Indoor and outdoor pollutants can contaminate system components, causing a decrease in heat exchange, thus making systems work harder for longer, which in turn increases the energy consumption.  So it is essential to keep the working parts of the system clean restoring the performance by ensuring optimal heat exchange.

Eniko talks us through a condenser coil clean that took place at a plant in Hungary where Climalife’s Frionett cleaning range was used.

Cleaning a horizontal air cooled condenser

Regular cleaning of this type of system is essential because a build-up of dirt can inhibit the airflow through the condenser fins, potentially increasing the temperature making the whole system work harder and harder until the compressor fails in a worst case scenario.

These images are of a horizontal air cooled condenser that had been neglected for some time.  The condenser was blocked by airborne impurities which had led to very high operating temperatures and a drop in the cooling efficiency.  The fins of the condensers were damaged because of an attempt to clean with dry ice blasting.

HORIZONTAL AIR COOLED CONDENSER – PRE CLEAN

The maintenance supervisor at the plant carried out a system clean using a specialised condenser cleaner from Climalife with a view to improving the efficiency of the installation.

The cleaning process

1. To ensure greater penetration of cleaning product into the coils, they were rinsed with water before the cleaning process began.
2. The cleaning product; Frionett^® Condenser Cleaner, was mixed with water using one litre of concentrated product to five litres of water.
3. The condenser was then treated with the ready mixed product starting with a 1 m² area at the top with the help of a pressure sprayer.
4. After leaving it to work for five minutes, water was then used to rinse it off.
5. The cleaning process was starting to work, with some dirty water working its way out, but the decision was made to repeat the cleaning procedure one more time to speed things along.
6. The dilution was the same; one litre concentrate to five litres water.
7. After waiting another five minutes, rinsing took place for several minutes until the dirty water started flowing freely through the unclogged condenser.

Visible results post clean

HORIZONTAL AIR COOLED CONDENSER – POST CLEAN

After cleaning, the condenser fins presented visible results, but in addition to this, the condenser temperature also dropped when compared to measurements before cleaning took place.

After witnessing the results, the maintenance supervisor of the plant said “I never thought it would work that well, but you convinced me!”