steam trv's

Brad White

As John stated, TRV's are supply side, traps on return.

TRV's say to the steam, "Come on in, we need you, it's time to start work."

Traps say, "You cannot leave yet, you still have work to do."

I feel a children's bedtime story coming on, guaranteed to put them to sleep...

Timco

Do trv's take the place of the trap on 2-pipe steam, or do you need both?

Thanks, Tim

John_102

Both

Tim -

I'm sure you'll get better answers than mine, but TRV's are supply-side (in place of manual valves), traps are on condensate side.

By the way, your shots of the apartment complex were remarkable. Makes me a little less freaked by the sorry state of my boiler (but I'm still replacing it).

Peace.

Timco

So do the heads / remote portions of the trv's go bad, or is it the valve body itself that fails? Even with the trvs in all units, all windows in the complex are open.

Tim

Steamhead (in transit)

Could be either

both parts can fail, but I'd bet on the heads/remotes.

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John_102

follow up to Tim's question

What is typical life expectancy of TRV components? Or are there just too many variables? I know that trap inserts seem to have a life span of somewhere between 2 and 90 years, ingnoring unusual circumstances.

Unknown

If the windows are open...

I'll bet the TRVs are closed tight and the steam in the returns is filling the radiators through the traps.

Been there. Read about it here...

Blowing by steam traps

Noel