TEADIT ®: Sealing the system
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Cover Story
In heat exchanger systems, sealing integrity is fundamental to reliable, efficient operation. However, gasket selection is frequently underestimated, often viewed as a routine or standardized choice rather than a critical engineering parameter.
Range of TEADIT ® metallic gasket sealing solutions.
By Iryna Mukha, Heat Exchanger World
Mark Ruffin, Vice President of Sales, and Robbie Riggs, CEO & President of TEADIT ® North America, highlight that the reality is far more complex. The disconnect between understanding the critical nature of sealing solutions can lead to performance losses, unplanned downtime, and increased emissions. Effective sealing requires a system-level understanding, where gasket design, materials, and application conditions are carefully aligned. At TEADIT ®, this approach is taken further through a continuous commitment to advancing material science and application engineering, ensuring sealing solutions are not only specified correctly but actively optimized to meet evolving operational demands.
Rethinking the“ commodity” mindset One of the most persistent challenges in heat exchanger design and maintenance is the tendency to underestimate the importance of gasket selection. Compared with high-cost equipment, gaskets are relatively inexpensive, and this disparity often drives decision-making. Engineers and operators naturally focus their time and scrutiny on the most expensive components, leaving bolted flange joints, where gaskets reside, relatively overlooked. Mark Ruffin explained the consequences of this mindset.“ As there is a large dollar value associated with other equipment, people tend to spend more of their time on those things. A gasket, by comparison, seems relatively simple and is therefore thought of as a commodity.” This imbalance creates a blind spot. When gasket selection is treated as an afterthought, the risks accumulate quietly until they manifest during critical operating moments. Those risks are most visible during startup, shutdown, or unexpected upsets, when temperature and pressure fluctuations challenge the joint’ s integrity.“ It is going to lead to unreliable joints that typically present themselves to show themselves during process transients,” Mark noted. These are precisely the moments when failure is most costly.“ For example,” Mark explained,“ I have seen cases where an outdated gasket solution led to failure, and the combined cost of maintenance and lost production essentially equaled the site’ s entire annual gasket budget.” In other words, an attempt to save time or reduce costs in gasket selection ultimately consumed what would have been the full year’ s gasket spend. Robbie emphasized that the problem is systemic and stems from a gap in the engineering value chain.“ At no point in that chain is there someone specifically responsible for ensuring the joint will not leak.” Heat exchanger designs often prioritize thermal performance, which can leave a critical knowledge gap in sealing performance evaluation, unless gasket specialists are engaged early in the process.
8 Heat Exchanger World May 2026 www. heat-exchanger-world. com