In the following, we would like to inform you about our cleaning balls. In general, it is advisable to contact our service staff in case of doubt, since unsuitable cleaning balls can permanently damage your system. In particular corundum-coated spheres can cause corrosion in conjunction with chloride-containing cooling waters. The number of cleaning balls per condenser or heat exchanger required in the normal operation, referred to as basic filling in the technicaljargon, is calculated on the basis of the pipe section to be cleaned in one pass and the specific properties of the selected cleaning balls. On the basis of our experience, it has been shown that a system can be run optimally if the pipes of the system are cleaned at intervals of 5 minutes by a ball passage. For a one-way capacitor, this means that a basic filling of approximately 10% is achieved with a ball circulation time of approximately 30 seconds. If you want to use our cleaning balls in a seawater desalination plant, a discontinuous driving is recommended due to thermodynamic aspects. The basic filling per stage is then 30 to 50%. The behavior of the cleaning balls depends on the system (feed, flow dynamics, etc.) as well as the specific material properties of the cleaning balls. For a better distribution of the cleaning balls in the plant, balls with different sink rates can be used. The selection of the suitable ball diameter is carried out on the basis of the pressure loss between the inlet and outlet of the condenser or heat exchanger.
In general, the ball diameter should exceed the pipe diameter. On the basis of our experience we recommend in most cases an excess of +1 to +3 mm. The appropriate ball hardness is determined by means of the differential pressure, the flow rate and the sieve angle. The service life of the cleaning balls is decisively dependent on the cleaning intensity and the surface finish of the pipes.
Our experience shows that the cleaning balls have to be exchanged every 3 to 6 weeks on average. Depending on the application conditions, however, these can vary greatly downwards or downwards. For example, heavily encrusted or corroded pipes greatly reduce the service life. If an increased ball wear is found, smoothing the inner surfaces of the pipe using abrasive cleaning balls must be considered.
For most customers, a medium cleaning ball is the best solution between optimum material properties and good life. Taking into account the following instructions, once cleaned cleaning balls have an almost unlimited storage capacity:
- Keep in the original carton so that balls do not deform.
- Store in a cool, dry place.
- Protect from direct sunlight.