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Quotes - Engineering - SalesU-Tube Bundles and Replacements
A removable bundle is the U-tube's defining feature, and it turns what would be a capital replacement into a maintenance item. Stock bundles cover the common sanitary sizes. Everything else is built to match an existing shell from drawings, from the U-1 data report, or from a nameplate and a set of field measurements. Replacement is also the cheapest opportunity you will ever get to upgrade the tube alloy.
- Bundle-only replacement. The shell stays in place. Cost and lead time both drop substantially against replacing a complete exchanger.
- Stock sanitary bundles. Common sizes held in 304L and 316L with O-ring or PTFE gasket sealing and a polished finish.
- Reverse engineered builds. Matched from old drawings, the U-1 form, or a nameplate photograph plus measured dimensions when the OEM is gone.
- Alloy upgrades. Change the tube material to suit what the process turned out to be, while keeping the fit identical.
- Gaskets and o-rings. The correct sealing components supplied with the bundle, because the wrong gasket is the most common post-service leak.
- Inspection first. Eddy current testing and a hydrostatic check will often tell you whether replacement, retubing or plugging is the right call.
Replacement U-Tube Bundles:
U-Tube Construction
- Removable bundle
- Free thermal expansion
- ASME code available
Bundle Gaskets & O-Rings:
U-Tube Construction
- Removable bundle
- Free thermal expansion
- ASME code available
U-Tube Bundles and Replacements
Repair, Retube or Replace
Tube plugging is the fast field fix, and it works until it does not: every plugged tube removes surface area and disturbs the flow distribution, and plants routinely run past the point where the exchanger can still make its duty. As a rough guide, once plugging passes a few percent of the tube count it is worth costing a replacement bundle.
Retubing an existing bundle is viable where the tubesheet and the shell are sound and the tubes are the only problem. Where the tubesheet is eroded or the joints have been reworked repeatedly, a new bundle is usually the better economics.
What Makes Bundle Replacement Straightforward
Send whatever you have: manufacturer and serial number, National Board number, the U-1 data report, original drawings, or clear photographs of the nameplate. From that we can normally identify the unit or reconstruct enough to build to it.
Where nothing survives, field measurements will do. Shell diameter and length, tubesheet thickness and bolt pattern, tube count, diameter and pitch, nozzle sizes and locations, and the gasket arrangement. We will tell you exactly what to measure.
U-Tube Bundles and Replacements
U-TUBE • CONSTRUCTION
Sanitary U-Tube
Sanitary U-tube heat exchangers in 316L with tri-clamp connections, drainable geometry and removable bundles. Built for 3-A duty and CIP circuits.
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U-TUBE • CONSTRUCTION
Pharmaceutical U-Tube
Pharmaceutical U-tube heat exchangers built to ASME BPE with documented welds, controlled dead legs, double tubesheets and a qualification-ready docum
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U-TUBE • CONSTRUCTION
Industrial U-Tube
Industrial U-tube heat exchangers, ASME code stamped, TEMA R, B or C, in carbon steel through high alloys. Shells to 48 inches with removable bundles.
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