Ask The Brewmasters

Hi All,

We have run into an issue on our kettle where we are getting steam flowing backwards through some of our condensate lines. Kettle has 3 steam Jackets( 1 bottom, 2 side). I am guessing steam from the bottom jacket is flowing up through the side jackets backwards, essentially locking itself.

The 3 out ports of the steam jackets connect into 1 common condensate line that runs vertical to a steam trap. Is it common to put check valves in steam lines to prevent this back flow? We have limited space behind the kettle, trying to find an alternative solution than piping in individual steam traps for each steam jacket. Thank you for your insight.

Hi Stewart,

Yes you should have a check valve just after the steam trap (downstream of it).  That helps reduce any back pressure in the condensate line that the trap has to push past as well.  You may have a stuck or failed steam trap, you can buy a cheap bearing stethoscope and listen to the steam trap, when your jackets are open on the tank you should be able to hear the steam trap clicking open and close and never hear just a solid flow of steam through it.  You can always open the top of the steam trap and check the bucket/seat on it to make sure everything is moving smoothly.  Lots of good web pages on how to maintain and test your steam traps.

You could also have the steam trap being stuck open and a nearby tank that has a bad steam trap is pushing steam back up into this manifold, I've seen that happen before and is another good reason to have check valves downstream of your steam traps.    

On a side note that isn't going to help your plumbing bill, I would put a steam trap and check valve coming off of every jacket instead of how you have it piped now.  Your current setup could potentially let the upper jacket condensate backflood down into the lower jackets if the steam trap is slow or sticking, and even if the trap is working perfectly you might be losing some steam efficiency.   However, if this setup isn't new and has been working for you, just fix your steam trap issue and don't waste the money upgrading it!

Good luck   

Hi All,

We have run into an issue on our kettle where we are getting steam flowing backwards through some of our condensate lines. Kettle has 3 steam Jackets( 1 bottom, 2 side). I am guessing steam from the bottom jacket is flowing up through the side jackets backwards, essentially locking itself.

The 3 out ports of the steam jackets connect into 1 common condensate line that runs vertical to a steam trap. Is it common to put check valves in steam lines to prevent this back flow? We have limited space behind the kettle, trying to find an alternative solution than piping in individual steam traps for each steam jacket. Thank you for your insight.

Hi Stewart,

Your setup piqued my interest in using one steam trap for multiple condensate lines.  I did find that your setup is not uncommon which was new to me, but it can still have issues.  I found a good link that explains why a single trap might not always be best, about halfway down on this web page where it talks about group steam traps.   They also have an example where they have one steam trap with check valves at each condensate line like you are thinking about.   The link is:

https://www.spiraxsarco.com/learn-about-steam/steam-traps-and-steam-trapping/considerations-for-selecting-steam-traps?sc_lang=en-GB

Hi Stewart,

Yes you should have a check valve just after the steam trap (downstream of it).  That helps reduce any back pressure in the condensate line that the trap has to push past as well.  You may have a stuck or failed steam trap, you can buy a cheap bearing stethoscope and listen to the steam trap, when your jackets are open on the tank you should be able to hear the steam trap clicking open and close and never hear just a solid flow of steam through it.  You can always open the top of the steam trap and check the bucket/seat on it to make sure everything is moving smoothly.  Lots of good web pages on how to maintain and test your steam traps.

You could also have the steam trap being stuck open and a nearby tank that has a bad steam trap is pushing steam back up into this manifold, I've seen that happen before and is another good reason to have check valves downstream of your steam traps.    

On a side note that isn't going to help your plumbing bill, I would put a steam trap and check valve coming off of every jacket instead of how you have it piped now.  Your current setup could potentially let the upper jacket condensate backflood down into the lower jackets if the steam trap is slow or sticking, and even if the trap is working perfectly you might be losing some steam efficiency.   However, if this setup isn't new and has been working for you, just fix your steam trap issue and don't waste the money upgrading it!

