Steam traps play an important role in determining the health of any steam system. They are designed to discharge condensate and trap steam. By doing so steam traps eliminate the risk of water hammer, provide better heat transfer by ensuring all condensate is discharged from main steam lines or steam equipment and reduce gas bills by ensuring all live steam is properly trapped.

On the other hand, failed steam traps (failed open or failed closed) can cause serious problems to steam and condensate loops and increase gas bills through the wasted steam leaking through trap’s orifice or accumulating condensate and causing water hammer in case of a failed close traps.

For the above reasons it is very important to conduct steam traps surveys annually to ensure proper traps operation and catch any leaking traps at early stages to reduce losses and increase system efficiency.

Our method of testing steam traps includes utilizing an Ultrasonic tester along with a temperature reader. This allows us to accurately determine the functionality of steam traps and identify any leaks and blockages. We tag and identify all steam traps and provide detailed reports that identify all issues with steam traps along with recommendations on how to improve your steam system.

Here below is an example showing steam losses through a trap orifice and how much energy can be saved:

If you have a steam trap with 3/16” orifice diameter operating at 10psi and is failed open. The amount of wasted steam will be 21 Lb/h.

If this trap is running 8 hours per day, 5 days a week then the amount of wasted steam per year will be :

21 Lb/h x 8 x 5 x 52= 43,680 Lb/year wasted steam. Assume the average industrial cost of steam is $16 per 1,000Lb, the cost of wasted steam per year from this trap will be $698.

Contact us to schedule your annual steam trap survey at 1-888-222-8670 or by filling the form below: