A preventive check before summer is therefore essential to ensure production continuity, consistent performance, and controlled energy consumption.

A system that is not properly checked can encounter a series of interconnected problems during the summer months:

• Reduced cooling capacity, making it impossible to maintain the required process conditions
• Increased energy consumption, as the system operates unpredictably to compensate for inefficiencies
• Alarms and sudden shutdowns, often during peak production periods
• Loss of downstream process efficiency, with consequences for quality and productivity

To safely handle summer loads, a suitable best practice is to plan a systematic system check in advance. The main points to check are the followings:

Cleanliness and condition of heat exchangers. Heat transfer surfaces must be clean and free of deposits or fouling. Even a thin layer of fouling can significantly reduce the overall heat transfer coefficient (U), degrading the unit’s rated performance. The check must include both the process and service sides.

Water circuit and water quality. Pipe scaling, localized corrosion, and deterioration of cooling water quality are among the most common causes of problems during the summer season. It’s important to check the pH, hardness, and concentration of any inhibitors, as well as verify proper circulation within the circuits.

Ventilation and condensation components. In dry coolers and evaporative cooling towers, the condensation section is the first to be affected by high external temperatures. Checking that the fans are working properly, that the fins are clean, and that there are no obstructions to the airflow is essential to avoid compromising the unit’s capacity.

General functional check. The inspection must be completed with a comprehensive functional check: calibration of temperature and pressure controls, condition of control components, alarm management, and verification of the correct operating sequence under peak conditions.

Preventive maintenance conducted before summer allows for the identification and resolution of critical issues while there is still time to do so, avoiding emergency interventions during peak production periods.

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The Tempco Service team provides technical support for component identification, compatibility verification, and the supply of appropriate spare parts. First, it is necessary to identify the exchanger model, which is the basis for any spare parts request.

The exchanger model can be found from:

• Identification plate attached to the exchanger
• Technical drawings or thermal calculation sheets
• Tempco supply documents

It is also helpful to provide:

• Number of plates installed
• Gasket type
• Year of supply or serial number

The two tables below therefore offer valuable support when requesting spare parts for heat transfer plates and gaskets.

Finally, some helpful further tips:

• Send clear photos of the plates and gaskets for quick identification.
• Indicate the process fluid and operating conditions.
• Tempco can provide plate reconditioning and regeneration with leak testing.
• Keeping a spare set of gaskets reduces system downtime.
• Observe recommended tightening torque values when reassembling.

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The Italian regulatory landscape on this topic has undergone a significant transformation in 2025: Legislative Decree 102/2025, which came into force on July 19, 2025, made mandatory certain Guidelines drawn up by the Ministry of Health in May 2015. The new obligations for prevention and control established in the Legionella Decree 2025 include:

• Mandatory monitoring activities. Activities are now classified according to a Priority code. Water monitoring is now mandatory in facilities beyond the previous regulations, such as hotels, sports centers, and restaurants.
• Preparation of the Water Safety Plan (PSA). The Water Safety Plan (PSA) is a mandatory risk assessment and management model for managers of internal building water systems.
• Appointment of the Internal Water Distribution Manager (GIDI). For Priority facilities, the role of the Internal Water Distribution Manager (GIDI) has been introduced. The GIDI is responsible for the building’s internal drinking water system and must be appointed. He or she is responsible for verifying that analyses and the PSA are performed.

Finally, penalties have also been increased, with fines of up to 30.000 euro for failure in compliance with monitoring parameters.

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Thanks to a team of professionals with extensive experience in temperature control and thermoregulation applications in the process industry, the company also provides highly qualified technical support services, consulting on the best temperature control solutions for individual needs, spare parts sales, repairs, customization, and retrofitting of systems and machinery.

The strong synergy built and developed over many years of close collaboration has led to acquisition of IPE by Tempco, in order to ensure an even more efficient service and increasingly timely and personalized consulting for companies with their temperature control applications, pursuing maximum energy and process efficiency in every industrial sector.

We invite you to discover all of IPE’s services and offerings on the company’s revamped website, at https://ipe.tempco.it/.

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However, with time and continuous use, the plates can accumulate deposits and the seals can deteriorate, compromising the performance and integrity of the entire system.

One of the key aspects of maintaining the transfer efficiency of plate heat exchangers is the replacement of gaskets. Gaskets are essential components that guarantee the tightness of the system. There are two main types of gaskets: glued and clip-on.

Glued gaskets: these gaskets are permanently attached to the plates with an adhesive. They allow for easier on-site plate washing operations, but replacing them can be more laborious and requires careful cleaning of the surfaces before applying the new gaskets.
Clip gaskets: these gaskets are designed to be easily removable and replaceable without need of adhesives. Clip-on seals are more convenient for periodic maintenance as they can be quickly removed and replaced, reducing system downtime.

The market is now dominated by clip seals.

It is essential to carry out regular inspections to detect any signs of wear or damage to the seals, such as cracks, swelling or loss of elasticity. A compromised seal can lead to fluid leaks, contamination and heat transfer inefficiency.

In conclusion, preventive maintenance and timely replacement of gaskets in plate heat exchangers are essential to maintain optimal performance and extend the useful life of the system. Investing time and resources in regular maintenance not only prevents costly breakdowns, but also ensures efficiency and safety of industrial operations.

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For some of the most obsolete models of heat exchangers in use at the customer’s production plant, after a survey completed with the collaboration of the maintenance office, it was decided to proceed with the complete replacement of the plate packs.

Other more recent exchangers have instead been completely regenerated by washing the plates and replacing the gaskets. The operation was completed within 3 months, taking advantage of the downtime of the production lines in alternating phases, in order to allow operational continuity for the customer and to bring the exchangers back to full thermal transfer efficiency.

