Heat Exchanger Descaling

Heat exchangers are an essential component of many different industries. They must be maintained and cleaned regularly to maximize efficiency. Too much scale build-up in heat exchangers can result in damaged equipment, loss of heat while transfer is happening, and increased costs.

Our Dynamic Descaler safely and effectively gets rid of limescale, rust, mineral, calcium, and other hard mineral deposits. You can clean the heat exchanger without removing it from operation.

What is a Heat Exchanger?

A heat exchanger is a heat transfer device. It can transfer heat from a gas to another gas or a liquid to another liquid with no contact needed. Typically, we see our descaling solution used for industrial gasketed plate heat exchangers, but our Descalers can be used for any type of heat exchanger.

The gasketed plate heat exchanger transfers heat through channels formed between corrugated plates. A counter-current flow is created to maximize efficiency. Plate and frame heat exchangers can have an efficiency of up to five times that of any other type of heat exchanger.

Commercial Heat Exchanger Descaling Solution

We carry six industrial Descalers that are ideal for use on heat exchangers:

• Dynamic Descaler: The industry-leading descaling solution with the lowest corrosive rate on the market. We do not recommend Dynamic Descaler for stainless steel applications.
• Citric Descaler: A citric based Descaler that dissolves almost twice as much calcium carbonate than any other Descaler on the market.
• Aqua Safe Descaler: A potable water approved Descaler that is recommended for use on water heat exchangers and water-side heat exchange surfaces.
• Descale 518: The premier industrial descaling solution for stainless steel heat exchangers.
• Platinum Descaler: Our newest industrial Descaler, the Platinum Descaler is a safe acid descaling solution that does not contain hydrochloric acid (HCL). We recommend it for platinum heat exchangers.
• Aluminum Descaler: A unique industrial descaling solution that is completely safe to use on heat exchangers that may contain 7075 and 6061 aluminum dyes.

For any questions about which descaler to use, email us at sales@dynamicdescaler.com or call us at 1-800-388-5818.

See our Descaler in Action

Heat Exchanger Descaling Instructions

Heat exchangers in many manufacturing facilities are crucial in everyday operations. When transferring heat, the heat exchanger, over a period of time will collect lime, scale and rust on the waterside of the exchanger.

If you intend to clean only the heat exchanger, you do not have to dismantle or remove the exchanger from your operations.

1. By-pass heat exchanger from operation.

2. Remove the existing water in the heat exchanger. This MUST be done, to ensure proper results.

3. Disconnect the water in/out connections from the exchanger.

4. Attach the necessary hoses to in/out connections on the exchanger to a circulating pump. Refer to chart on the downloadable PDF below for the recommended circulation time and the amount of Descaler to use.

5. We recommend that you circulate with water first to see if the system has any leaks, or if any unnecessary valves are not turned off. If you do have leaks, repair them before proceeding to the next step.

6. Circulate the Descaler for 20 minutes, then turn off the circulating pump and let the Descaler set for approximately 20 minutes. After the first 20 minutes of circulation time, check the pH of our Descaler with a pH meter or pH strips. Before use, Our Descaler has a pH between 0 and 1.15 pH, depending on which of our products is being used. If the pH rises to around 3 or 3.5 pH after the first 20 minutes, add more of our Descaler to lower the pH to around 1. Continue this process through the time allowed
per chart. When the pH of our Descaler remains the same, there should be no more scale, so the heat exchanger should be clean. The exchanger should be free of scale. The only way the pH of our Descaler would increase is by having scale remaining in the exchanger.

7. We recommend the procedures in 6 to effectively clean Heat Exchangers. The 20 minutes circulation and the 20 minutes saturating time are actually US Navy procedures, who use our products. We have increased the circulation time to speed up the cleaning. The Navy asked for 5-minute circulating time and 20 minutes saturating time, which we achieved. The reason for this procedure is to allow the Descaler to penetrate through tough scales while being saturated. This allows our Descaler to work more effectively in your heat exchanger. After 20 minutes of saturating, proceed with circulating to wash away all scale and debris.

8. You may be able to bypass the saturation technique to decrease cleaning time. This would allow for less down time in your plant. Please call us for more information.

9. Pump or remove the remaining Descaler into another container. If the Descaler still has a pH around 1-3 pH, use the Descaler for another cleaning.

10. After removing our Descaler from the heat exchanger, flush the exchanger with water to remove all debris and remaining Descaler. If you want to completely neutralize the heat exchanger, add sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to the water while circulating. Add a ratio of 1/2 pound of sodium bicarbonate to 25 gallons of water.

11. Once you have flushed the exchanger, disconnect the hoses from the circulating pump and circulate tank. Reconnect the water inlet and outlet to the heat exchanger.

Please download the instructions to view the chart that contains the proper amounts of Descaler to use and the recommended circulation times depending on what type of heat exchanger you have.