The Advantages of Thermostatic Steam Traps

The Advantages of the Thermostatic Steam Traps

There are two basic designs for the thermostatic steam trap, a bimetallic and a balanced pressure design. Both designs use the difference in temperature between live steam and condensate or air to control the release of condensate and air from the steam line

In an thermostatic bimetallic trap it is common that an oil filled element expands when heated to close a valve against a seat. It may be possible to adjust the discharge temperature of the trap - often between 60^oC and 100^oC.

This makes the thermostatic trap suited to get rid of large quantities of air and cold condensate at the start-up condition. On the other hand the thermostatic trap will have problems to adapt to the variations common in modulating heat exchangers.

Followings are the advantages of the thermostatic steam traps

• intermittent operation
• fair energy conservation
• fair resistance to wear
• good corrosion resistance
• poor resistance to hydraulic shocks (good for bimetal traps)
• do not vent air and CO₂ at steam temperature
• good ability to vent air at very low pressure
• excellent ability to handle start up air loads
• excellent operation against back pressure
• good resistance to damage from freezing
• good ability to purge system
• excellent performance on very light loads
• delayed responsiveness to slugs of condensate
• fair ability to handle dirt
• small comparative physical size
• poor ability to handle flash steam
• open or closed at mechanical failure depending of the construction