Common Causes of High Pressure Drop in Plate Heat Exchangers
Diagnosing fouling, plate selection mismatch and operating-condition drift in field plate heat exchangers.
Fouling on the plate surface
Calcium scaling, organic fouling and corrosion deposits all reduce the effective channel cross-section, increasing pressure drop and reducing heat transfer. CIP cleaning at the recommended frequency usually restores performance; if not, mechanical cleaning may be required.
Wrong plate pattern for the duty
Plate corrugation depth, angle and chevron pattern strongly affect pressure drop. A high-theta plate gives high heat transfer at high pressure drop; a low-theta plate gives the opposite. Mismatched plate selection is a common cause of pressure drop complaints in retrofit projects.
Operating conditions outside design
If the plant runs at higher flow rate than the plate pack was sized for, pressure drop scales roughly with the square of velocity. Confirm actual operating conditions against the original datasheet before assuming a fault.
Gasket failure or plate distortion
Failed gaskets allow bypass flow, which can increase pressure drop locally and reduce heat transfer. Plate distortion from over-tightening or thermal shock can also restrict channels and increase pressure drop.
When to call the manufacturer
If pressure drop continues to rise after cleaning, send the operating data and gasket/plate model to the manufacturer. A short engineering review usually identifies the root cause and the right corrective action.
Send your working conditions to Evan
Share your medium, temperatures, flow rate and pressure — Evan will return a thermal selection and indicative pricing after reviewing the available data.