Steam cycle and Steam trap

[WhoDat504]

Hi my fellow revord pressing people.

I'm setting up a new machine at my shop and I'm having second thoughts on my steam line, and I heard mixed advices...

My current machine is a Warmtone and the way we run steam is such. Heat cycle is a flow of steam, intake valve open and output valve open, steam running through my molds get em hot, at no point I'm building up steam pressure where my steam intake is open but not the output.. talked to few folks and some have it where they set it so the steam comes in but doesn't come out during the heat cycle which has me really confused...
Any take on that?

Also about steam trap, the way I'm currently set, is by having a steam trap on my steam input drop to "clean" the steam before it hits the molds, been working like that for years.
But recently I've been told I should have a steam trap on the condensate return line after the mold in order to keep steam at pressure while the condensate is being drained..

I'd love to hear someone else thoughts on this.

Thanks!!

[tamachura]

Steam trap on the return condensate line goes to the feed water tank (so no steam) for our boiler on our 3 way valve (Hamilton). This helps prevent the chilled water heating up too quickly if you have a smaller chiller or no cooling tower. Our SMT is similar to your setup without the trap on the input. Just a 2 way valve that dumps into the reserve water tank, we plan to change to a 3 way valve like our Hamilton and update some of the logic ladder to direct the warm and hottest water to the chilled reserve tank and the feed water condensate tank respectively. Trap helps build pressure and heat the molds quickly at around 270 f at the least before the press starts closing.