Heat Exchanger Specification Sheet: From the Sheet to a Priced Quote

If you have quoted a shell and tube exchanger from a customer's heat exchanger specification sheet, you know the price is not on the sheet. The sheet says what the exchanger must do, and the owner's specification behind it says what you must build, test and ship.

Here is an example of how far one word can move a price. The sheet in our example says the tubes are "welded" to the tubesheet.

Page 85 of the owner's specification reads that word as a strength weld and does not permit a seal weld. In our example draft quote, that one reading is worth $27,400, which is about 8% of the total.

This guide follows one exchanger from the sheet to a priced draft quote. It goes through what the quote contains, what drives the price of each line, where the package leaves money open, and which questions go back to the customer before the bid closes.

It is written for estimators, proposal engineers and sales engineers at shell and tube exchanger makers, and for the managers who sign their quotes.

The example quote is priced with sample rates. Its numbers show how a quote is built, not what your exchanger should cost, and with your own rates every amount would change while the structure stayed the same.

If your shop also builds pressure vessels, the same approach for vessels is in what owner specifications add to a pressure vessel quote. This piece stays with the exchanger.

In brief

• A shell and tube exchanger quote is a short list of lines, and the specification behind the sheet sets the price of almost every one of them. In our example, the sheet names the parts, while the specification decides the tubesheet form, the tube joint, the number of hydrotests and the spares.
• The example draft quote has ten lines. Nine of them are priced, for $339,250 in all, and the tenth, a spare tube bundle, says TBD because the package does not say whether one is wanted.
• The tube bundle and the shell carry almost two thirds of the money, and the tubesheets and tube joints carry about a quarter.
• One open decision is worth $27,400. The draft carries the strength-welded joint that the specification asks for, and it shows the cheaper seal weld beside it with its own price.
• Three questions go to the customer, about the tube joint, the spare bundle and the thermal guarantee.
• Under this specification, anything you do not list as a deviation counts as agreed, so the clarifications list protects the price as much as any line does.

What a shell and tube exchanger quote contains

Most shell and tube exchanger quotes are built from the same kinds of lines, whoever the buyer is. The names change from shop to shop, but the money sits in the same places.

Before we look at the example, here is what each kind of line covers, in plain words.

The pressure parts

The shell is the large outer cylinder that carries one of the two fluids. The channel is the chamber at the front end that sends the other fluid into the tubes and collects it again, and the heads close the two ends.

These parts are priced mostly from the weight of plate and forgings, the hours of rolling and welding, and the nozzles and flanges welded onto them. The TEMA class, the design pressure and the corrosion allowance all add metal.

The tube bundle

The bundle is the set of tubes that carries the second fluid through the shell. It also holds the baffles, which support the tubes and steer the shell side flow, and the tie rods and spacers that keep the baffles in place.

The bundle is often the largest line, because its price follows the heat transfer surface. The tube material, the wall thickness and the number of tubes decide most of it.

The tubesheets and the tube joints

A tubesheet is the thick plate, drilled with one hole for every tube, that holds the tube ends. The joint is the way each tube end is fixed in its hole, and a large exchanger has hundreds of them.

Many shops price these as their own lines because the specification can change them a great deal. A forged tubesheet costs more than one cut from plate, and a strength weld costs more than a rolled joint.

Testing and inspection

A hydrotest fills the exchanger with water and raises the pressure above the design pressure, to prove that it is strong and does not leak. The quote prices each test, the fixtures it needs and the time on the test bay.

Inspection covers the code stamp, the inspector's fees and any extra examination the specification asks for.

Engineering and documents

Thermal rating is the calculation that checks whether a design meets the duty within the allowed pressure drops. A vibration check makes sure the shell side flow will not shake the tubes against the baffles until they wear through.

These calculations, the drawings and the data books are engineering hours. Many shops price them as one line, so the buyer can see that they are there.

