Bucket trap question

Dennis Kunkle

In our museum, I rebuilt many traps. I'm now suspicious of my first bucket trap. It is circa 1958. A Hoffman 602B. Out of the blue, it is constantly rattling. It sees 24/7/365 day use. Do I just get the rebuild kit and do it? Will I find something other than those worn parts being the problem? I also feel that the pipes coming into condensate tank are unusually hot, but there is no live steam leaving the tank vent.

Sailah

Any chance it lost its prime? There should be a hex fitting on the cover you can unscrew and fill it full of water. If it repeats then I'd rebuild it. A rebuild kit is pretty simple, new orifice, lever mechanism with plug and a new gasket. The bucket might have also fallen off its lever which would account for the sudden noise. I've seen them here where the lever literally wears a hole in itself and falls off. Especially with heavy use.

If it's truly running 24/7/365 I'd fix in place. If it's being used in a heating application I'd replace with an inline F&T.

I don't list a cross reference for the hoffman but I do have some parts for Trane 602 that I would be happy to give you if they are the same. I don't think I've sold any in a long time so they aren't doing me any good. All our current buckets are copied off the ubiquitous armstrong 800 series buckets.