Failure is not an option for 24-hour production
In order to meet consumer demand, this family-owned mill has a 24-hour manufacturing schedule which makes process reliability a top priority.
With steam integral to production, given its use throughout the 100-acre site to cook grain as well as for heating and cleaning applications, efficient and effective steam trapping is key. The mechanical inverted bucket steam traps originally in place regularly failed causing the loss of valuable live steam. Damaged traps also had an implication on maintenance time, with each needing to be identified and then either repaired or replaced.
Following a detailed two-week site survey, Thermal Energy International advised installing low maintenance, high efficiency GEM™ steam trap technology. Unlike mechanical steam traps, which discharge condensate by opening and closing, the GEM™ Trap has no moving parts.
GEM™ Traps use an orifice and multi-staged throat design to manage variable condensate flow rates. With no mechanical components to break or fail under the aggressive environment, maintenance time is reduced and failed traps are no longer a problem.
Each trap is sized based on the individual application which prevents live steam loss – a major problem associated with open-failed mechanical traps. This results in a lower fuel usage saving energy and money.
GEM™ Traps are engineered to be easily serviceable and come with a 10-year performance guarantee. This minimises the time and resources required to monitor and maintain a system, reducing a location’s maintenance bill.
Unfortunately, failure and as a result wasted energy, are synonymous with mechanical steam traps. However, since installing GEM™ we’re just not coming up against that challenge anymore. They’ve been in place over 10 years and still operate very well with minimal maintenance.
- Engineering management team
