Another effective technique, if the system includes a bleed-off valve upstream, is to reduce theloadby draining the condensate. If the trap's valve is worn, the tester should be able to see or hearsteam leaking through. These two methods allow the tester to change the condensate load to thetrap and to observe any effects on performance. If the trap does not respond as it should, it mayhave failed and should be replaced. It is becoming easier to determine what is happening inside the inverted bucket steam trap.
Newlyavailable products can sense certain conditions under the bucket.
They can determine whether thetrap is closed or blowing through. Such units will also pinpoint a leaking trap faster than othertesting methods. One of the instruments requires reading a series of colored lights, while another is totallyautomatic and electronically collects and reports data from one to 200 traps at a time. Indoor, outdoor and intrinsically safe models are available. Each product uses a special sensing probeinserted into the bottom of the inverted bucket steam trap.