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Brazed Aluminum heat exchanger failure

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prq123

Chemical
Jan 4, 2006
41
We experienced a catastrophic failure of a brazed aluminum heat exchanger (blowout of cover). The vendor report on the failure cites the reason for the failure as due to frequent (approx 100) excursions in temperature where temperature difference between the warm stream and cold stream exceeded 30 C in the life of the exchanger. The exchanger was new and put in service for only about 2 months.

My questions:

1) Does the vendor's reason for the failure seem plausible/credible?
2) Is it possible to get an independent third party to review the vendor's design of the exchanger and vendor's report on the failure?

We suspect the exchanger design may be faulty.
 
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The vendor's reason may be plausible. I would definitely get an independent third-party to review the vendor's design and failure report.

Where in the world is this located?
 
Do you know of a third party than can verify the vendor's report/design? The plant is in the Middle East.
 
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