The system is available in a wide array of materials and can be matched to the tube or tube sheet it is installed in. Thus the life of your heat exchanger is ex-tended and costs are reduced when you need to re-tube.Īnother advantage is the Pop-A-Plug® system takes only minutes to install. The Pop-A-Plug® is installed using a controlled force, which protects against damage to tube sheet ligaments and the adjacent tube sheet joints. The Pop-A-Plug® heat exchanger tube plugging system is the only plug that features external and internal serrated rings designed to maintain a leak-tight seal un-der extreme thermal and pressure cycling. The system is long proven in fossil fuel and nuclear power generation stations. The Pop-A-Plug® system eliminates the need for hammering or welding tube plugs. The design ob-jective was to produce a fast and simple to in-stall mechanical tube plug with the same or bet-ter installed stability than a friction fit or welded plug. The Pop-A-Plug® image below system is a mechanical tube plug to seal leaking or degraded high-pressure heat exchanger tubes. Proper design of this bypass can be determined from industry references. Provisions for internal bypass should be considered if repair is not performed in order to prevent failure of pass partitions. Tracking of pressure loss due to tube pluggage should be considered as some exchanger types cannot function properly beyond certain tubeside pressure losses. If the tube cannot be pierced, the tube should be pulled or other measures should be taken to ensure personnel protection, such as welding the plug to the tubesheet and draining all liquids from the tube being plugged.
One of the most overlooked best practices for plugging a tube is to vent the tube beforehand. Large temperature differential between tubeside and shell side may require the tube to be cut in two.įor tube piercing, internal tube cutters are commercially available.
Piercing of each tube prevents possible plug blowout and permits the validation of the integrity of the tube plug. Repair of tubes may be accomplished by plugging the tube at the tubesheet with a welded or mechanical attachment.Īll tubes that are plugged should be pierced to provide for venting and draining.