Posted by Joe Lambert on August 13, 2001 at 05:51:43:
In Reply to: Condensate Draining posted by Teodor on August 12, 2001 at 05:47:37:
This is a common problem and the freezing will only occur if you shut the steam line down. There are two products on the market that you can use that will automatically drain the line at the lowered steam trap location. One works on pressure and one works on temperature.
A company called Gestra makes a device (AK-45) that opens when the pressure gets lower than about 35 psig. If you normal steam pressure is higher than this, the valve basically opens up when the steam line is down. This is installed at the low point on the steam side of the drip station.
The other device, made by Sarco, is called a Thermoton No. 8, this device is preset at the factory to discharge when the internal element reaches 40 Deg. F. This one should be installed on the condensate side of the steam trap station at the low point.
In either case, I do not recommend steam tracing of these lines because there is only a freeze problem when the steam line is down, and in this case your tracing will be down, too. You can electrically trace but the above products will be much less expensive to buy, install, and run. Plus its more elegant.
If you need more information on these, send me an e-mail.