Posted by Tony Conner on October 20, 2001 at 06:25:19:
In Reply to: Re: water in steam posted by Wes on October 19, 2001 at 22:11:42:
I think uninsulated sections of steam line will just give you more load (which will be just waste, in this case). The temperature difference between the steam in the piping and the air surrounding the outside of the pipe will determine the heat loss. If you have bare lines outside, the delta-T can be VERY large, and the volume of condensate formed could easily be more than the line traps were ever designed to handle. You'll have a lot of condensate sloshing around in your steam lines.
Things like TDS running way high in boilers will cause carryover. From the way you're describing this plant, I'd be surprised if you DIDN'T have carryover. But a big source of the water in your steam line will be the bare sections of pipe, especially if they run outside.
If you can get your hands on a copy of a video by Spirax Sarco, it shows the steam space of an operating boiler. They deliberately do several things (TDS high, operating the boiler at lower than design pressure, off/on feedwater control, etc.) and you can SEE the fog form in the steam space, and disappear out of the steam lead. It's amazing to watch.