Surface protection and shipping

Paint, the covers that protect each nozzle face in transit and the preparation for shipping make a small line. It still belongs on the quote, because the specification often sets when and how the work is done.

Spares

Spares are the bolts, gaskets and larger parts that ship with the exchanger or are kept on site. Some owners ask for a few gaskets, and others ask for a complete spare tube bundle, which is a large share of a second exchanger.

The parts of a quote that are not prices

A good quote also carries three things that have no amount next to them:

• A TBD line names something the package may want but does not settle, so the buyer can see that it is open rather than forgotten.
• The clarifications list says which reading of the documents each price assumes.
• The deviations list says where the offer does not meet the specification, with the clause it departs from.

These three are where a quote protects its price after the award, so they deserve the same care as the priced lines.

How a heat exchanger specification sheet feeds the quote

A data sheet is a one or two page form that describes one exchanger, or a set of identical ones. TEMA, the Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association, publishes a blank form of its own, and owners and engineering firms make their own versions.

Each block on the sheet feeds one or more lines of the quote. The table below maps them, using the block names from a real filled-in sheet: a 2009 condenser data sheet from the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant.

Two short codes set the price range

The TEMA class is a single letter, R, C or B. Class R is meant for the severe service of petroleum processing, class C for moderate commercial and general process service, and class B for chemical process service.

R is the strictest of the three, so for the same duty it costs the most.

The TEMA type is three letters for the front head, the shell and the rear head. An AES exchanger, for example, has a channel with a removable cover at the front (A), a one-pass shell (E) and a floating head at the back (S), so the whole bundle can be pulled out for cleaning.

Before you price a single line, write down the class and the three letters of the type, because together they decide which price range the whole quote sits in.

What the sheet does not tell you

The sheet gives you the duty and the geometry. It rarely tells you how many hydrotests there are, whether the tubesheets must be forged, or which spares ship with the unit.

Sometimes a sheet settles a point in its notes. Note 3 on the Hanford sheet, for example, says "Tube to tubesheet joint shall be strength welded."

When the sheet says less than that, the owner's specification decides, and the quote has to follow the specification.

The worked example: an example draft quote priced with sample rates

The example request is 125 pages long. It is a data sheet for one shell and tube exchanger in TEMA class R, with ADNOC's public shell and tube specification, AGES-SP-06-003 Rev. 1, behind it.

ADNOC is the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, and its 123-page specification applies to all of its group companies. The data sheet is an example made for this guide and its video, while the specification is the real public document.

The draft quote below is an example too. It was priced with sample rates, not with any manufacturer's rate book, and it is not a customer's job. These are the sample rates:

• Shop labour is priced at $92 an hour.
• Welding is priced at $118 an hour.
• The margin is 28%.
• The rates are as of October 2026.

The title of the draft says what is being offered: a shell and tube exchanger, TEMA class R, under ADNOC AGES-SP-06-003, with forged tubesheets, strength-welded joints, three hydrotests and spares.

The priced lines add up to $339,250.00. The draft tells the reader to take the total as $339,250.00 plus the spare tube bundle, which is still TBD.

Where the money sits

Two lines carry most of the money. The tube bundle is about 35% of the priced total and the shell and channel about 28%, so together they come to almost two thirds of it.

The tubesheets and the tube joints add another $81,500, which is about a quarter. These are the lines that the specification changes the most, so the next section spends extra time on them.

Every line keeps its pages. An estimator who doubts a line can open the specification at that page and check the clause behind the price.

What drives the price of each line, and where the package says it

Here is each line of the example, what moves its price, and the page that sets it. Page numbers are the specification's own PDF page numbers.

Line 1: the shell and channel, $96,400

The service sets the class. ADNOC asks for class R in process and hydrocarbon service, and allows class C only for non-hazardous utility service inside a package:

Page 53 then picks the front head. For fouling service at a design pressure up to 30.0 kg/cm2(G), "Type A front head shall be used", and the same page rules out the packed floating head types P and W.