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Clearly it depends on the kind of fluids that flow inside it: having heat exchangers employed with clean fluids there are obviously no fouling issues and. Thus, it is possible to size the exchanger very precisely on the project working conditions, not considering too much the possible fouling effect and therefore a possible reduction of the thermal transfer surface.

Instead, when fluids involved can be dirty then it is mandatory to carefully consider the fouling factor. The fouling level depends on the kind of fluids employed. There are several kinds of fouling: there is fouling involving a scaling effect, when there are fluids that get stuck onto thermal transfer surfaces. And this is probably the worst example. Otherwise, there can be fouling due to solid particles on the fluids circulating inside the exchanger. When fluids with suspended solid particles are involved there is a series of strategies to carry out in order to avoid fouling. On top of them there is filtration. Clearly, filters represent a bottleneck for thermal transfer because they reduce the flow rate of water, they involve pressure drops and thus requiring a higher pumping pressure, but they surely protect the exchanger from the fouling.

Obviously, there are even suspended solid particles that can be very small that are challenging even for a good filter. For example when using a kind of water with quite heavy suspended solid particles, such as sand, metallic swarf or fine dust. What is possible to do is to try to reduce the internal fouling of the exchanger, and we are speaking about plate heat exchangers, letting the fluid in from the bottom. In this way, the heavy particles tend to deposit on the bottom of the nozzle, and therefore not fouling all the plate, allowing to extend the maintenance periods.

Otherwise, fouling can be due to scaling, and let’s think about limestone, for example, or resins, as well about greasy products getting stuck on thermal transfer surfaces of plates. In this case, the only possible solution is a washing intervention that can be done in different ways: for example with a cleaning in place, or even dismantling the exchanger for a more accurate cleaning using a pressure washer, a brush or some washing cleansers.

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This development therefore allows the use of air-cooled condensers, the classic dry-coolers, adopting a solution that also offers the advantage of eliminating the water consumption involved with evaporative towers and ensuring a much simpler overall maintenance of the plant. In fact, there is no longer the risk of legionella implications due a poor water management or scaling due to the presence of carbonates.

The cooling solutions for the production of expanded polystyrene developed by Tempco therefore use special heat exchangers equipped with stainless steel tubes, a material chosen with the aim of increasing their durability and reliability over time.

Stay updated on the latest applications of thermal energy management by subscribing our monthly Tempco Newsletter – Solid Temperature.

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A cleanable straight pipes exchanger is usually employed letting the dirty fluid flow inside the pipes, whereas the clean fluid flows inside the shell. That’s because usually the shell cannot be disassembled and therefore only the tubes can be cleaned. This can be acheived both through a washing, or also by dismantling the two heads of the exchanger and cleaning the pipes by inserting pipe cleaners, thus making a mechanical cleaning of the inside surfaces of tubes.

This is in fact a very simple operation, but it is also true that it depends on the lenght of the shell and pipe exchanger because in case the shell and tube exchanger is very long, we need a contiguous space in order to insert the pipe cleaner and get the overall length of the pipe cleaned.

Clearly if the pipe is very long, it becomes difficult to achieve a proper cleaning of the middle section of the tube, but let’s say it’s something that can be done anyway, and quite simple as well.

In case of U bundle pipes exchangers, the part that can be cleaned is the shell. In fact the U pipes bundle gets extracted and it can be cleaned using a high pressure washer or brushes on the external surface of pipes. This is not really a simple operation, because it becomes difficult to get inside between the tubes of the bundle to achieve an accurate washing.

The internal part of tubes cannot be cleaned, instead, because the pipes have a U bending shape and it is impossible to reach that part of the pipe, that therefore cannot be cleaned. Clearly it’s also possible to make a chemical washing, using aggressive agents with chemical products and cleansing products to clean the inside of the tubes. But it’s an operation that cannot be done if the dirt has completely clogged already the inside of the pipes.

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The mission of our team is to achieve the high standards requested by the customers with our solutions for temperature control, corresponding to the very same targets we are seeking as a company. Tempco is indeed the heart of the totality of operations and studies surrounding a project. We thus collaborate with specialized partners in several fields, with whom we coordinate the activities in order to achieve the optimal result for every order we are entrusted for. We believe indeed that is essential to offer a professional and careful service, and not only a fully functional and efficient application.

In order to ensure the perfect shape of a plant, from engineering up to the commissioning, always aiming at customization, we have decided to back up our team with a carefully selected network of industrial partners.

In the field of control panels and automation on our machines, we make sure that the machinery is provided with all the certifications required by the Country of installation, ATEX, CE, EAC, UL, a key condition in order to ensure a smart and efficient management. This same target drives the work of assistants responsible for software and PLC management within the plants, aimed at ensuring the maximum project performances to the end-user.

Speaking of installation, and in case of technically complex plants, we provide service and counseling in terms of plant configuration and piping thanks to our partners, solving every possible doubt and need of the customer. Especially when machinery has to be integrated in a pre-existing layout at customer’s facility.

When regulations establish severe standards in terms of engineering and manufacturing of pressure equipments, we are able to face the task thanks to partners specialized in ensuring the full compliance. With a special attention to ASME and PED regulations using certified WPS.

Thanks to the expertise and know-how of our team and to Tempco solid partnerships, we are able to manage the projects step by step, from the first idea through installation, and further on with maintenance in order to guarantee life long efficiency thanks to our specialized technicians. That’s how we are able to provide the most suitable solution for every thermoregulation need.

• Control Board and Automation
• Software PLC
• Plant engineering and piping
• Service
• Engineering
• Pressure equipment and certified welding

Stay updated on the latest applications of thermal energy management by subscribing our monthly Tempco Newsletter – Solid Temperature.

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