Good luck   

Hi All,

We have run into an issue on our kettle where we are getting steam flowing backwards through some of our condensate lines. Kettle has 3 steam Jackets( 1 bottom, 2 side). I am guessing steam from the bottom jacket is flowing up through the side jackets backwards, essentially locking itself.

The 3 out ports of the steam jackets connect into 1 common condensate line that runs vertical to a steam trap. Is it common to put check valves in steam lines to prevent this back flow? We have limited space behind the kettle, trying to find an alternative solution than piping in individual steam traps for each steam jacket. Thank you for your insight.

Hi Curtis,

Thanks for the link. Very informative.  This brew set-up is coming up on 5 years old and have started noticing decreased performance over the last 18 months. Space is an issue, so hopefully I can find a suitable solution.

Hi Stewart,

Your setup piqued my interest in using one steam trap for multiple condensate lines.  I did find that your setup is not uncommon which was new to me, but it can still have issues.  I found a good link that explains why a single trap might not always be best, about halfway down on this web page where it talks about group steam traps.   They also have an example where they have one steam trap with check valves at each condensate line like you are thinking about.   The link is:

https://www.spiraxsarco.com/learn-about-steam/steam-traps-and-steam-trapping/considerations-for-selecting-steam-traps?sc_lang=en-GB

Hi Stewart,

Yes you should have a check valve just after the steam trap (downstream of it).  That helps reduce any back pressure in the condensate line that the trap has to push past as well.  You may have a stuck or failed steam trap, you can buy a cheap bearing stethoscope and listen to the steam trap, when your jackets are open on the tank you should be able to hear the steam trap clicking open and close and never hear just a solid flow of steam through it.  You can always open the top of the steam trap and check the bucket/seat on it to make sure everything is moving smoothly.  Lots of good web pages on how to maintain and test your steam traps.

You could also have the steam trap being stuck open and a nearby tank that has a bad steam trap is pushing steam back up into this manifold, I've seen that happen before and is another good reason to have check valves downstream of your steam traps.    

On a side note that isn't going to help your plumbing bill, I would put a steam trap and check valve coming off of every jacket instead of how you have it piped now.  Your current setup could potentially let the upper jacket condensate backflood down into the lower jackets if the steam trap is slow or sticking, and even if the trap is working perfectly you might be losing some steam efficiency.   However, if this setup isn't new and has been working for you, just fix your steam trap issue and don't waste the money upgrading it!

Good luck   

Hi All,

We have run into an issue on our kettle where we are getting steam flowing backwards through some of our condensate lines. Kettle has 3 steam Jackets( 1 bottom, 2 side). I am guessing steam from the bottom jacket is flowing up through the side jackets backwards, essentially locking itself.

The 3 out ports of the steam jackets connect into 1 common condensate line that runs vertical to a steam trap. Is it common to put check valves in steam lines to prevent this back flow? We have limited space behind the kettle, trying to find an alternative solution than piping in individual steam traps for each steam jacket. Thank you for your insight.

Hi Stewart,

Yes you should have a check valve just after the steam trap (downstream of it).  That helps reduce any back pressure in the condensate line that the trap has to push past as well.  You may have a stuck or failed steam trap, you can buy a cheap bearing stethoscope and listen to the steam trap, when your jackets are open on the tank you should be able to hear the steam trap clicking open and close and never hear just a solid flow of steam through it.  You can always open the top of the steam trap and check the bucket/seat on it to make sure everything is moving smoothly.  Lots of good web pages on how to maintain and test your steam traps.

You could also have the steam trap being stuck open and a nearby tank that has a bad steam trap is pushing steam back up into this manifold, I've seen that happen before and is another good reason to have check valves downstream of your steam traps.    

On a side note that isn't going to help your plumbing bill, I would put a steam trap and check valve coming off of every jacket instead of how you have it piped now.  Your current setup could potentially let the upper jacket condensate backflood down into the lower jackets if the steam trap is slow or sticking, and even if the trap is working perfectly you might be losing some steam efficiency.   However, if this setup isn't new and has been working for you, just fix your steam trap issue and don't waste the money upgrading it!

