Condensate Return & Flash Recovery

When steam has given up its latent heat, what remains is condensate: distilled, chemically treated water at up to 100 °C, produced in exactly the quantity the boiler needs to feed. Every tonne poured down a drain must be replaced with cold mains water that has to be bought, treated, and heated from perhaps 10 °C, and it usually takes a drainage charge on the way out. Condensate return is consequently the largest single recovery available on most under-managed steam systems, and this lesson covers its value, its machinery and its pitfalls.