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Quotes - Engineering - Sales| PRODUCT | STYLE | TEMA TYPE | BUNDLE |
| U-Tube Heat Exchanger | U-Tube, single tubesheet | BEU / AEU / BKU | Removable |
U-Tube Bundle Gaskets and O-Rings
Selecting the Seal
A removable bundle needs seals, and those seals sit at the boundary between two fluids at different pressures and temperatures. They are small, cheap components carrying a disproportionate share of the exchanger's reliability.
Temperature first, then chemistry. EPDM handles steam, hot water and caustic well and is the usual sanitary default. Viton suits hydrocarbons and many acids but degrades in steam. PTFE and filled PTFE such as Gylon handle almost any chemistry and high temperature, at the cost of resilience — virgin PTFE creeps under sustained load and needs retorquing after thermal cycling.
Sanitary versus industrial. On product-contact duty the elastomer has to be FDA compliant and it sits in a controlled groove with no crevice. On industrial duty the choice widens considerably and compressed fiber, graphite and spiral wound gaskets all become options.
Thickness and stack height matter. A replacement gasket of the correct material but different thickness changes the compressed stack and therefore the bolt load and the bundle position. It is a small detail that produces a leak nobody can explain.
Typical Construction
- EPDM: Steam, hot water, caustic; good resilience; poor with hydrocarbons
- Viton (FKM): Hydrocarbons and many acids; not suitable for steam
- PTFE: Broad chemical resistance, high temperature; creeps under load
- Filled PTFE / Gylon: Chemical resistance with improved recovery
- Buna-N (NBR): General industrial oils and water; limited temperature
- Silicone: Wide temperature range; limited mechanical strength
- Graphite and spiral wound: High temperature and pressure industrial duty
- Sanitary requirement: FDA compliant elastomers, crevice-free groove
- Replacement policy: Renew whenever the joint is opened
- Torque: Follow the specified sequence and value; retorque after thermal cycling where applicable
U-Tube Bundle Gaskets and O-Rings
U-TUBE • CONSTRUCTION
Replacement U-Tube Bundles
Replacement U-tube bundles built to fit your existing shell. Stock sanitary sizes in 304L and 316L, reverse-engineered builds, and alloy upgrades at r
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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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Why Reused Gaskets Fail
An elastomer takes a compression set. Once it has been squeezed into a groove and heated, it no longer has the recovery it had when new, and refitting it means relying on a seal that has already used most of its available deflection.
The economics are absurdly one-sided. A gasket set costs a fraction of the labor to open the exchanger, and a leak discovered after reassembly costs that labor twice. Renew whenever the joint is opened, without exception.
Torque Sequence Is Not Optional
Bolted joints on exchanger bonnets and tubesheets are tightened in a crossing pattern in stages, not in a circle in one pass. Doing it wrong cocks the flange, loads one side of the gasket and leaves the other under-compressed.
On PTFE and filled PTFE joints subject to thermal cycling, a retorque after the first heat-up is normal practice rather than an admission of failure. Build it into the commissioning checklist.
