Steam traps are important in maintaining and operating efficiency of a steam system. A malfunctioning steam trap can bring about a number of problems, including the following:-The trap may be blocked by debris such as pipe scale, or feed-water chemicals that have been carried over from the boiler entrained within the steam itself. Alternatively, the trap mechanism may have failed and the check valve that controls the flow of condensate through the trap could be closed on the seating surface of the orifice. There are two major effects caused as a result of a trap allowing steam to leak, or blow, through the orifice of the trap. The first effect is in many ways the most serious and is in fact the impact upon the process temperature and hence the efficiency. As steam leaks away, the pressure within the heat exchanger tubes close to the condensate outlet falls. Quite often this will cause a temperature differential across the heating surface, but in all cases there is an associated drop in output.

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