Friday, May 6, 2016

Condensation Traps

The following photo series shows condensation traps (a/k/a drum drips) in various states of condition. Drum drips should have appropriate signs installed.  A map of all drum drips in a given structure should be produced and made available.


The drum drip assembly below appears to have suffered catastrophic failure due to hoop stress fracture failure as a result of internal ice impingement (freeze up).


A close up:



Below, a typical canopy installation, outside. It is noted that the majority of the system piping appears to be in galvanized piping, the drum drip assembly appears to be piped in black iron.  It is hypothesized that the drum drip assembly previously failed and was repaired/replaced in black iron piping.  No data supports this hypothesis.


The piping photographed below appears to be missing its drum drip assembly.  The assembly may have mechanically separated and departed its intended location.  The likely failure mode may be  a form of stress fracture due to high loads imparted by ice impingement. 


It is further hypothesized that the debris photographed below is the remains of the previously "missing" drum drip assembly.


The photograph below was taken with the detached drum drip assembly (debris) raised up and "matched" to the dry pipe fire sprinkler system to see if the debris might be the "missing" drum drip assembly.


This (below) partially redacted photograph shows a drum drip assembly with electrical heat trace tape. The assembly is located within a commercial food freezer.


The photograph below shows a drum drip assembly in a parking garage.  Signage is missing, so are both valves.  The red arrows point to an unrelated structure defect.  There is also a bird in the scene.


The photo below shows an obstructed access hatch to a drum drip mounted inside a wall. The access panel is not accessible, as a storage shelf has been inadvertently installed over the access panel, for reasons unknown to this inspector.


The photograph below shows a possible design/installation error.  The error results in lack of sufficient access to drain the drum drip.  With the panel open, you can see the drum drip is missing its handle, the handle cannot be installed due to mechanical interference of the access panel and wall.


Below, a drum drip installed in an ice rink, a portable drain is also shown.

A close up, below.  The drum drip's plug is shown, as well as the portable drain. Note, the sign (auxiliary drain).


The next drum drip appears to be constructed from dissimilar metals (black iron and galvanized pipe). It lacks a sign.  The top ball valve appears to only be partially open, perhaps mechanically obstructed from full opening by the pipe design.  Note, the valves are, however, in the correct position.  The top valve should be open, the ball valve should be closed.


Below, we have a drum drip with a missing plug in the bottom (always a good idea), missing signage and it contains dissimilar metal components (black iron with galvanized body).  The image has been redacted.


The photograph below may show a condensation trap with no signage:

The photo below may show a drum drip/condensation trap missing signage and a handle:



1 comment: