Inverted Bucket Traps

Bucket Steam traps are one of the oldest and most reliably designed mechanical steam traps. Bucket traps rely on a liquid seal and an inverted bucket that lifts and falls inside the trap to keep steam in and remove condensate and non condensable gases. Bucket traps preform best under high constant steam pressure. They are located in many older industrial steam systems. They have advantages and disadvantages depending on the steam systems use. They are not ideal in systems of low pressure especially low pressure systems that are shut down often. Most Bucket trap failures during a steam trap survey are not the trap itself its the result of the wrong application or loss of seal in the trap. When the seal is lost these traps need to be primed or they blow steam into the condensate system. Most facilities do not have the ability let alone manpower to prime these traps. We also see a lot of these traps in converted high to low pressure systems where a low pressure vacuum causes loss of the seal as well. Bottom line is Bucket traps are great traps if they are used properly and perform best under constant high pressure applications.