“Labor savings are a huge benefit of this machine. I can set this up in two hours and just let it run unmanned by itself."
For building systems like boilers, cooling towers, and heat exchangers that use water to transfer heat, the buildup of mineral deposits and scale inside the equipment are a normal part of the operation. Over time the scale layer gets so thick that heat cannot transfer efficiently through the equipment causing substantial system losses and potential equipment breakdowns. The only way to get the efficiency back is to either mechanically or chemically remove the scale from the equipment, and at this level of scale buildup, a chemical was the only viable option.
For one operation shift supervisor at a municipal waste power generation plant routine descaling of several large plate heat exchangers was cumbersome and a burden. As he says, “We usually just opened the heat exchanger up and cleaned it with power washers. That worked, but it was very labor-intensive. We were interested in an easier way to remove scale buildup”. Having already been introduced to Goodway’s time-saving tube cleaning equipment, he called his local sales rep for a way to improve the labor-heavy descaling work.
"Our Goodway sales rep sent us a brochure on the GDS-100 descaling system and I did some research. The product seemed like it might apply to our work and could save labor costs by not having to open up the heat exchanger. The setup looked easy and we had never tried a recirculating system, so we decided to test it out."
The GDS-100 is a portable “clean-in-place” (CIP) descaling system that pumps descaling liquid through industrial hydronic equipment to dissolve mineral scale deposits, into a liquid suspension to be flushed out. The descaling system is built on wheels making it easy to roll to the work area and once it’s running, the descaler can be left to do the work while the technicians take care of other things.
The power plant maintenance team put the GDS-100 to the test. They filled it with ScaleBreak® Liquid Descaler to see how the system would handle a heavily scaled plate heat exchanger. “We decided to let the GDS-100 circulate for a full 24 hours to see if it could clean it. When it was done we opened up the heat exchanger and found that it did an effective job at cleaning out the scale." The team immediately knew this was a product that would help them be more efficient.
“Labor savings are a huge benefit of this machine. I can set this up in two hours and just let it run unmanned by itself. We don't have to open the heat exchanger for inspection each time we clean because we've already tested and know it works. The gaskets stay intact and remain inside the exchanger and we don't have to struggle to put them back. Manual cleaning is very labor-intensive when you don't have the benefit of the circulation system. We can see the labor savings right away.”
The savings from the GDS-100 goes beyond labor. The efficiency of the heat exchanger improved immediately after it was descaled. When scaled, the heat exchangers at the power plant were only showing a temperature drop of 4 or 5 degrees. But after being descaled with the GDS-100, the heat exchangers were giving 8 to 9 degree temperature differences – nearly a 100% improvement. The team told us that they were getting efficiencies they hadn’t gotten in a long time.
Fast setup, reduced labor costs, and improved efficiency make the GDS-100 and ScaleBreak® Liquid Descaler the choice for maintenance managers everywhere. The team at the municipal power plant are spreading the news of their success. “We’ve taken photos and sent them around to our other facilities to show them the results.” We love to make our customers more successful. Let us show you our entire line of products to make you and your equipment more efficient and work better.
