That leaky exchanger that ate 3 days of my life

Had a waste heat boiler with a hairline crack in the tube sheet that took me 36 hours across three shifts just to locate, never mind the two days to weld repair it. Has anyone else had a simple leak turn into a marathon hunt like that?

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2 Comments

dakotam173mo ago

Man that's brutal. I had a similar issue with a heat exchanger on a chiller system a few years back. What finally worked for me was using a dye penetrant test on the whole tube sheet instead of just spot checking. Found a tiny crack I missed twice before because it was hidden under some buildup. Also started vacuum testing every weld repair before firing it back up, saved me from a second round of the same nightmare.

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fisher.taylor3mo ago

@dakotam17 that whole "hidden under some buildup" part really hit home for me. I've been burned the same way more times than I care to count. Dye penetrant is a lifesaver for sure, but you gotta be real careful with surface prep or it'll lie to you. Vacuum testing every weld repair is smart too, I started doing that after a flange job came back to bite me. That extra 20 minutes of testing saves you a whole weekend of misery later.

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