Abstract
"Common knowledge rules that maintenance is the key to long-lasting machinery performance. Yet steam traps are often left to their own devices, to fail or succeed alone. And without steam trap programs, plants are certain to experience a high failure rate.
An oil refinery in Texas was continuously experiencing a high failure rate on its 4,790-steam trap system. Finally, the steam losses were judged to be too high, and plant management called on Spirax Sarco Inc. (SSI) to reduce costs.
The SSI team noticed symptoms of subpar efficiency within the steam system. Steam traps were improperly installed, water hammer problems were evident and the condensate recovery system was damaged."
Kacsur, D. (2009). A Texas Refinery Success Story. Energy Systems Laboratory. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /149025.