▶ Manual valves are often left open to discharge condensate, therefore expensive air is leaking continuously at the same time with a lot of noise.
Open valves also reduce system pressure and requires a huge maintenance cost.
The problem with this type of drain is sensitive to dirt found in unfiltered condensate and often stick open to permanently discharge air or stick closed leading to downstream contamination from condensate carryover. Due to the nature of lubricants and high air velocities trough compressors, there is some oil pickup, which creates an oil-water mixture. This type of drain trap are not available with oil and sludge from lubricated compressors. There is a chance of dirt holding the valve away from the seat and allowing air to leak continuously.
This type of drain consist of a timer operated solenoid valve. They are based on the assumption that you know how much condensate collects at this point and how long it takes to drain it. Timed drains require frequent resetting of time settings to accommodate changes in ambient conditions. When incorrectly set, they discharge significant amounts of valuable air or fail to remove all of the condensate resulting in downstream contamination.
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