Page 67 sets a standard corrosion allowance of 3 mm for carbon and low alloy steel, and a design service life of 30 years for parts other than tubes. Every millimetre of allowance is extra plate on the shell and the channel.

Page 66 also designs the exchanger for full vacuum whenever steam-out cleaning is needed, unless the data sheet says otherwise. A shell designed for vacuum can need more thickness or stiffening rings, and both are priced in this line.

Line 2: the tube bundle, $118,600

The bundle is the largest line in the example, and its price follows the surface. The surface comes from the thermal rating, plus a margin that ADNOC asks for on page 96:

Plugging means sealing both ends of a leaking tube so the plant can keep running without it. Sizing for 5% plugged tubes means buying and fitting more tubes from the start.

The tube itself is the next driver. Page 34 says "All tubes shall be seamless", and page 69 replaces TEMA's tube gauge table with ADNOC's own, which sets a minimum wall of 1.65 mm for austenitic stainless steel such as 316L.

Page 34 also asks that baffles, seal strips, spacers and tie rods "shall be compatible to tube material to avoid galvanic coupling". So the draft prices baffles and tie rods that match the tubes, not the cheapest plate in the yard.

Two limits can change this line completely. Page 68 sets a maximum nominal tube length of 7315 mm (24 ft) unless the company approves otherwise, and page 73 limits a removable bundle to 20,000 kg.

A duty that breaks either limit needs a second shell, and then the quote has two of almost everything.

Line 3: the forged tubesheets, 2 at $21,300

The sheet names the tubesheet material, but the specification decides how the tubesheet is made:

Page 86 closes another cheaper route: "Explosive metal bonding on tubesheet and/or explosive expanding of tubes to the tubesheet is not permitted." Explosion bonding is one common way to give a carbon steel tubesheet a face of a better alloy.

A forged tubesheet costs more and takes longer to arrive than one cut from plate, so this rule can move both the price and the delivery date.

Thickness is the other driver. Page 66 says "Differential pressure shall not be used as design basis unless specified." Designing for the difference between the shell and tube pressures would give a thinner tubesheet, so this rule adds forging weight.

The draft prices two tubesheets at $21,300 each, for $42,600.

Line 4: the strength-welded tube joints, $38,900

There are three common ways to fix a tube in its hole:

• An expanded joint is made by rolling the tube end outward against the hole, and it is the simplest of the three.
• A seal weld adds a small weld at the tube end to stop leaks, while the rolled joint still carries the load.
• A strength weld is sized to carry the load on its own, so it needs a qualified welding procedure, more inspection and usually a mock-up test.

A mock-up is a test block that copies the real tubesheet and tubes. It is welded and expanded with the production procedure, then cut open and tested before any work starts on the real tubesheet.

This line carries strength-welded and lightly expanded joints, the mock-up test and the weld procedure qualification. Lines like this one are mostly welding hours, which is one reason many shops keep a separate welding rate, as the sample rates do.

Page 85 decides which joint this exchanger gets, and the section on open money below shows what that decision is worth.

Line 5: three hydrotests, 3 at $4,200

Someone pricing from the sheet alone would price one test, and this specification asks for three. Each one means filling, pressurising, holding, inspecting, draining and drying.

Page 41 also asks for the shell side test "with the bonnet or channel cover removed", so the inspector can see the tube joints while the shell is under pressure. On an exchanger with a floating head, closing the shell for that test needs a test ring, so the draft carries one in this line.

The same page sets how many tests come with each set of identical exchangers. Check it before you multiply this line for an order of several units.

Line 6: the ASME code stamp and National Board, $9,800

An ASME code stamp shows that an Authorized Inspector has checked the design and the build against the ASME pressure vessel code. National Board registration files that record centrally.

The line covers the inspector's time on the design review and in the shop, and the registration. It assumes the shop already holds the stamp, because a shop without it cannot offer at all.

