Patent ID: 7380557

Claim:
A method of internally cleaning a coil pipe of a heat exchanger, said heat exchanger including an outlet and an inlet providing fluid communication with said coil pipe, said method comprising: (1) flushing said coil pipe in a first flow direction by: connecting a first end of a suction hose to said heat exchanger inlet; connecting a second end of said suction hose to a suction pump and a waste-and-wash water collecting tank; and connecting one end of an ice-feeding hose to said heat exchanger outlet and a second end of said ice-feeding hose to a hopper; supplying an ice and water mixture into said hopper; engaging said suction pump to create a suction effective so that the ice and water are suctioned into said coil pipe outlet, pass internally through said coil pipe in a reverse flow direction towards said inlet, exit said inlet, and collect in said waste-and-wash water collecting tank, wherein a negative pressure created by said suction does not exceed a value equal in magnitude to ambient atmospheric pressure; (2) flushing said coil pipe in a second flow direction by: connecting said first end of said suction hose to said heat exchanger outlet; connecting said second end of said suction hose to said suction pump and said waste-and-wash water collecting tank; and connecting said one end of said ice-feeding hose to said heat exchanger inlet and said second end of said ice-feeding hose to said hopper; supplying said ice and water mixture into said hopper; engaging said suction pump to create the suction effective so that the ice and water are suctioned into said coil pipe inlet, pass internally through said coil pipe in a normal flow direction towards said outlet, exit said outlet, and collect in said waste-and-wash water collecting tank, wherein the negative pressure created by said suction does not exceed the value equal in magnitude to said ambient atmospheric pressure ; and (3) alternately flushing said coil pipe in said first and second flow directions for cleaning said coil pipe.