Seasonal Configuration
Seasonal configuration controls which months of the year a steam trap is considered active. Traps set to the Seasonal operation type only generate Unexpected Cold events while the current date falls inside the configured window.
When to Use Seasonal Configuration
Configure a seasonal window when a trap is intentionally shut down for part of the year — heating circuits that go offline each spring, process lines that only run during a production season, or heat-trace systems that are bypassed in summer. Cold readings outside the active period are normal and should not generate alerts.
Traps set to Continuous or Intermittent do not use the seasonal window. See Operation Types for guidance on which type to assign.
Date Format
Seasonal start and end dates use MM-DD format: month and day only, with no year. The platform applies the window every year automatically.
| Field | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Seasonal Start Date | 10-01 | Season begins October 1st |
| Seasonal End Date | 04-30 | Season ends April 30th |
Windows that span the year boundary are supported. A start date of 11-01 with an end date of 02-28 covers November 1st through February 28th, wrapping across January 1st.
How the Window Works
- Unexpected Cold detection activates when the calendar date reaches the seasonal start date.
- Unexpected Cold detection deactivates when the calendar date passes the seasonal end date.
- Both endpoints are inclusive: a steam-off event on the start date or end date itself triggers detection.
- Steam-off events that occur outside the window are silently ignored — no Unexpected Cold event is created and no alert fires.
Invalid or Missing Dates
If either the start date or end date is missing or cannot be read as a valid month-day value, the platform treats the trap as outside its window and suppresses Unexpected Cold detection for that trap. This is a safe failure: the trap generates no events until the date values are corrected, rather than generating alerts based on incomplete information.
If you see a seasonal trap that is not generating expected alerts, verify that both the start date and end date are populated in the correct MM-DD format.
The Steam Shutdown Flag
The Steam Shutdown flag is a customer-level toggle — it applies to your entire account, not to individual traps. When it is set, Unexpected Cold detection is disabled for every trap in the account, regardless of operation type or seasonal window.
Use the Steam Shutdown flag when taking your steam system fully offline for planned maintenance, boiler service, or plant-wide turnarounds. Setting the flag prevents a flood of false alerts from traps that go cold during the outage.
| Setting | Scope | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Steam Shutdown flag | Entire customer account | Disables all Unexpected Cold detection while set |
| Seasonal window | Per-trap (Seasonal type only) | Limits detection to the configured date range |
When the Steam Shutdown flag is cleared, normal per-trap evaluation resumes. Seasonal traps return to using their configured window; continuous traps return to alerting on any steam-off.
How to Configure
Seasonal dates are set in the customer account settings in Shoplogix IMS. Both the start date and end date must be saved before seasonal detection becomes active.
Steam Shutdown is also toggled in Insights account settings. Set it at the start of a planned outage and clear it when the system returns to service.
Both settings are also available through the IMS Public API for automated integration with your maintenance management systems.
Related
- Operation Types — understand Continuous, Seasonal, and Intermittent and when to assign each