Following established industry standards, and following correct maintenance procedures, Total Environmental Compliance can provide you with a safe Steam Testing Service:

• Calculating the dryness value and dryness fraction to evaluate steam wetness and its suitability for your steam plant.
• Observing and recoding the level of incondensable gases in your steam.
• Recording steam pressure and temperature levels to find prospective problems with peak loads or other steam supply shortages.
• Producing a steam quality certificate and full comprehensive report with full breakdown of calculations used to determine test results.

The physical tests for steam quality are a requirement of EN 285 Steam sterilisers – Large Sterilisers.

They form part of the recommended test schedule to demonstrate the performance of autoclaves using saturated steam cycles.

Physical Steam Quality Tests

The physical steam quality tests are strictly only applied to autoclaves.

Superheat Test

This test determines that the steam system is sufficient to prevent steam from being superheated at the test point. Superheated steam is not as efficient as saturated steam as it doesn’t have the ability to condense, therefore when autoclaves are supplied with superheated steam they often operate like a dry heat sterilizer.

Non condensable gases (NCG) Test

The NCG test measures the levels of Gases in the system that do not inhibit the sterilization conditions. NGS’s are often the cause for equilibration time failures.

Steam Dryness Value test

The steam dryness test is used to determine the steam moisture levels. This value can determine if the steam is of appropriate levels for sterilisation purposes. Excessive moisture in the steam can cause wet autoclave loads.