Your vacuum heater is an all-important aspect of your industrial process, which must provide you with efficient functioning and operational results. Do you want it to keep functioning like it was when brand new? How you should maintain it to deliver high-quality heating results while maximizing your investment? You have to ensure to take the right steps from the first step to keep your vacuum heater Heating System efficiently maintained and working, so as to provide you with accurate and desirable results.
Here, we are listing down some key maintenance steps listed below:
Vacuum Pump Maintenance
The pumping system is the core of the vacuum heater. And to keep it maintained proficiently you should follow the documented maintenance tips.
For mechanical pumps, you must look at the following problem factors that must be controlled:
- Build-up of sludge
- Contamination of oil
- Keeping the oil to the right level
- Belts should not slip or get loose
- Discharge vale damage
- There shouldn’t be too much vibration
- Ensure efficiency of exhaust filters
- Keep away the problem of clogged valves and oil lines and stuck discharge valves
- Make sure to regulate the oil temperature which must be kept between 60ºC – 70ºC
- There shouldn’t be any issue of foreign contaminant ingestion
Keeping the oil from being contaminated and ensuring it is changed at the right time as well as knowing the maintenance areas on the dry pumps, follow the below-mentioned tips:
- Check the oil level on a daily basis
- When replacing the pump oil, make sure to use only the recommended oil
- Each time you change the oil, ensure to change the filters
- Lubricate the bearings either annually or when it reaches the 3000-hour use mark
- Check the motor rotation and the rotor rotation, and ensure that the latter is working efficiently and there is no debris or dirt on the area
- Check the vanes for worn areas or crack either annually or after the 3000-hour use mark
Blowers or booster pumps also need day-to-day maintenance which requires you to follow the below-mentioned guideline:
- Monitor the pump’s oil level on a daily basis or weekly
- Ensure that the oil level in the gearbox is not high so as to avoid any chances of excessive oil heating or churning
- Keep the shaft bearings monitored on a regular basis to ensure that there is no gradual wear of the shaft
- Ensure to replace the driveshaft seal assembly whenever there is an oil leakage as indicated by the oil level rise
- The casing should be maintained so as there is no entering of the foreign materials inside this
There are several problems that you should look out for related to the diffusion pumps:
- Back-streaming
- Power failures
- Fireline pressure is extremely high
- The water exit temperature is above the level of 65ºC and the water inlet temperature is above 45ºC
- The boiler has broken wiring or defective heaters
- When it is pumped, the system causes high leak rates
- If there is any mixing happening related to silicone family oil with hydrogen-based oil
- There is no proper heat transfer with mineral deposits in the copper lines
Selection of Accurate Vacuum Level
For an efficient vacuum heating process, you have to ensure what the vacuum level is suitable for your application. For certain vacuum systems where high-speed pumps are used, the vacuum level can reach up to 10-9 torr range. However, you have to look into and ensure that your particular application requires this much or a low vacuum level. Too high or too low a vacuum level isn’t good for the overall vacuum process, which can result in undesirable surface conditions that could be surface oxidation, constituent vaporization, and more.
Maintenance of O-Ring Seals
For any vacuum system, O-rings are very critical to the overall function and efficient operation. There are several problems that can happen with O-rings:
- These can become cracked as O-rings lose their elasticity over time, and cracks in these could lead to air infiltration.
- Make sure to choose the O-ring sealing material based on the operating temperature (anticipated temperature exposure)
- Improper material selection and design can lead to premature failure of the O-ring that can lead to several issues in the O-rings including contamination, leaking, and appearance change
Categories into which O-ring Failures can be classified into:
- Abrasion which results due to rough sealing surface, poor elastomer surface finish, excessive temperature and as such
- Over compression or flattening that leads to a flat-sided cross-section
- The degradation will cause the seal to have cracks, voids, blisters, or pits on the surface
- Extrusion means the seal will develop tattered ragged edges, typically on the low-pressure side
- If there is installation damage then it can cause nicks, cuts, or gashes on the seal parts
- Thermal degradation leads to radial cracks, usually in the highest temperature surface
- Plasma degradation can cause discoloration, elastomer Vacuum Heating System erosion, and powdered residue on the surface level
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Keeping up with the above-mentioned aspects and factors is important to keep your vacuum heating system running and performing efficiently for the long term. Make sure to look for all the operating recommendations and instructions with a sample heater so you are well aware of how to keep your system maintained.
