3 interrelated questions about superheated steam piping:

1)  Good piping practice for saturated steam is to connect the branches on top of the headers. However, considering that in superheated steam lines there is not condensate, is this also a recommended practice or connections can be done at sides or bottom?

2) Is is necessary to install steam traps in superheated steam lines?

3) Can vertical loops be installed in a main superheated steam line?


I understand that condensate can be formed in a superheated steam line during startup, but it will be re-vaporized once superheated vapor starts flowing, so it may be that this will take care of the condensate problem in the above 3 cases.

If your line is always going to be superheated and will never ever be anything but superheated, and will be well, no, let's say perfectly insulated, then you have no worries.

But I don't know how you will ever get it started up.

While you are right about the condensate re-evaporating, it can and most likely will be be entrained by the flow and transported downstream before it evaporates and do significant damage.

Design your piping correctly and you won't have to worry about it.

Since insulation is not 100% efficient, the steam will lose superheat over time & distance.  You do not mention how much superheat is available at the start & the length of the distribution run.

In general, follow steam best practices and take off from the top of the pipe.  Install drip pockets at suitable locations - changes in direction, particularly vertical up & down (takeoffs), end of mains, and periodically in long horizontal runs.

The steam traps should be sized for the running load, not the warm-up load.  As stated in another reply, the start-up should be supervised and the cold condensate drained manually via the mud leg vales.

The steam traps can either be thermodynamic or bimetallic thermostatic, both of which will work on SH mains.

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