Steam Trap

For steam-using apparatus, the amount of condensate is the Btu rating of the apparatus divided by the latent heat of steam at the respective pressure. This should be multiplied by a service factor, say 1.5 (?).

Condensation in runs of pipe is estimated from its contact with surroundings and how much insulation there is. I'm not very familiar with details and don't know off hand what the best references are.

The quantity of water to be drained is related to the heating effect required by the Latent Heat. Rather than mess with equations, obtain a copy of some Steam Tables, which will be found in all sorts of publications; Kempe's Engineers' Yearbook being one example. The Latent Heat enables the quantity of condensate to be calculated and can be looked up for all combinations of temperature and pressure.

Oversizing steam traps is unlikely, though they can be undersized in which case the condensate line will back-up and the heating effect will be under that intended by design. If in doubt, contact the steam trap manufacturer by telephone. Manufacturers are experienced in sizing traps and will happily offer the right solution in response to a telephone enquiry, especially if there is the prospect of a sale around the corner.

Why is it that we seem to have so many newbies asking questions out of their field of expertise ?

Electricals asking mechanical questions, structurals asking power questions and on and on....

Is it because they have misrepresented themselves, or is a more sinister power at work here ?

I submit to you that modern management could not care less about the quality of the work...... they only want to have someone responsible.....someone to blame. They want to be able to say "Well. I assigned an engineer to that task".

The cause of this cancer on the body of engineering is the MBA....

An MBA, or "Certified Project Manager" or "Project Management Professional" is one interested in only the monitoring of the design process,.... never the results.

Bolang's posting above is only the latest manifestation of this disease....

I hope and pray that someday this madness will stop and the title "MBA" will someday be one of scorn and ridicule.

I hope that "MBA" will be a perjorative...

GA from me!

Armstrong International and Spence Engineering (both sell steam traps) They have very detailed information on steam traps, including sizing, troubleshooting and comparisons, Always had a wealth of information.

Also depends on the efficiency, Steam does not transfer its energy until it condenses. 100 pounds of stream that is condensed is a 100 pounds of water.

Armstrong had great with sizing programs. Of course you do have to supply some information, and if you have a heat exchange sized, it should give the condensate amount for the application............ if not, it still may have enough information to figure it out.

This is an example of some hard knocks that lead to practical application

It totally depends on where in the steam reticulation system this device is placed and the quality of the lagging enroute.

thnx for your responses fella, i just contacted armstrong vendor in my neighbourhood. they told me to use 10 - 20 % of total steam went through the pipe line to calculate the amount of condensate since it's very difficult to calculate the exact amount

to MJCronin : YES I AM A VICTIM of non ideal system, we don't live in an utopia palls. just doing my job here

case close, THANK YOU...help me for my other post