There are a number of separate condensate issues in the steam industry:
1. Condensate return to a boiler house is one topic,
2. Condensate collection, steam trapping and condensate pumping is another.
3. Condensate from process heaters is another topic
Calculating loads accurately requires instruments that are often not available on plant. The simplest method is a flow meter, but measuring condensate flow is not easy in some cases and often there are many streams of condensate that mix at some point. So in practice one uses heat and mass balances to calculate condensate flows in most cases. For simple steam heaters: flow of condensate out = flow of steam in, the condensate temperature is set by the operating pressure of the unit and the trapping method.
This is the basis of a fairly complicated set of estimates and measurements that together produce condensate loads.
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