Skip to content
heatexchangercleaning.co.uk
Arrange a clean

Heat exchanger hydro jetting

Where the deposit was never in solution, chemistry has nothing to dissolve and water at pressure is what removes it. Send the tube details and the deposit, and a specialist will say what is achievable.

  • PressureHigh pressure to around 2,800 bar UHP
  • RemovesCoke, hard scale, polymer, packed solids
  • ProducesNo spent chemical stream

Submit a cleaning request

Four steps: unit, deposit, postcode, contact details.

  1. 01Unit
  2. 02Situation
  3. 03Site
  4. 04Contact
What needs cleaning?

01The method

Pressure, tooling and access decide what a lance can reach

Heat exchanger hydro jetting removes deposit mechanically, using water as the tool rather than as a solvent. That makes it the answer for everything chemistry cannot touch, coke, cross-linked polymer, packed fibre, heavy scale, and it means the only waste produced is the water itself plus whatever it has removed. On sites where disposing of spent acid is difficult, that second point is often as important as the first.

01

High pressure and ultra-high pressure are different tools for different deposits

Conventional high pressure water handles softer scale, sludge and biological fouling and is the everyday tool. Ultra-high pressure, running to around 2,800 bar on the heaviest work, cuts material that high pressure only polishes: coke, set polymer and hard mineral scale. The higher pressure is not more of the same. It changes what is physically possible, and it comes with correspondingly greater exclusion zones and control measures.

High pressure
Sludge, soft scale, biological fouling. The everyday case
Ultra-high pressure
Coke, set polymer, hard scale. Around 2,800 bar on the heaviest duties
Governed by
Water Jetting Association codes of practice and exclusion zones
02

Rigid lances go straight through and flexible lances follow the bend

A rigid lance is driven down a straight tube and gives the most effective attack because all the energy arrives on axis. A flexible lance will follow a U-bend or a coil, at the cost of some effectiveness and some reach. Rotating heads spin the jet to attack the full bore circumference, not a stripe, and are the usual choice on heavier tube-side deposit. On bundle exteriors, rotating heads and lance arrays work the tube field and the baffle windows directly.

Rigid lance
Straight tubes. Most effective, most reach
Flexible lance
U-tubes and coils. Follows the bend, loses some effect
Rotating head
Attacks the full bore circumference. Standard on heavy deposit
03

The water has to be caught, and on hydrocarbon service that is most of the planning

Jetting water that has touched process deposit is a controlled waste, and it does not go to drain. Work is done in a bunded cleaning bay or inside temporary containment, with the water collected, separated and either recycled through the spread or removed under duty of care. On refinery and chemical work this containment and disposal is frequently a larger part of the job than the jetting, and it is the part most often left out of a comparison between quotes.

Contained by
Bunded bay, containment mats, or temporary bunding
Water
Collected, separated, recycled or consigned under duty of care
Solids
Skipped wet, characterised and disposed of accordingly

02When it is the right call

Jetting removes what chemistry cannot and finds damage chemistry would have hidden

The trade-off is straightforward: it works on deposits nothing else touches, and it puts a great deal of energy close to tube walls that may already be thin.

  • Right whenThe deposit is hard, coke, cross-linked polymer, heavy scale, or was never in solution.
  • Right whenChemical disposal is difficult on the site, since jetting produces no spent chemical stream.
  • Right whenThe bundle is out and the shell side needs cleaning. Nothing else reaches it.
  • Wrong whenTube walls are already thinned. Jetting will find that, and the finding may be a hole.
  • Wrong whenGeometry stops a lance reaching the full length. Long small-bore U-tubes are the usual case.
  • Wrong whenThe unit is a plate pack. Jetting is a tube and bundle method and not a plate one.

03What happens next

Four steps take a fouled unit from enquiry to a tested return

The enquiry goes straight to a contractor who cleans that unit type. There is no qualifying call in between.

  1. You send the unit details, the deposit and the postcode.

  2. The enquiry goes to a specialist set up for that unit type and that fouling.

  3. They come back with method, timescale and price.

  4. The clean is carried out in place or off site, and the unit is tested before it goes back.

04Questions

Tube geometry, wall condition and containment decide what jetting can achieve

Will jetting damage the tubes?

Correctly applied to sound tubes, no. The pressure and tooling are selected against the tube material and wall thickness, and the technique is well established across refining and power.

On tubes that are already thinned it can perforate them, and that happens. Being is clear that the jetting revealed the wall loss instead of caused it. Deposit sitting on a thin tube is sometimes part of what is holding pressure, and a tube that fails under a lance would have failed in service shortly.

Is 2,800 bar always needed?

No, and it is usually not. Ultra-high pressure is for coke, set polymer and hard mineral scale. Sludge, soft scale and biological fouling come off at conventional high pressure, and using UHP where it is not needed adds cost, risk and exclusion zone without benefit.

The deposit decides it. Where the deposit is unknown, starting lower and escalating is both cheaper and safer than the reverse.

Can jetting clean the shell side?

Only with the bundle withdrawn, and then it is the best method available. Tube exteriors, baffle windows and shell floor can all be attacked directly.

With the bundle in place there is no access, and the shell side is limited to whatever chemical circulation can reach. This is a large part of why bundle extraction is worth the disruption on fouling service.

What are the safety implications?

Substantial, and they drive how the work is organised. UHP water cuts flesh at distance, and injection injuries are a serious hazard. The work runs to Water Jetting Association codes of practice, with defined exclusion zones, trained operators, dump guns and controlled access.

The practical consequence for a site is that a jetting operation needs space and needs other trades kept clear. On a congested turnaround that coordination is often harder to arrange than the work itself.

Is it better than chemical cleaning?

Neither is better; they address different deposits. Chemistry dissolves what was in solution, scale, protein, salts. Jetting removes what never was, coke, polymer, fibre, silt. Applying either to the other's problem wastes time and money.

Where both would work, the deciding factors are usually waste disposal and access. Jetting produces no spent chemical stream but needs the unit opened; circulation needs neither, but leaves a waste the site has to consign.

What does jetting cost?

Tube count and deposit hardness set the work, and access and containment often set the price. On hydrocarbon service the containment, water handling and waste disposal can exceed the jetting itself.

Worth asking whether containment and disposal are included when comparing quotes. They are a real cost and leaving them out makes one quote look considerably cheaper than another for the same scope.

A specialist who cleans that unit type answers the request

Unit, deposit and postcode are enough to start. Your details go to a specialist who cleans that unit type. No obligation.

Arrange a clean