62 | INSTALLATION, OPERATION and MAINTENANCE MANUAL
Overheating the plates can cause discoloring and damage.
PLIOBOND glued gaskets can be loosened and removed by placing the gasketed plate
in water at 100°C (212°F).
Cleaning
To remove remaining traces of old adhesive, grease, or dirt from gasket grooves, use a
solvent such as Acetone or a commercial gasket removal product. Do not use abrasives
to clean the gasket grooves. The gasket groove surface must be absolutely clean for
plates with glued in gaskets.
For glued in gaskets, it is important that the degreasing agent has evaporated prior to
the application of the glue. Typically, the degreasing agent will evaporate in
approximately 15 minutes at 20°C (68°F). Consult the degreasing agent manufacturer
for the proper evaporation time. It is advisable to clean the gluing surfaces of the
gaskets with fine-grained sandpaper instead of a degreasing agent.
Attachment of Glued in Gaskets
To attach new replacement gaskets, apply a thin even film of 3M formula EC-1099
adhesive to the plate gasket groove. The adhesive may be spread evenly with a small
acid brush dipped in acetone. Allow the adhesive to dry until tacky, about 30 seconds.
Press the gasket firmly in place, starting at one corner of the plate and continuing
across and along the length of the plate. The entire gasket must be firmly in place with
no twists or bumps.
As each plate is gasketed, it should be stacked neatly on a clean, flat surface in the
order it will be installed. Take special care not to move the gaskets out of position. After
all the plates are re-gasketed, they may be placed in the frame. The frame is tightened
per Section 9.6 to a platage dimension about 10% above the maximum compressed
platage specified on the customer drawing.
Heat treatment is essential to cure the adhesive and obtain maximum bond strength.
This is done using steam or hot water to heat the plate pack. Attach a low pressure
desuperheated steam line to an upper port and slowly raise the temperature of the plate
pack to at least 105ºC (220ºF). Maintain the temperature for a minimum of three hours.
If steam is not available, hot water may be used with the same temperature and time
requirements as steam.
After the required time, allow the heat exchanger to cool naturally to room temperature
and complete the tightening to the required dimension per section 9.6.
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