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In the photo to the right, there is a steam trap off the steam main, and condensate is returned to the to the top of the condensate pipe. Long steam supply lines should be trapped to remove condensate and keep the steam dry. Use a flash steam recovery system to flash high pressure condensate to steam and then inject the steam into the low pressure steam system. High pressure condensate can flash to steam in low pressure condensate systems causing problems with their operation and wasting steam. Be sure that high and low pressure systems are not interconnected at any location, even on condensate systems. In facilities with high and low steam operating pressure systems, all steam and condensate lines should be properly identified and checked. High and Low Pressure Systems Interconnected Valves fail due to wear, corrosion and dirt/contaminates stuck in the valve seat. As in the picture, steam still blows past the valve, but since its inside of pipe, it’s not obvious.
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However, often valves are installed with pipe on the down-stream side. This valve is obviously stuck partly open. If it were installed upright, it would block flow in the wrong direction. However, it is probably a good thing that it is upside down, as it is also installed backwards. It is impossible for this check valve to function when installed this way. In this example, a mechanical check valve that requires gravity to operate properly is installed upside down. It is common to find many types of steam system components installed incorrectly. When steam traps are improperly installed, they cannot function properly and therefore either do not remove the condensate, let steam blow through, or both.
![steam speed drops steam speed drops](https://images.drivereasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/image-518.png)
When it is horizontal as in this installation, the float is not a float but a pendulum (See the sectional illustration to the right). It must be installed so that the bolted-on flat plate is in a vertical position. This trap is a ‘Float and Thermostatic type. What is not so obvious to the untrained eye, is that this trap is installed wrong. It is clear from the picture that this trap has been here a long time. These are real facilities that in many cases were in improper operation for a number of years prior to the audit. The following examples are common problems discovered in the course of steam system audits by Duane Hagen of Merlo Steam (see links below). If a facility has not had a thorough review of its steam distribution system by a competent expert, then there are likely many things that an audit would reveal. Some problems lead to premature failure of equipment, but it may not be obvious what the cause of the failure was. Problems with steam systems are not always obvious as equipment may continue to function, although impaired. All of these factors and more are reasons to expect that steam piping systems could be improved when the objective is better function and energy efficiency. Systems are often modified over the years equipment, pipes and valves are moved so that they no longer perform in the way they were originally intended. Systems may have not been installed according to design because of some problem in the field – either something didn’t fit, got changed or an installer thought they had a better idea. In many cases steam systems were designed long before there was any concern about energy efficiency. Just because it’s ‘been that way’ for a long time, don’t assume it’s right.