside.

Conclusion

A leaking plate heat exchange is never a welcomed sight, but by diagnosing the problem and
following these steps, you can find the problem and have it fixed in record time. If you need
assistance in troubleshooting your plate heat exchanger or have a question, please email us or
call (804) 370-3855.