Strainers and filters
Overview
Spirax Sarco strainers and filters help protect equipment from blockage and damage caused by dirt, rust, weld debris and other solid contamination carried in pipework. They are commonly installed upstream of pressure reducing valve stations, traps, control valves and other sensitive line equipment where debris would otherwise damage seats, choke passages or destabilise control. By removing contamination before it reaches critical equipment, they reduce maintenance cost, avoid unnecessary downtime and help limit production losses caused by line fouling. They also support better overall system condition by keeping steam and air services cleaner and helping downstream equipment operate more consistently. Where steam conditioning also depends on dryness control, strainers can be combined with separators and other ancillaries to build a more stable and serviceable line arrangement. The range is especially relevant where protecting one valve, trap or station can avoid a much wider reliability or production problem downstream. In many cases, a relatively simple strainer becomes the component that protects the performance of a much more expensive station downstream.
Related conditioning and protection routes
Strainers are often only one part of a wider conditioning package. Use pressure reducing valves when the protected station is primarily a pressure-control duty, and move into steam control valves when the downstream package depends on modulation rather than regulation alone.
If the line also suffers from entrained moisture, pair debris control with steam separators. Where trap reliability is the main concern, continue into steam traps.
Continue your steam conditioning selection
Strainers and filters are often part of a larger steam conditioning arrangement built to protect sensitive downstream hardware and stabilise system performance.
See the wider conditioning hardware
Return to the wider pipeline ancillaries range when contamination control is part of a broader line protection or steam conditioning project.
Protect the pressure reducing station upstream
Pressure reducing stations usually rely on upstream strainers to protect valve trim and maintain stable performance. Review pressure control duties here when both selections are linked.
Coordinate dryness and debris control
Use separators when the problem is entrained moisture rather than solid contamination, or when both dryness and cleanliness need to be improved together.