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How to Monitor Inaccessible Steam Traps?

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Big-Al_2
Big-Al_2 Member Posts: 263
in Strictly Steam
Where I work, we use a lot of process steam.  We are about to do another round of ultrasonic steam trap testing.  We have about a hundred traps, and a few of them are really hard to get to . . . like the ones inside our paint ovens or ones in confined space areas.  Is there a decent way to monitor those remotely, like putting a thermocouple or a sight glass in the conensate line . . . or permanently installing an ultrasonic transducer on them wired to the outside world?



Any suggestions would be appreciated.



Al

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  • gerry gill
    gerry gill Member Posts: 3,078
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    maybe

    a thermal camera?
    gwgillplumbingandheating.com
    Serving Cleveland's eastern suburbs from Cleveland Heights down to Cuyahoga Falls.

  • MikeyB
    MikeyB Member Posts: 696
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    Traps

    If you have access to the condensate lines can you cut in a ball valve and a test tee downstream of the traps? we have about 90+ traps in our building and the ones we could  not change or get access to we installed test tees on their condensate lines.But I do like Gerry's idea better :)
  • Big-Al_2
    Big-Al_2 Member Posts: 263
    edited January 2011
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    Spiratec

    Thanks!  I did find a line of steam trap monitors from Spirax/Sarco.  They have sensors with long cables that screw into traps that detect steam leaks and waterlogging, and a number of monitoring devices, including handheld units, and simple little wall mounted boxes with indicator LEDs.  It looks like some of the more sophisticated monitors could even be hooked into building management or SCADA systems. 





    Anybody have experience with these?
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