Monday 20 November 2017

Why coil corrosion could be the reason to your losses

It may come as a surprise, but simple pin hole leaks can be absolutely disastrous for your business. Anyone that has experience in the HVAC industry would swear by this – there are 100s if not 1000s of pinhole leaks that are caused by corrision every year that can bring your business down to your knees. The reason behind this leak could be anything, right from pollutants that are present in the air, humid conditions that aggravate salt – air, cleaning agents, pesticides, building materials and so on. Each of this can cause corrosion at specific points within the coild and cause a leak.

The simplest way to sort this is to have hydrophobic coated coils that would prevent any possibility of a leak. The kind of environment could have a telling effect to cause corrosion too and you need to be very vary of this.

So, what are the kinds of coil corrosion and what can you do about it?

There are two types of coil corrosion – formicary and pitting. You would be able to detect signs of this within a few weeks of installation and that would be your first sign to take action against the cause.

Formicary corrosion is because of the kind of organic acids that are used in the system like acetic and formic acids. This is available in abundance across homes in the forms of silicone caulking, cleaning solvents and even vinegar. Most of these products are found quite easily over the shelf. For example, latex paints and disinfectants are used quite often in both residential and commercial usages and that could be the reason behind formicary corrosion too. Now, the cathc is that the damage caused by this corrosion is not visible to the naked eye and could be easily missed out. The black deposits at times can be seen on the surface but is often ignored. The problem is that they form a sub-surface network of dots that are within the tubing wall and it resembles a minute beehive. This keeps getting bigger and within a matter of time causes a leak. It would be a lot easier to have it repaired right at the start than have to wait for heavy repair costs. The easiest way to avoid this to to avoid any of the above mentioned products in and around the coils and always have regular maintenance checks.

Having chlorides or fluorides around the copper causes pitting corrosion and this can be seen in items like toilet cleaners, dishwasher detergents and similar products. The biggest difference between both corrosion and this is that pitting is clearly visible to the naked eye. This is mainly because of the reaction between chloride with the metal surface on the pipe or coil. Once this grows, a leak is formed that causes dips in output. Avoiding sensitive material in the presence of such coils could be the simplest way to sort this kind of corrosion.

A simple check by the week could help you avoid such leaks. Regular maintenance coupled with the check should solve the problem.

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