Good luck   

Hi All,

We have run into an issue on our kettle where we are getting steam flowing backwards through some of our condensate lines. Kettle has 3 steam Jackets( 1 bottom, 2 side). I am guessing steam from the bottom jacket is flowing up through the side jackets backwards, essentially locking itself.

The 3 out ports of the steam jackets connect into 1 common condensate line that runs vertical to a steam trap. Is it common to put check valves in steam lines to prevent this back flow? We have limited space behind the kettle, trying to find an alternative solution than piping in individual steam traps for each steam jacket. Thank you for your insight.

Hi Stewart,

Yes you should have a check valve just after the steam trap (downstream of it).  That helps reduce any back pressure in the condensate line that the trap has to push past as well.  You may have a stuck or failed steam trap, you can buy a cheap bearing stethoscope and listen to the steam trap, when your jackets are open on the tank you should be able to hear the steam trap clicking open and close and never hear just a solid flow of steam through it.  You can always open the top of the steam trap and check the bucket/seat on it to make sure everything is moving smoothly.  Lots of good web pages on how to maintain and test your steam traps.

You could also have the steam trap being stuck open and a nearby tank that has a bad steam trap is pushing steam back up into this manifold, I've seen that happen before and is another good reason to have check valves downstream of your steam traps.    

On a side note that isn't going to help your plumbing bill, I would put a steam trap and check valve coming off of every jacket instead of how you have it piped now.  Your current setup could potentially let the upper jacket condensate backflood down into the lower jackets if the steam trap is slow or sticking, and even if the trap is working perfectly you might be losing some steam efficiency.   However, if this setup isn't new and has been working for you, just fix your steam trap issue and don't waste the money upgrading it!

Good luck   

Hi All,

We have run into an issue on our kettle where we are getting steam flowing backwards through some of our condensate lines. Kettle has 3 steam Jackets( 1 bottom, 2 side). I am guessing steam from the bottom jacket is flowing up through the side jackets backwards, essentially locking itself.

The 3 out ports of the steam jackets connect into 1 common condensate line that runs vertical to a steam trap. Is it common to put check valves in steam lines to prevent this back flow? We have limited space behind the kettle, trying to find an alternative solution than piping in individual steam traps for each steam jacket. Thank you for your insight.

Hi All,

We have run into an issue on our kettle where we are getting steam flowing backwards through some of our condensate lines. Kettle has 3 steam Jackets( 1 bottom, 2 side). I am guessing steam from the bottom jacket is flowing up through the side jackets backwards, essentially locking itself.

The 3 out ports of the steam jackets connect into 1 common condensate line that runs vertical to a steam trap. Is it common to put check valves in steam lines to prevent this back flow? We have limited space behind the kettle, trying to find an alternative solution than piping in individual steam traps for each steam jacket. Thank you for your insight.

Hi All,

We have run into an issue on our kettle where we are getting steam flowing backwards through some of our condensate lines. Kettle has 3 steam Jackets( 1 bottom, 2 side). I am guessing steam from the bottom jacket is flowing up through the side jackets backwards, essentially locking itself.

The 3 out ports of the steam jackets connect into 1 common condensate line that runs vertical to a steam trap. Is it common to put check valves in steam lines to prevent this back flow? We have limited space behind the kettle, trying to find an alternative solution than piping in individual steam traps for each steam jacket. Thank you for your insight.

Hi All,

We have run into an issue on our kettle where we are getting steam flowing backwards through some of our condensate lines. Kettle has 3 steam Jackets( 1 bottom, 2 side). I am guessing steam from the bottom jacket is flowing up through the side jackets backwards, essentially locking itself.

The 3 out ports of the steam jackets connect into 1 common condensate line that runs vertical to a steam trap. Is it common to put check valves in steam lines to prevent this back flow? We have limited space behind the kettle, trying to find an alternative solution than piping in individual steam traps for each steam jacket. Thank you for your insight.