Steam Systems

Ensure safe and reliable system performance while reducing steam usage, leaks and energy costs.

The steam generated by a boiler, or provided by a district or campus energy distribution system must be conveyed through pipework to the point where its heat energy is required.

Steam at high pressure occupies a lower volume than at atmospheric pressure. The higher the pressure, the smaller the bore of pipework required for distribution of a given mass of steam. When steam condenses, its volume is dramatically reduced, which results in a pressure reduction that enables the flow of steam through the pipes.

Advanced steam trap performance monitoring solutions for optimizing condensate system efficiency.

Steam traps are used to release condensate from the pipework while preventing the steam from escaping from the system. Poor steam trap performance can cause significant energy loss. When a steam trap fails open, steam is not completely consumed and is blown directly into the condensate return system. It can also raise the pressure in the condensate system, inhibiting the discharge of other traps, causing system-wide inefficiencies. If it fails closed, the system will flood, causing a loss of heat transfer. Steam trap failures also increase the potential for water hammer that may lead to equipment damage and downtime.

Online steam trap health monitoring solutions.

Periodic manual inspections of steam traps can result in weeks or months of undetected failures and leaks. Manual methods for acoustic listening are imprecise and expensive. With unparalleled temperature and ultrasonic measurement, the Rosemount™ 708 Wireless Acoustic Transmitter with its specialized Steam Trap Monitoring software monitors and identifies trap health and failures in real-time.

Engineered with WirelessHART technology, the Rosemount 708 accurately communicates your acoustic level, temperature, and device data as well as event status and leak detection. The Steam Trap Health Monitoring software offers cost-effective installation, provides easy integration with host systems and data historians and allows enhanced insight into steam trap conditions, energy usage and emissions.

Energy costs are reduced by minimizing steam blow through and/or blocked flow
Energy savings helps to reduce carbon emissions and compliance
Maintenance costs are reduced by not having to make rounds to evaluate traps or troubleshooting steam systems
Improved personnel safety by reducing manual rounds in high risk areas
Improved productivity by eliminating preventative maintenance (PM) activities on steam traps
Reduced mechanical/asset failures by minimizing water hammering

Leaking steam valves increase personnel safety risks, energy usage and your carbon footprint.

In most any steam system, you can find steam leaking through the stem packing of gate and globe isolation valves, wasting valuable heat energy and creating personnel safety risks.

Emerson's Vanessa™ was the industry's first triple offset valve (TOV). Its unique, non-rubbing design was created to provide bidirectional, zero leakage performance for positive isolation using a technology not previously available with other valves.

Our digital zone valve control solutions improve heating distribution while increaseing energy efficiency.

Imagine if your home only had one heating zone, and to turn the heat on in your bedroom you had to walk to the boiler and manually open a valve. Unfortunately, facility staff in many older commercial buildings and campuses with high pressure steam systems must still manually adjust zone valves to distribute heat where needed.

Control Southern can design and implement user-friendly digital steam control solutions to tackle your most challenging two-pipe steam heating applications utilizing Emerson’s industrial quality valve, actuator, instrumentation and controls technologies.

Our HVAC application experts and Lifecycle Services engineers consult with you to determine all the nuances and details that should be considered when designing your digital steam control solution. Everything from valve, instrumentation and steam trap sizing and selection, to pipe sizing, layout, control strategy and project management requirements are reviewed to ensure success.