Page 19 also brings in the supplementary requirements in paragraph 12 of API 660. They apply in lethal or cyclic service, at a vessel thickness of 50 mm or more, and at design pressures above 70 barg.

If the exchanger meets any of those conditions, more inspection is owed and this line grows, even though nothing on the sheet says so.

Line 7: the thermal and vibration calculations, $8,600

So even a sheet that the buyer has fully rated still costs the maker a rating. Page 26 names HTRI, the Heat Transfer Research Institute, whose software is the usual tool for this calculation.

Page 92 sets the vibration rule. The bundle must stay free of vibration "up to 110% design shell side flow rate", and unsupported tube spans must stay under 80% of the TEMA table values.

Both rules mean more baffles or supports than a bare TEMA design, and that cost lands back in line 2.

This line is small, but it protects the biggest one. The rating it pays for is the shop's own check on the $118,600 bundle, and this specification makes the maker answer for that bundle's performance.

Line 8: paint and nozzle protection, $5,450

Page 43 says external painting "shall only be carried out after hydro test and all other tests have been satisfactorily completed". That fixes the order of work, so the paint crew cannot start until the last test has passed.

Page 44 asks that every nozzle and flange ship with "metal covers of 5 mm thickness and synthetic rubber gaskets". A shop whose standard is a lighter cover has to price these as an extra, or the line comes in short.

Line 9: the commissioning spares, $6,300

Pages 32 and 64 ask for commissioning spares of 10% of the bolting or at least two sets of each type, and 200% of the gaskets. Commissioning spares are the parts used up while the plant starts the exchanger for the first time.

The specification also asks for spare parts to be quoted separately. That is why spares are their own lines here and not hidden inside the exchanger price.

The draft states the quantity behind the line, so the buyer can see what the price buys.

Line 10: the spare tube bundle, TBD

The same pages ask for a spare tube bundle "if required by the COMPANY". The data sheet does not say whether the company requires one, so the draft does not guess.

It keeps the line, marks it TBD and turns it into a question for the customer. The next two sections explain why that is better than either leaving it out or pricing it.

Where the package leaves money open

A package leaves money open wherever two careful estimators could read it differently and both defend their price. A good draft does not hide those places, and it does not quietly pick one reading either.

For each one, the draft carries the reading the package most likely means, prices the other reading beside it, and writes the choice into the clarifications. Our example has four such places.

The tube joint: $27,400 at stake

The data sheet says only "welded" for the tube joints. Read alone, that word allows the cheaper joint, which is a seal weld on a rolled tube. Page 85 of the specification reads the word differently:

The same page adds, "Seal-welded joints are not permitted." It also forces a strength weld whenever either side is designed above 50 bar g, so on a higher pressure exchanger this decision would not be open at all.

Here is what each reading costs in the example draft quote:

The difference is $27,400, or 8% of the total. That is large enough to decide a close bid, which is exactly why the cheaper reading is tempting.

The draft carries the strength weld, because the specification says so in plain words. It shows the seal weld beside it with its own price, and if the estimator flips the decision, the total moves to $311,850.00 at once.

The cheaper reading is there for one case only. If the buyer accepts a seal weld in writing, the estimator can flip it and send the lower price with that acceptance on file.

Either way, the clarifications describe the joint in words, for example "tube to tubesheet joints priced as strength welded and lightly expanded, with a mock-up test, per page 85". The first question to the customer asks them to confirm it.

The spare tube bundle: a TBD that could be large

The specification asks for a spare bundle only "if required by the COMPANY", and nothing in the package says whether the company requires one.

The money at stake is not small. A spare bundle repeats much of the work in line 2, which is $118,600 in this example, so a yes would add a sum of that order to the quote.

Both easy answers are wrong. If the estimator leaves the line out, a yes after the award becomes a dispute, and if the estimator prices it, the quote looks far more expensive than a competitor who left it out.

So the draft keeps the line as TBD, shows it in the total as "$339,250.00 + TBD", and asks the customer directly. Once the answer comes back, the estimator prices the line or deletes it.

