Fire-tube and water-tube boilers
Boiler Re-tubing & Maintenance
Re-tubing, inspection and preventive maintenance for fire-tube and water-tube boilers, restoring thermal efficiency and keeping the plant safe and compliant.
- Boiler types covered
- 2
- Welds inspected
- 100%
- Breakdown response
- 24/7
How we approach it
Boiler tubes fail from the inside out, and the first symptom is usually fuel consumption rather than a leak. Scale and gas-side fouling insulate the heat transfer surface, so the burner runs longer for the same steam output long before anything is visibly wrong.
Re-tubing restores that surface. Tubes are removed, the tubesheet holes cleaned and gauged, new tubes fitted and expanded (seal-welded where the design requires) and the boiler pressure tested before it returns to service.
This is safety-critical work. Weld inspection, pressure testing and safety valve verification are documented, and we will not return a boiler to service on a verbal assurance.
Old tubes withdrawn 
Expanding the new tubes 
Tube ends rolled in
What we can build to
These ranges cover most of what we make. Duties outside them are reviewed case by case rather than refused on principle.
| Boiler types | Fire-tube and water-tube |
|---|---|
| Scope | Full or partial re-tube, plugging, tubesheet repair |
| Tube fixing | Expanded, or expanded and seal-welded |
| Inspection | Visual and dimensional weld inspection |
| Testing | Hydrostatic test before return to service |
| Ancillaries | Safety valve service, gauge and control verification |
Indicative figures. Final specification is confirmed against your duty and a site survey at quotation.
Standards and testing
- Hydrostatic testing before return to service
- Weld inspection recorded
- Safety valve verification documented
How the work runs
The same sequence every time, so you know what happens next and what is expected of you at each stage.
Step 1
Inspection and survey
Internal inspection to establish tube condition, scale, and whether a partial or full re-tube is appropriate.
Step 2
Isolation and tube removal
Boiler isolated, drained and cooled, then tubes cut and removed without damaging the tubesheet.
Step 3
Tubesheet preparation
Holes cleaned and gauged. Where seats have eroded beyond tolerance, the tubesheet is repaired before any new tube is fitted.
Step 4
Re-tubing
New tubes fitted and expanded to specification, and seal-welded where the design calls for it.
Step 5
Test and return to service
Hydrostatic test, safety valve verification, controls proven, and the boiler brought back up under supervision. Documentation issued.
Where it is used
- Steam raising plant
- Food processing
- Hotels and laundries
- Chemical process heating
- Construction site boilers
- Hot water generation
Equipment for this line
Supplied, installed and maintained as part of the same service.
Asked before you ask
Straight answers to the questions we hear most on this service line.
Full re-tube, or plug the failed tubes?
Plugging is a legitimate short-term measure for one or two failures, but each plugged tube is lost heat transfer surface. Once failures start clustering, the bundle has reached the end of its life and plugging only defers the inevitable at the cost of efficiency.
How much efficiency does re-tubing recover?
It depends how fouled the surface was. Where fuel consumption has crept up over years, the recovery is often significant. We would rather measure your actual consumption before and after than quote a headline percentage.
Do you handle the statutory inspection?
We carry out and document our own pressure testing and weld inspection, and coordinate with your appointed inspector for anything requiring third-party certification.
Other service lines
- Shell & Tube Heat ExchangersThermal design, in-house fabrication, pressure testing and field re-tubing of shell and tube exchangers for process duty.
- Evaporative Condensers & Cooling TowersEvaporative condensers, closed-circuit and open cooling towers sized to the site's real wet bulb, with far lower water use than an open circuit.
- Air-Cooled Condensers & Dry CoolersAir-cooled condensers, evaporators, radiators and dry coolers for sites where water is scarce, expensive, or not worth the treatment burden.
Tell us the load, the site and the timeline.
Send the duty, the site and anything written on the nameplate. An engineer replies with questions first, then a costed proposal.
Plant down right now? Call the breakdown line on +966 53 783 7389, any hour.