October 24, 2023
PRE-HEATER PLUGGING
EVENT REPORTED by SAM GUARD®
Detected a pressure increase in the pre-heater in the Medium inlet and product outlet.
The pressure increase was gradual over the last three months and the alert was generated in SAM GUARD® as soon as the new maximum was reached.
MAINTENANCE TEAM FINDINGS
Increase in pressure in pre-heaters usually arises when there is plugging and there is a large amount of pressure drop across the length.
The higher the plugging, the lesser the heat transfer surface available, causing increase of temperature in the outlet.
COST / DOWNTIME AVOIDED
There was no DCS alarm limit was set for this pre-heater and complete plugging would lead to higher repair costs and the potential value saving was set between $10000 – $1000000 in SAM GUARD®.
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
“Plugging issues in multiple pre-heaters were detected as soon as SAM GUARD® was installed, providing us valuable input.”