The thermal guarantee: a risk with no line of its own

Page 57 makes the supplier guarantee thermal performance "irrespective of who perform initial thermal design or rating of the heat exchanger". It asks for that performance in clean and fouled conditions over the whole range of operating conditions on the data sheets.

Page 29 carves out one case. When the design uses proprietary technology such as helical baffles, twisted tubes or tube inserts, the guarantee sits with the technology owner instead of the maker.

No line of the quote moves with this point, but the whole bundle sits behind it. If the exchanger falls short in service, the maker answers for it, even when the buyer's engineer did the rating.

The draft handles it in two places. Line 7 pays for the shop's own rating, and the clarifications say that the guarantee rests on the process data in the data sheet as issued. The third question to the customer asks the buyer to confirm that.

A guarantee on a design you did not make is a fixed price risk in its own right. We looked at where that kind of risk starts in fixed price contract risk starts at the quote.

The two rules that price your silence

Two short sentences on pages 17 and 18 decide how every other point in the quote is read:

Together they mean that any reading you do not write down is judged against the strictest rule, and that you have agreed to it.

If you price a cheaper reading and do not say so in the quote, you have still promised the stricter one, and the difference comes out of your margin. That is why every reading in the draft, carried or flipped, goes into the clarifications with its page.

The four open points side by side

TBD lines and the questions for the customer

A TBD line says, inside the quote itself, that something may be in scope and is not yet priced. It is a small thing to write, and it protects both sides.

The buyer sees that the item was noticed, and the estimator has a record that the price did not include it. A missing line is worse, because after the award the buyer can read it as either forgotten or included, whichever suits them.

A TBD is also better than a guess. A guessed number looks exactly like a real one, so nobody checks it, while a TBD invites the question that settles it.

The three questions in the example

Anything the package cannot settle becomes a question, written so the estimator can paste it straight into the reply to the buyer. Each one says what the answer changes.

How to write a question the buyer will answer

• Say what you priced before you ask, so a busy buyer can answer with one word.
• Give the page, so the buyer's engineer can find the clause without searching.
• Ask one thing per question, so one answer cannot be read two ways.
• Send the questions early, because a question asked before the bid date costs nothing and a dispute after the award costs a great deal.

This specification also puts the duty to ask on the maker. Page 26 says that if the data is "insufficient for design purposes, it is his responsibility to request further information".

Page 17 adds that the vendor should report any conflict between the specification, the data sheets and the codes, and get the answer in writing before design starts.

How to check a draft before it goes out

Whoever wrote the first draft, an estimator checks it before it is sent. Here is a checklist that fits a shell and tube exchanger quote, in the order we would work through it:

1. Add up the lines yourself. In the example, the nine priced lines must come to $339,250.00, and the total must say "+ TBD" while the spare bundle is open.
2. Check every quantity against the package. The two tubesheets, the three hydrotests and the test ring should each trace back to a page.
3. Check that the class and type in line 1 match the sheet and the specification. Here that means TEMA class R with a type A front head.
4. Open the largest lines at their pages and read the clause behind each one, starting with the lines you would not have priced from the sheet alone.
5. Look at each open decision and make sure the carried reading is the one you believe. If you flip one, check that the clarifications still describe what you priced.
6. Read the TBD lines and make sure each one has a question beside it.
7. Check the rates and the margin against today's rate book. The example's rates are dated October 2026, and a quote built on old rates loses money without anyone noticing.
8. Check the documents the buyer asked to receive with the bid, which are listed below.
9. If you offer an alternative design, offer the base design as well, as page 46 asks.
10. Look for what the draft does not contain. If the package names a delivery point, field service or a site test, each of those needs a line of its own.

The documents that go in with the bid

ADNOC lists them on page 46. They include the HTRI input and results, a preliminary general arrangement drawing, a mechanical data sheet, a clause-wise list of deviations, the sub-supplier list and an experience list.

