Opening the exchanger and mapping the tubes
The tubesheet photograph is marked before cleaning begins. That gives the crew a route through the bundle and prevents previously plugged or damaged tubes from being treated as ordinary bores. If only one end is available, the provider can explain how that changes reach, return flow and the completion record.
Opened exchanger and fouling pattern
Send the current tubesheet photograph with any tube map or plugging record. Mark the pass or group where the restriction is visible rather than describing the whole bundle with one fouling label.
Say when the waterbox will be open and who receives the cleaning record. The provider can then place coverage and inspection inside the real outage window.
Cleaning the bundle without losing track of tube coverage
Cleaning proceeds in the order marked on the tube map. The return from each pass is observed, and tubes that resist the planned method are separated from the completed count rather than hidden inside a total.
Check the cleaned bores. Accessible tubes are inspected by sight, with jetting repeated where the observed result and tube condition support it.
Mark tubes that remain restricted. Where the completion record requires it, photographs or a note identify tubes that could not be cleared and the observed reason.
Before the heads go back on, the site inspector should be able to see which tubes were cleaned, which remain restricted and which were not part of the work.
The outage plan must leave enough time for that review and any agreed repeat pass. If closure is on the restart path, name the person who accepts the tube record and the time the exchanger is due back to the mechanical team.
Pump and hose positions are agreed around that timing, especially where lifting or nearby maintenance shares the waterbox area.
Fouled water returns to the collection arrangement agreed for this exchanger rather than an unconfirmed drain.
If a bundle keeps fouling faster than it should, the pattern deserves a look, and our page on fouled heat exchangers explains what it usually means. For outage work, our shutdown jetting support covers how we fit a wider programme.
Coverage records and tubes that remain restricted
The tube arrangement decides how the cleaning head can enter and how removed fouling can leave. Straight access to both tubesheets gives a different working route from a bundle with restricted covers, internal obstructions or only one open end. A tube map, general arrangement drawing and photographs of the opened exchanger let us compare the requested coverage with what can actually be reached.
Fouling also varies across one bundle. Loose silt may flush readily, while harder scale or baked product may need a different nozzle and more controlled passes. One setting may not suit every tube. Observed tube condition, previous plugging and any known weak areas remain part of the decision.
Confirm who isolates, drains and removes the covers, and when the exchanger will be available. The cleaning area needs room for pumps, hoses, lance handling and collection of fouled water without obstructing inspection or mechanical work nearby.
Agree how coverage will be recorded before jetting begins. A marked tube sheet, photographs or an inspection note can identify tubes cleaned and restrictions that remain. If several exchangers share the same outage, our shutdown jetting support page explains how access and inspection times can be coordinated.
Coverage is agreed from the bundle layout, access and outage plan. Where full-tube cleaning and sighting are feasible, that can be specified rather than assumed.
A tube that remains restricted is recorded before the head goes back on. The note distinguishes a hard blockage from visible damage wherever the accessible inspection allows.
Bundle access, isolation, fouling, tube condition and the time available determine whether the outage window is feasible. Those constraints are checked before the programme is agreed.