I'm not sold on tube sheets being better than flat plates for small boilers

Been hearing a lot of guys swear by switching to tube sheets on the 60,000 lb/hr units at the Marathon refinery in Gary. But I've been running flat plates on those same boilers for 6 years now and my downtime for soot buildup is actually lower than the tube sheet guys next bay over. Anyone else sticking with the old method and seeing similar results?

3 comments

3 Comments

norag5517d ago

Oh HELL yeah, flat plates all day for soot control!

ruby56114d ago

Start by matching your baffle style to your fuel setup. I've run both and if you're on a high sulphur fuel the flat plates will save you a ton of scraping time. Make sure you get them spaced right though, too tight and you'll choke airflow, too loose and you lose the soot trapping. I usually go for a 1/4 inch gap and that works pretty well for most shop vac setups.

phoenixgonzalez17d ago

Tube sheets actually cause more turbulence which traps soot compared to flat plates.