Alternative designs are welcome, but only next to the base design:

Three questions the reviewer should answer in one sentence each

When the check is done, the reviewer should be able to say what we priced, which readings the price rests on, and what is still open, each in a single sentence.

If any of those answers needs a paragraph, the quote is not ready, because the buyer will ask the same three questions when comparing your offer with the others.

A specification compliance matrix keeps those answers in one table, with one row per requirement and your answer beside it. The risks you decide to carry belong in a pre-bid risk assessment, so the person who signs the quote can see them.

The same quote lines under other owners' documents

ADNOC is one owner. We also read four other public documents for this guide, and they change the same quote lines in different ways. The table shows which line moves under each one.

Three rows that change a quote the most

Columbia's back-up exchanger doubles the quantity on almost every line. A quote that misses it prices half of what the owner asked for.

UFGS asks for spare parts with current unit prices and a source of supply, so its spares line becomes a priced list rather than a single lot.

The Hanford sheet leaves the physical design to the seller, so under that document the seller's own rating is the design. Under ADNOC, by contrast, the maker repeats and guarantees a rating that someone else may have done.

How Mavlon's AI Quoting Engine produces this kind of draft

Mavlon's AI Quoting Engine turns a bid package like this one into a priced draft quote in the manufacturer's own pricing. When a heat exchanger specification sheet arrives with an owner specification behind it, the engine reads both and drafts the quote, and the estimator reviews it and sends it.

It prices the way your company prices

The engine learns a company's pricing from its own past bid packages, the quotes it sent back, and its costing workbooks and rate books. So the draft uses your rates, your margins and the way your estimators build each line, not a generic price list.

The example in this guide uses sample rates because it is not a customer's job. On a real package, every amount would come from the company's own pricing.

What the draft contains

• Every line has a quantity, a unit price, an amount and the page it came from, so any line can be checked against the package.
• A line that the package does not settle says TBD, as the spare tube bundle does here, instead of carrying a guess.
• Each decision the package leaves open becomes a call, with the price of both readings beside it, and flipping a call moves the total at once.
• Anything nobody in the shop can answer becomes a question for the customer, written so it can be pasted into the reply.

What stays with your people

The engine does not decide compliance, and it does not set the final price. The estimator checks the draft, makes the calls and sends the quote, so their time goes on those decisions instead of on the first read of 125 pages.

For the business, that means more bids quoted with the same team. It also means pricing that follows the company's own rules when the senior estimator is away, and fewer missed spares, tests and TBD items, because each one is on the draft with its page.

How to test it on your own quotes

We test the engine blind on a customer's own past quotes before anyone relies on it. The pass bar is agreed in writing first, and the bar we publish is 7 of 10 job totals within 15% of the quote that was filed. The steps are on our pilot protocol page.

Our public demo shows the same pieces on a different product. It turns a 179-page package from the Town of Cape Vincent, New York, into a priced draft quote with calls, TBD lines and questions for the customer, again priced with sample rates.

If you are comparing different kinds of quoting tools, our AI quoting software buyer guide explains where each kind fits.

Sources

• ADNOC Group Projects and Engineering, Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Specification, AGES-SP-06-003 Rev. 1, 123 pages, no date printed (the file sits in a 2021 folder on adnoc.ae).
• US Department of Energy, Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (Bechtel), Mechanical Data Sheet, Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger, Waste Feed Evaporator Primary Condenser, 24590-PTF-MED-FEP-00003 Rev. 3, February 2009, hosted by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
• USACE, NAVFAC and AFCEC, UFGS 23 57 10.00 10, Forced Hot Water Heating Systems Using Water and Steam Heat Exchangers, November 2019.
• Open Compute Project, Plate Heat Exchangers base specification, Rev 0, Version 1.0, effective 22 August 2025.
• Columbia University Facilities, Design Requirements, Heat Exchangers for HVAC (section 23 57 00), last revised 1 June 2011.

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