In an apparatus provided with a plate type heat exchanger as a heater and/or a cooler and operated to treat a gas containing an easily blocking substance, a method for preventing the plate type heat exchanger from being blocked is disclosed which is characterized by i) setting the width of a flow path on a plate of the plate type heat exchanger in the apparatus in a range of 6-25 mm and ii) setting the average flow rate of the gas passing the plate type heat exchanger in the apparatus per unit cross-sectional area of the flow path on the plate in the range of 3-15 m/s. In the exchange of heat of an easily blocking substance by the use of a plate type heat exchanger, a method for preventing the plate type heat exchanger from blockage is disclosed which has the plate type heat exchanger provided in the port for introducing a gas containing an easily blocking substance with a gas dispersion plate. This invention, in the heat exchange of an effluent gas emanating from a process for the production of (meth)acrylic acid or an ester thereof or the disposal of the gas, significantly allays blockage of the interior of the plate type heat exchanger.