Process Equipment Update
Monitoring steam traps
Steam traps are often ignored or poorly maintained – which can be a very expensive mistake. Sean Ottewell reports.
Kondensatableiter werden oft übersehen bzw. schlecht gewartet – dieser Fehler kann ein Unternehmen teuer zu stehen kommen. Sean Ottewell berichtet.
Les purgeurs de vapeur sont souvent ignorés ou mal entretenus – ce qui peut s’avérer une erreur très couteuse. Selon Sean Ottewell.
T
Fig. 1. STAPS surveys the operation of the steam trap at regular intervals and identifies poor performance that can cause reduced plant efficiency and increased energy consumption.
he issue of wasted steam is becoming more important as the costs involved with generating it rise and emissions regulations get ever tougher. However, lack
of steam trap maintenance is common on many process plants, often because the manual surveys required can be very time consuming and therefore expensive, and also because the steam traps can be located in difficult to access places.
False economy Nevertheless, this is a false economy. Figures from steam trap suppliers suggest that where limited annual maintenance is in place, 5-10 per cent of a process plant’s total energy costs are typically lost through steam trap leaks.
When maintenance drops off to every 3-5
years, this figure can escalate to 15-30 per cent. According to Spirax Sarco, fast and
correct identification of trap failure is the key to saving process energy, optimising process performance, and optimising safety levels. Together, these reduce productivity costs and times, cut the cost of raising steam, slash emission losses from boiler plant – and reduce environmental impact, maintenance costs, and repair costs. Company figures show that a typical
process with 200 steam traps could be losing 8900t/y of steam at a cost of over £90,000/y – or a million litres of fuel oil. In environmental terms, this is over 3000t of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Spirax Sarco’s answer to this comes in the
form of its new STAPS wireless steam trap monitoring system which has been designed to efficiently monitor and evaluate steam trap operation. STAPS surveys the operation of the steam
trap at regular intervals and identifies poor performance that can cause reduced plant
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