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January 2011

January 2011

Top Story

DOE Recommends Continuous Monitoring of Steam Traps

According to the Department of Energy, it is not uncommon for up to 25-50% of steam traps to be failed in a facility without a regular steam trap maintenance program. For facilities struggling to reduce costs or striving to reduce energy waste…More

WPT Saves Energy at Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce

DOE Recommends Continuous Monitoring of Steam Traps

According to the Department of Energy, it is not uncommon for up to 25-50% of steam traps to be failed in a facility without a regular steam trap maintenance program. For facilities struggling to reduce costs or striving to reduce energy waste, steam trap monitoring and repair should be one of the first measures adopted. Even a small steam trap can lose thousands of dollars of energy each year if the failure goes unaddressed.

Consider this example for a single trap:

• Pressure: 100 psig

• Steam cost: $15/1,000 pounds

• Steam trap orifice: ¼”

• Operations: 365 days per year

• Lost steam per year per trap: 1.5 million pounds

• Value of lost steam: $22,832 per year

If a steam system has not been maintained, there could be dozens of traps losing steam and money continuously. However, even in facilities that proactively test their systems annually, failed traps are discovered after they have already lost 6-months of steam on average. Using the above example, if a 100-trap system had a 15% failure rate per year—typical for well-maintained systems according to the DOE—approximately $171,240 of steam would be lost before the next annual inspection identified the failed traps.

When safety, productivity and system stability are considered along with the value of steam, it makes sense that the DOE would recommend continuous monitoring of steam traps in larger, complex systems. With continuous monitoring, maintenance crews can respond quickly to failed traps when the failure occurs, thus minimizing steam loss, improving safety and reducing damage to the system. More from the DOE The WSTM

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WPT Saves Energy at Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce

USGBC Showcases WPT at Chamber of Commerce Site Visit

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce conducted an energy retrofit using the Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat, which cost less than 40% of conventional approaches, and incurred virtually no disruption to building occupants. The work was part of an overall project which included compressor and lighting retrofits. The program saved over 30% in energy costs, or about 110,000 kWh.

“The Wireless Pneumatic Thermostat helped us to upgrade our old pneumatic controls to modern digital controls in days rather than months,” said Richard Hernandez, Facility manager of the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce. “We now save more energy, and our tenants are more comfortable.”

Due to the potential impact the WPT has on the retrofit market, the Chamber and Cypress Envirosystems partnered with the LA Chapter of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) to showcase the installation during a site visit for USGBC members. “Non-invasive retrofit technologies have an enormous potential to help reduce energy usage at existing buildings” said Daniele Aquino Horton, Board Member and Co-Chair of the Existing Buildings Committee of the USGBC LA Chapter. “They enable upgrades of buildings which would otherwise be cost-prohibitive.”

The 63,000 sq-ft building, constructed in 1994 in downtown Los Angeles, had originally used inefficient pneumatic heating and air conditioning control systems which wasted energy and required substantial maintenance labor. Retrofitting the building with modern digital controls would typically incur a very high cost and involve significant disruption to occupants, including cutting open walls and ceilings, and running wires and replacing equipment. The WPT is much less expensive to deploy, is considerably faster to install and allows work to continue normally during installation. More

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