7 Questions to Ask Yourself before Buying Tube Cleaners

The extreme working conditions of the equipment like heat exchangers, boilers and condensers make them highly prone to damages. Before you move out to purchase the tube cleaning equipment, make sure that you are ready to provide the following info to the supplier.

Did you ever make use of tube cleaning tools…?

Give a chance to the provider to explore your knowledge regarding this equipment. Open up the conversation by letting him/her know if you are a newbie or have prior experience of using these tools. Present your perception of the tube cleaning accessories.

What is your equipment…?

Undoubtedly, this is one question; you would be expecting your provider to ask you at the early stages of communication. It is important to name the equipment, you wish to clean. Give a brief introduction about your firm. It is to be remembered that the cleaning procedures and tools are dependent largely on the nature of the equipment. Also, state how many heat exchangers, condensers or boilers you have to deal with.

What is the inner diameter of the tubes…?

You might end up getting the nozzles, whose size doesn’t work for the tubes, when you fail to provide the info regarding the inner diameter to the provider. We can obtain the nozzles in a variety of sizes. It’s your responsibility to pick the best one for your equipment. Choosing a 12mm diameter nozzle for a 32 mm I.D tube will never fetch you good results.

What is the thickness of the tube…?

In the tube cleaners, though the deposits are removed by the cleaning tools, it is the high pressure water jet, which flushes them out. Another important question in this context is how much pressure is required to clean the tubes perfectly. Higher the pressure greater faster will be the cleaning. However, if the tube thickness can’t resist the water jet, it gets damaged. Hence, consider the tube thickness, before determining on the pump equipment.

What if the tubes are not straight…?

In general, the providers tend to assume that the tubes are straight and suggest you the equipment. When you have to deal with bent, curved or spiral tubes, you have to incorporate various tube cleaning accessories. Cleaning small diameter tubes with a smaller radius is a challenging task.

What is the tube made up of…?

Unless you get to know about the metallurgy of the tube, determining its strength is impossible. Choosing a hard tool on a soft tube can damage its surface and often result in breakage. It is to be remembered that there are tools, which are specifically designed to be acted upon only a specific tube type.

What is the nature of the scales in the tubes…?

The thickness of the deposits or scales is vital in determining all the working parameters and the cleaning equipment. Determining the exact thickness of the scales is almost impossible and the providers also don’t expect you to give them accurate answers. However, you should be in a position to figure out the nature of the scales to some extent. Carry out experiments to find out if the scales are loose, little hard or too hard.

Apart from getting the best cleaning equipment, it is also important to make use of the best cleaning procedures for your system. Schedule the cleaning activities, only when it is necessary