1-805-484-2992
Quotes - Engineering - SalesStart with the plate, not the catalog
A plant that needs to replace a CIP heater usually starts by searching the make and model stamped on it, and finds that the model has been superseded, the maker has changed hands, or the catalog page describes a family rather than the unit on the floor. The nameplate itself is the better document. It states the design pressures and temperatures, often the surface area, the serial number and the year, and together with a tape measure across the shell it describes the heater well enough for a new one to be built to the same duty and footprint.
Reading the nameplate
The heaters we are asked to match come from a familiar set of makers. Shell-and-tube steam heaters from Enerquip or Paul Mueller on dairy caustic loops; gasketed plate units from Alfa Laval, APV or SPX Flow, GEA and Tetra Pak on recovery and rinse-water service, frequently supplied as part of a larger processing line and now due for a new pack or a new frame; and packaged hot-water generators from Armstrong or Cemline on the sanitize water, which have their own page. In each case the nameplate is read the same way and the replacement is an equivalent new unit or new bundle from us, built to the duty, not a part number looked up in someone else's book.
The match is on duty and envelope, not on the model string. Two heaters with different model numbers can be identical in surface, rating and connections, and two with consecutive numbers can differ in tube length. What we need is the set of facts below, read off the plate and the unit, and the circuit it serves today. From those the replacement is sized, and where the old heater was marginal for the duty it now runs, the new one is not.
Write down every line, then measure the unit
- Manufacturer and model as stamped, even if partly illegible; a photograph is better than a transcription
- Serial number and year of manufacture, which date the design and the materials standard
- Design pressure and temperature for each side, which set the rating the replacement must at least match
- Surface area in square feet, where stated; it checks our sizing against the original
- Shell outside diameter and overall length, measured with a tape if the plate does not give them
- Connection type and size on each nozzle: tri-clamp, flanged or threaded, and the pipe size
the rating most plates showMost CIP heater plates show 150 psig on the solution side; where the stamped figure falls below what the pump or the steam header now delivers, the replacement is rated above it.
What the nameplate does not tell us
The plate describes the heater as it was built, not the circuit it has been running. Several things it cannot say are the ones that decide whether the replacement should be a copy or an upgrade.
- The circuit it now serves: caustic, acid, rinse or recovery, and the chemical and strength in it
- The steam pressure actually arriving at the heater today, which may be lower than when it was installed
- The flow and temperatures the plant runs now, which have often grown since the heater was bought
- Which side fouled and how often the bundle or pack was pulled, which sets the new allowance
- The gasket material in service, and whether an acid step has been added since the plate was stamped
Call and talk it through with an engineer: 1-805-484-2992
From the old plate to the new heater
The first question we ask of a nameplate is whether the design conditions still cover the plant. A heater stamped for 150 psig at 250°F on the solution side and 150 psig at 400°F on the steam side matches our standard build and the replacement carries the same rating. A plate that shows a lower steam-side rating than the plant now runs, or a solution side stamped for a pressure the CIP pump can exceed, is a reason to rate the new heater higher rather than copy the old figure.
The second is whether the surface area on the plate matches the duty the plant describes. When it does, the old heater was sized correctly and the new one will be very close to it in size. When the plate shows less surface than the duty needs, the plant has been living with a heater that reached temperature late, and the replacement should be sized to the duty even if that means a longer shell. When it shows a great deal more, the heater was oversized, usually because the original duty was for a different circuit, and the new one can be smaller.
The third is the envelope. A shell-and-tube heater from Enerquip or Paul Mueller on a dairy loop is normally replaced by a new U-tube steam heater of ours with the same nozzle positions, so the piping meets it where it stands; where only the bundle is tired, a new bundle to the old tube-sheet dimensions goes in to the existing shell. A plate exchanger from Alfa Laval, APV, GEA or Tetra Pak is replaced either by a new plate pack for its frame, if the frame is sound, or by a new frame and pack of ours sized for the same duty with connections to suit the existing piping.
We do not publish a cross-reference table from other makers' model numbers to ours, because the match is to duty and dimensions and a table would hide the cases where the old heater was wrong for the job. What we do is read the plate with you, restate the duty as we understand it on the quotation, and show the surface, rating, materials and connections of the replacement beside the figures from the old plate so the comparison is on the page.
Send the photographs: the plate, the whole unit with a tape across the shell, each connection, and the frame data plate on a plate exchanger. Add the circuit, the chemical, the gpm and temperatures the plant runs now, and the steam pressure at the heater. The quote checklist lists the rest, and the swap page covers when the shell or frame stays.
The nameplate describes the heater as built; the circuit describes what it has to do now.
Where the two disagree, the replacement is sized to the circuit.
Request a QuoteNameplate questions
Usually. The serial dates the heater and sometimes identifies the maker, and the rest comes from measurement: shell diameter and length, nozzle sizes and type, and the tube-sheet dimensions once the head is off. Add the duty the circuit runs and we size the replacement from first principles, then check that it fits the envelope. The plate is a shortcut, not a requirement.
To us, with the nameplate of the heater itself rather than the line. Plate exchangers from Alfa Laval, APV or GEA that arrived inside a packaged line carry their own data plate on the frame, and that plate plus the plate count and gasket material is what a new pack or new unit is built from. The line supplier's drawing, if you have it, helps with the connections.
No. It will have ours, and the quotation will show the old plate's figures beside the new heater's so the two can be compared line by line: surface, ratings, materials, connections and footprint. What the plant needs is a heater that does the duty and fits the piping, and that is what the comparison on the quotation confirms, rather than a matching string on the plate.
Related
Sizing & Selection
Bundle or Plate-Pack Swap
A new bundle to the old dimensions keeps the shell, piping and steam valve. When that is the sound buy, when the shell or frame should go too, and what to measure.
+ Learn More
Sizing & Selection
What to Send for a Quote
The complete list of what a CIP heater quotation needs, grouped the way we read it, with the figure that is most often missing from each group and why it matters.
+ Learn More
Sizing & Selection
Replace a Heater
A worn CIP heater can be matched from its nameplate or OEM model number, or renewed one piece at a time with a new bundle or plate pack. Here is how to decide.
+ Learn More
