The challenge
A chemical plant in India runs its process on steam and drains it through steam traps across the site. It asked i-Kcal to find out which of them still worked. A trap that fails open passes live steam straight into the condensate return; one that fails shut holds condensate back in the equipment it should drain. Neither shows from the outside, and testing traps one by one by ear and thermometer takes an expert and a lot of time.
The approach
i-Kcal tested the traps on site with Senseven’s Trap Sense, while the plant kept running. For each trap the app takes the trap’s details, the temperatures before and after it, and acoustic measurements before, on and after the trap, then gives one of four results on the spot: functional, leaking, blocked or condensate overflow. Every result goes to the Senseven back office, which builds the report.
190 traps were tested in 4 days, from 21 to 24 October 2026.
What the audit found
| Result | Traps | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Functional | 145 | 76% |
| Leaking (passing live steam) | 33 | 17% |
| Blocked | 7 | 4% |
| Condensate overflow | 4 | 2% |
| Out of order | 1 | 1% |
| Total tested | 190 | 100% |
45 of the 190 traps were faulty: about one in four.
What the leaks cost
The 33 leaking traps were losing steam worth about Rs 16,111 a day, or Rs 58.81 lakh a year — our estimate, from the audit’s steam-loss calculation. That is close to Rs 1.8 lakh a year for each leaking trap (our arithmetic).
The leaks were not spread evenly: 16 of the 33 sat in one area of the plant, so that area is the first place to fix.
What happens next
The plant repairs or replaces the faulty traps, starting with the area that holds half the leaks. A follow-up audit in January 2027 re-tests the faulty traps and reports the saving actually achieved.
Why it works
A leaking trap is loud in the ultrasonic range, and a blocked or flooded one shows in its temperatures. Trap Sense reads both and gives the verdict on site, so the result does not depend on one person’s ear, and every trap’s result is stored for the next round.
Takeaway
If your plant has not tested its traps in a year or more, expect a share of them to have failed. A survey with Trap Sense finds which ones, how they failed and what the leaking ones cost, in days, without stopping the plant.
