Heat Exchanger Maintenance & Repair
Maintenance, repair, retubing, and inspection of shell-and-tube, plate, air-cooled, and other industrial heat exchanger types — restoring thermal performance and pressure integrity to extend equipment service life.
Heat exchangers are among the most universally deployed and maintenance-intensive pieces of equipment in industrial facilities. Whether they are cooling lubricating oil in a turbine, recovering heat in a process stream, or serving as the final condensers in a steam cycle, heat exchangers degrade through fouling, corrosion, erosion, and mechanical fatigue in both tube-side and shell-side systems. MAC Industrial Services provides comprehensive heat exchanger maintenance and repair services that restore thermal efficiency and pressure integrity.
Shell-and-tube heat exchangers — the dominant type in industrial service — require periodic bundle pulling and cleaning, tube inspection (eddy current, remote field, IRIS), tube plugging or replacement, and tubesheet inspection. MAC crews perform complete bundle pulls with appropriate rigging and handling to prevent damage, then high-pressure water jet cleaning or mechanical cleaning of tube bores, followed by inspection and any required repair welding of tube-to-tubesheet joints or shell components.
For air-cooled exchangers (fin-fan coolers), maintenance focuses on fin bundle cleaning, tube integrity inspection, nozzle and header box inspection, and fan drive and bearing system maintenance. MAC also services plate-and-frame heat exchangers, providing gasket replacement, plate inspection and cleaning, and nozzle repair. All heat exchanger repair work performed under pressure code jurisdiction is executed per ASME PCC-2 and appropriately documented.
What We Deliver
Technical Q&A
How do I know when a heat exchanger needs retubing versus cleaning?
Cleaning restores thermal performance degraded by fouling deposits — it doesn't address tube wall degradation. Eddy current or IRIS inspection reveals tube wall thinning from corrosion or erosion. The decision to retube is typically made when inspection finds >20% wall loss in a significant portion of the tube bundle, or when tube failure frequency increases beyond acceptable levels. MAC can provide inspection services and a retubing recommendation based on actual tube condition data.
Can a heat exchanger be retubed in the field, or must it go to a shop?
Field retubing is common for large exchangers that are impractical to transport, for in-service facilities that cannot lose the exchanger for an extended period, or where scheduling favors field execution. MAC performs field retubing for shell-and-tube exchangers, including tube extraction, new tube rolling and/or welding, and hydrotest — all executed at the plant site.
Related Service Lines
Industrial Maintenance
Comprehensive maintenance services designed to maximize uptime, reduce operational costs, and extend the life of your industrial assets.
Outage Services
Expert management of planned and forced outages, delivering rapid mobilization and efficient execution to minimize your downtime.
Industry Applications
- Power plant feedwater heaters and condensers
- Lube oil and seal oil coolers for rotating equipment
- Refinery and petrochemical process exchangers
- Industrial cooling water and process cooling systems
- Pulp and paper mill evaporators and condensers
- Chemical plant reboilers and process coolers
Codes & Standards
- TEMA (Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association) Standards
- ASME Section VIII Div. 1 – Pressure Vessel Code
- ASME PCC-2 – Repair of Pressure Equipment and Piping
- API 510 – Pressure Vessel Inspection Code
- HEI Standards for Steam Surface Condensers
Need this capability?
Talk to our team about your specific project requirements.
Contact MAC IndustrialMore Industrial
Explore our full capability set
Twelve specialty areas across power, industrial, and process sectors.