Laboratory Services

Laboratory Services

Know your enemy and win the war on tube fouling and failure.

Military strategist Sun Tzu wrote “Know your enemy and you will win a thousand wars.” At Conco, we believe knowing what type of fouling deposits are within your tubes can help you win the war against tube fouling and failure.

By utilizing Conco’s tube shooting method, crews are able to capture whole tube deposit samples. This would be virtually impossible to do with high-pressure water or chemical cleaning. These deposits are then analyzed and key elements and their organic content are identified. Armed with this information, your chemistry team can then make the necessary adjustments to your cooling water to reduce the impact of future deposits.

 

Deposit Analysis

Once a Conco cleaning crew collects a deposit sample from a condenser or heat exchanger tube, the sample is sent to Conco’s lab. There the sample is filtered and dried, and a loss-on-ignition test is performed. A representative portion is then analyzed, and a full report is provided to the customer.

Deposit Density

Full-length tube deposit samples are taken by shooting Conco TruFit® tube cleaners through selected tubes and collecting the deposits. These samples are then filtered, dried and measured to determine the deposit’s weight in grams. Deposit density then provides information for trending analysis and cleaning effectiveness.

Tube Failure Analysis

Before you can prevent future tube failure, you must first determine the cause of current tube damage and failure. Conco’s Tube Failure Analysis Service analyzes tube surface abnormalities. A failed tube is pulled from the subject condenser or heat exchanger. Then it is sectioned and subjected to a host of metallurgical examinations and tests. Once testing has been completed and all tube surface abnormalities identified, a full report is provided to the customer.

Lab Chart

 

Tube Cleaning and Tube Condition Assessment

Tube cleaning and tube condition assessments are available to help you determine the best and most suitable Conco tube cleaner for your site specific conditions. First, sample tubes are selected and cleaned using a variety of Conco tube cleaners. The tubes are then inspected for deposit removal. The cleaning efficiency of the selected Conco tube cleaning products is determined, reported to the customer and cleaning recommendations are made.