Three big reasons to invest in venturi steam traps

A large number of facilities in the U.S, including hospitals, manufacturing plants, and even universities, have a boiler system in place that produces steam for purposes such as temperature control or for directly powering various equipment. One of the vital parts of a steam piping system is a steam trap, which is a valve responsible for discharging condensate, air, and other gases from the steam system without letting live steam escape from it.

If you have a steam system in place, it is most likely that you may be using mechanical steam traps (traditional or float & thermostatic) and overlooking a significant opportunity in your facility. There are many downsides to using mechanical steam traps. First of all, there are moving parts in these steam traps, such as floats, levers, and discs, which often have a high rate of failure, and thus lead to frequent breakdowns of the entire system. These breakdowns often appear as a blockage or leakage, resulting in energy loss and unscheduled time and effort on the part of your workforce to diagnose and change the faulty moving parts, or the whole steam trap.

Although the cost of replacing a single mechanical steam trap may not appear to be significant, a facility containing hundreds of these traps is going to suffer heavily from the cumulative effect of the ongoing repair and maintenance and replacement costs, as well as the overhead, labor, and loss of energy associated with the whole process.

The Solution?

The solution to all this hassle is quite simple — Switch to using venturi steam traps instead.

Now, one may ask, how can switching to venturi steam traps simply resolve all these issues? The answer to that is the absence of moving parts in venturi steam traps, so the chances of these traps failing mechanically is literally zero.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the top three reasons why you should invest in venturi steam traps:

1. Improved reliability for your steam system

Mechanical-type steam traps are easily prone to failure due to the presence of moving mechanical parts that often get stuck in either open or closed positions. When they are failed open, they result in the constant loss of live steam from the system; when they are failed closed, they can result in producing a water hammer effect that can often end in a catastrophe. In addition, the slowly rising condensate back pressures can even cause your conventional electric condensate pump to self-destruct. Frequent failures in steam traps can also reduce the overall production capacity of your steam system. The best way to counter all these issues is to replace the mechanical steam traps in your plant with venturi-type steam traps. Since venturi steam traps have no moving, the chances of them failing are significantly low, which means that you won’t have to experience all the aforementioned issues that come with failing steam traps. This significantly improves the overall reliability of your steam system.

2. Reduced Costs & Increased Profits

Even a single failed open steam trap in your facility can result in a series of losses. For instance, a failed open steam trap of 1/8 inch orifice size on a 150-pound-per-square-inch gauge (psig) steam line can result in an estimated steam loss of 75.8 pounds per hour (lb/hr). If we take the average value of steam as $10 per thousand pounds, it can result in an annual loss of $6,640 worth of live steam.

Annual Loss = 75.8 lb/hr x 8,760 hr/yr x $10.00/1,000 lb = $6,640

And that is just the cost of loss associated with a single steam trap!

According to estimates by the U.S Department of Energy, between 15% to 30% of the installed steam traps tend to fail in steam systems that have not been maintained for 3 to 5 years. So imagine if a facility has 500 steam traps, out of which 15 percent have failed, i.e., 75 steam traps, it will result in an annual loss of about $500,000 worth of live steam. Moreover, when you factor in the costs of frequently replacing mechanical steam traps as well as the losses associated with them, they tend to be even more expensive. Since venturi steam traps have no moving parts, they are very less likely to fail and therefore result in much bigger financial savings and energy efficiency. On average, using venturi steam traps would incur an annual cost that is 5 times less than using mechanical steam traps. Although every situation and the facility would slightly differ in the results, it has been estimated that annual savings in terms of replacement costs alone are nearly $33,000. And after 5 years, you would have achieved savings of nearly $165,000! When you factor in the time value of money, your savings would go even higher than the results we’ve presented.

In general, most of the customers gain project paybacks within 12 months or, in some cases, 6 months. These savings are repeated annually because the venturi steam traps provide a permanent solution with negligible maintenance.

3. Reduced Maintenance

There are two types of venturi steam traps — ones with built-in strainers and the others with no strainers. An integrated bottom strainer in venturi steam traps helps to trap particles or contaminants before they reach the Venturi nozzle, The body of these steam traps does not have to be removed from the line for maintenance purposes. Access to the venturi insert and strainer is via the top and bottom caps. Some venturi steam traps also come with an integrated blowdown valve for periodic cleaning of the filter. For venturi steam traps starting with size 1”, they have no integrated strainers and require little to no maintenance. Hence, with the efficiencies that you gain from the use of this technology, you will no longer need maintenance people devoted to fixing and replacing traditional steam traps. Instead, you can put your workforce to better use in higher-value businesses.

At SMART Valves Inc., we manufacture the most reliable and efficient venturi-type steam traps on the market. We prefer to call our steam traps “The SMART Steam Traps” as they are designed and manufactured according to the highest industry standards. With our steam traps, you can get better energy efficiency, financial savings, and improved reliability of your steam system.

In addition, we are providing a 90 Day Risk-Free Trial to allow you to verify the performance of our products in your steam system absolutely free. If you are based in North America, the EU, Thailand, Malaysia, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, then you can get a . where you will get 10 units to test at your site for 90 days to verify their performance in your steam system.