Heat Exchanger Maintenance In The Food And Beverage Industry

At Fairtex Group, we strive to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers in any sector of business. In the food and beverage industry, we have a comprehensive list of products and services to support heat exchanger maintenance. Fairtex Group can determine the appropriate program for heat exchanger maintenance to ensure your system is performing at its best, saving plants money, and reducing equipment downtime.

Plate and frame heat exchanger maintenance in the food and beverage industry is needed in many different types of facilities, including:

• Breweries


• Bottling Facilities (Water Bottling and others)


• Dairy Facilities


• Distilleries


• Wineries and Sugar Refineries

Services offered for Plate and Frame Heat Exchanger maintenance on site or in our Facility:

• Inspection: Open, Pressure wash, Test gaskets for elasticity, Inspect plates for integrity issues.


• Cleaning: Clean in Place chemical cleaning, Pressure washing, Full submerged chemical cleaning.


• Plate integrity testing: Dye penetrate testing and UV light for cracks and pinholes.


• Re-gasketing: Glue or Clip-on


• Pressure testing: For crossover leaks and full unit integrity.


• Final project report: Photos, Integrity testing results, and recommendations.

Fairtex Group offers various types of shell and tube heat exchanger maintenance, including:

• Opening and closing heat exchangers


• Pulling tube bundles


• Shell-side tube cleaning with various methods: chemical cleaning or pressurized water


• Cleaning inside the tubes with various methods: drilling out hard deposits, shooting projectiles, rotary cleaning with specialized tooling or brushes


• Pressure testing the tubes for leakage pneumatically or hydro-statically


• Pressure testing the heat exchanger shell side pneumatically or hydro-statically


• Tube sheet repair and Tube sleeving


• Retubing of Heat Exchanger bundles


• Tube sheet coating


• Waterbox coatings and Tube plugging


• Inspection and reporting on the overall conditions of the Heat Exchanger

Fairtex Group has been an industry-leading provider of heat exchanger maintenance services. If you feel that your heat exchangers may be underperforming, actively leaking, or in need of cleaning, contact us to discuss your specific needs today.

For cleaning plate and frame heat exchangers, one option is to clean the heat exchanger in place. This heat exchanger maintenance method is widely used in industries such as food, beverage, and pharmaceuticals. When cleaning in place, the plate and frame exchanger does not have to be opened. This allows for a quicker clean to remove built-up fouling. Clean in place cleaning is done by isolating the unit and circulating chemicals through the plate channels to remove deposits. This method of cleaning is widely viewed as a time-saving solution when disassembly of the plate pack is not feasible.

Another option for plate and frame heat exchanger maintenance includes completely disassembling the plate pack. When we clean a plate and frame with this method, the first step is to dismantle the heat exchanger according to the manufacturer's instructions. Each piece is carefully disassembled, and the plates are either moved to a location for thorough cleaning or, if permissible, the cleaning is done on the frame of the unit. High-pressure water is used to remove the deposits from each plate. After the plates are completely rinsed, we reassemble the exchanger and put it back into service. Pressure testing of the unit is done to ensure there are no leaks on the exchanger before it is put back into service.