Failure Costs
Every failing steam trap wastes steam continuously. Blowthrough means live steam passes through a trap that should be holding it back. Leaking by means a small but persistent loss across a closed trap. Both conditions run up energy costs every hour they go unaddressed.
The platform calculates the estimated financial cost of each failure so you can prioritize repairs by dollar impact rather than by gut feel.
Which Conditions Generate Cost Estimates
Cost estimates are produced only for conditions where steam is actively being wasted:
| Condition | Cost Calculated? |
|---|---|
| Blowthrough | Yes |
| Intermittent Blowthrough — Light | Yes |
| Intermittent Blowthrough — Medium | Yes |
| Intermittent Blowthrough — Heavy | Yes |
| Leaking By | Yes |
| Good | No |
| Unexpected Cold | No |
Unexpected Cold and Good conditions do not waste steam in the same way, so no dollar-loss estimate is generated for them.
Inputs to the Calculation
Three inputs drive the cost estimate for each trap:
Steam cost rate — configured on your customer account in Shoplogix IMS. Enter your current rate in $/MMBtu or $/klb (thousand pounds of steam). The platform uses this rate when converting steam-mass loss into a dollar figure.
Inlet pressure (PSI) — configured per trap under the trap's settings. Pressure affects the enthalpy and density of the steam, which in turn affects how much energy is lost per unit of time. If pressure is not set, the platform uses a default value that may not reflect your actual system.
BTU loss rate — the platform estimates the rate of steam loss based on the trap type and the specific failure mode. These are platform-provided defaults derived from industry failure models. You do not configure this value directly.
Intermittent Blowthrough: Graduated Severity
Intermittent blowthrough costs are graduated by severity level. The failure is not constant — the trap cycles between passing steam and holding — so the platform scales the cost estimate to reflect how often and how aggressively the trap is passing through:
- Light — lowest estimated loss rate
- Medium — moderate estimated loss rate
- Heavy — highest estimated loss rate, approaching a continuous blowthrough in the worst cases
When triaging, prioritize Heavy intermittent blowthroughs alongside full blowthroughs.
Reading Costs in Insights
The triage list in Shoplogix IMS shows an estimated annual cost for each trap currently in a failing state. The figure reflects what the failure will cost over a full year if left unrepaired, calculated from the current loss rate and your configured steam cost.
The aggregate cost view summarizes total fleet waste — the sum of all active failure costs across all failing traps. Use this view to report total opportunity and to track progress as repairs are completed.
API Access
Fleet aggregate:
GET /v2020-07/steamtraps/aggregate-costs
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
startTime | Yes | Unix timestamp (seconds). The start of the cost calculation window. |
endTime | No | Unix timestamp (seconds). Defaults to now if omitted. |
customerId | No | One or more customer IDs (comma-separated or repeated). Scopes the result to specific accounts. |
calculationMethod | No | EVERACTIVE (default) or SAGE. See below. |
The response includes totalCost, totalSteam, totalCo2, totalFuelBurn, failureCount, and omittedTrapCount (traps excluded from the calculation because required inputs are missing).
Single trap:
GET /v2020-07/steamtraps/{trapId}/failure-costs
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
startTime | No | Unix timestamp (seconds). Start of the window. |
endTime | No | Unix timestamp (seconds). End of the window. |
calculationMethod | No | EVERACTIVE (default) or SAGE. |
The response shape is the same as the aggregate endpoint, scoped to the single trap.
Calculation Methods
EVERACTIVE— uses the inlet pressure, trap type, and failure mode to estimate BTU loss, then applies your configured steam cost rate. This is the default and is available to all customers.SAGE— uses cost-per-day data from a SAGE third-party integration if the trap has a SAGE asset ID configured. Only relevant for accounts with an active SAGE integration.
Improving Accuracy
Two configuration steps improve the quality of cost estimates:
-
Set inlet pressure per trap. The default pressure assumption may be significantly different from your actual system. Correct pressure values produce more accurate loss rates, especially for high-pressure systems.
-
Keep your steam cost rate current. Energy prices change. An outdated steam cost rate will produce estimates that are consistently over or understated. Update the rate in your account settings whenever your contracted or calculated steam cost changes.
Traps that are missing required configuration are counted in omittedTrapCount in the aggregate response and excluded from the cost totals. Check the triage list in Insights for any traps flagged as having incomplete cost inputs.