In the spirit of continuous improvement we like to occasionally remind our readers about important factors that are essential for a successful pump installation. Liquid properties such as viscosity has relatively little effect on positive displacement pump performance and in most cases makes them even more efficient, but viscosity is pure kryptonite for centrifugal (rotodynamic)
The first modern bearing isolator was patented in 1977. They were initially used in the food processing and chemical industries on pumps and mixers. Since the 1980’s they have been installed on most anything that rotates. Isolators protect the bearing housing from the introduction of liquids and debris (contamination ingress). By keeping the lube oil
Dylan Thomas is a young pump technician (operator-mechanic) at the local chemical plant. One day he noticed that the batch process on unit C was taking longer than normal. He suspected something was wrong with the main pump. The pump was a horizontal ANSI type driven by an induction motor. Dillion thought back to his
In high school, I received a water-resistant watch for my birthday. During the same time, I was also taking SCUBA lessons at the local YMCA. I soon discovered that water resistant does not mean waterproof. Fast forward 55 years and I witness pump owners applying standard pumps into harsh slurry services and expecting great results.
Why a Vertical Pump? Vertical pumps offer a smaller footprint than a horizontal pump of the same size making them an ideal solution for applications with limited space. If you could tour the engineering spaces of a nuclear submarine, you would notice that all of the major pumps are vertical. There is consideration for headroom
Imagine if you will… You are a conscientious pump technician/owner/operator. You have a strong passion to properly care for the pumps under your safekeeping… your goal is to attain the highest possible level of machine reliability. You do all of the right things to maximize and extend the run time between failures. You want to
Dispelling the Myth that Factory Supplied Pumps come “Plug and Play”. As an annual ritual, like a reoccuring new years resolution, I am compelled to remind pump industry people that 99.35% (approx.) of industrial centrifugal pumps do not arrive ready to run and play – unfortunately this “Plug and Play” pump industry myth continues to
As we near the end of 2021, we “regift” some stocking stuffer pump tips to equip you for a reliable New Year. 1. The root cause of almost every pump problem will be on the suction side (85%). Look there first. 2. In theory, a self-priming pump (at sea level) can lift water almost
When it comes to system pipe sizing, we confront a ‘pay me now or pay me later’ scenario. Quest for the Optimal Pipe Size You want to pump 600 gpm of liquid from point A to point B. What is the correct pipe size for your new system? The simple answer is it
Let’s examine a short list of common reasons why your pump may have lost its head. Speed is the main factor in head development for a given impeller diameter. Check that the motor/driver is operating at the correct speed. Normally not an issue, but we have witnessed problems with frequency control (remote
Tips for optimizing pump efficiencies by setting proper impeller clearances. In the ubiquitous world of horizontal ANSI pumps…all share some common dimensions and a back pull-out feature but note there are also two distinctly different styles. Both styles utilize an external feature to adjust the impeller clearance. This adjustment device helps the owner to
This month, we review the reasoning for multiple pump alignments and why there may actually be more required than you think! At the factory… the motor is positioned on the base plate and checked for proper alignment to the pump. As soon as the unit (base/motor/pump) is loaded on the truck the alignment integrity is lost. Later
Recently, we investigated numerous issues with mechanical seals failing in self-priming pumps on suction lift applications. In each instance the pump/system was not installed or operated properly. Root cause analysis suggested a misunderstanding of basic physics. We thought it would be beneficial to review a few fundamentals for pumps on suction lift installations. A suction lift simply
If time and money were no object, the pump OEM would be very happy to design a pump specifically for the customer’s unique operating point; it happens, but not very often. In essence, all single stage centrifugal pumps are designed for one operating point on the curve. This point is commonly referred to as the
Last month we reviewed basic vacuum principles. The reason was to better understand how to correctly measure the differential pressure across an operating pump. Understanding your suction pressure and knowing how to read a vacuum is critical in identifying performance issues. In the field, instruments measure in units of PSI …whether gauge, absolute or vacuum. When diagnosing issues,
