I don’t know why this is, but we see a lot of customers underestimate their requirements when they are purchasing an air compressor. They often neglect the volume of air needed and neglect the quality – how dry the air needs to be or how good a filter is required so that rust, debris, slag and water don’t end up in your tools and ruin them.
All of these are opportunities for our competitors to cut the price of their proposal for a new compressor and leave the client with higher ongoing costs…
Sure it looks really cheap on paper… But for the sake of a decent quality filtration system maybe you have to do an extra repair on each of your air tools every 12 months, maybe you knock 25% off of their potential life.
When a client tells us they are looking to replace their air compressor we always like to conduct a thorough needs analysis
Often we try to do an air audit and when we get the chance to do a need analysis or air audit for these clients we find their current air compressor is performing fine and if they would just patch a few leaks in their delivery system they wouldn’t have a problem… but you know, many other vendors out there wouldn’t have told them that.
In the cases where a new compressor is necessary I will say that it is worth spending a little bit more up front to get the system right for your specifications and then reap the rewards of lower maintenance costs, improved up time, and realizing the savings or additional revenues you were looking for.
In your business – you just expect your air compressor to work. And there is nothing more frustrating for your team than endless hours waiting around for the service guy to show up so that your team can start a day’s work, four hours late.
Talk to your team on the floor, trust me it drives them up the wall.
Looking to upgrade or replace your air compressor or just need a second opinion on which air compressor is best suited to your purposes? Give the team at Pye-Barker a call at 404-363-6000 or email us at sales@pyebarker.com and we’ll conduct a no cost no obligation needs analysis for you so that you can get the right unit to suit your requirements.
Pumps are a lot like the human body. Keep them healthy and they will provide you with a lifetime of good health and worry free living.
In all the Krav Maga classes that I teach see this as well, the students who take the best care of their bodies, get the best performance out of them.
In my work with the maintenance team here at Pye-Barker I can see exactly the same ‘thing’ going on with our clients’ pumps.
The clients who take the best care of their pumps are the ones who get the best performance and least downtime. Thankfully, unlike the human body there aren’t thousands of competing theories on how to take good care of your pumps.
For example - the best lubrication for your pump this year, will be the best lubrication for your pump next year. but there are some tricks to keeping your pump running at peak efficiency for as long as possible.
If you want a long life for your pump be sure to avoid these 3 all too common ‘pump ruining’ mistakes.
Operating The Pump At Shut-Off
When the discharge valve is partially or completely closed, 100% of the energy is destructive. This leads to increased pressure, vibration and increased heat generation – all drastically shortening the life of the pump at best and at worst causing a critical failure.
All because someone decided to manually control the flow – don’t let them. Keep the discharge valve open 100%, if that is generating too much flow then then adjust your reducer or slow down your motor. There are many other ways to reduce your flow other than closing a discharge side valve.
Using the Wrong Pump
Pumps have an efficiency curve for a reason – so that you can select the pump that will have the lowest running costs over the life a pump. They are intimidating to read. But we can read them for you and then based on your requirements recommend the best one.
Too many pumps that have been ruined are actually running too far back on their efficiency curve. An easy problem to solve at selection.
It’s up to you. A little bit of extra effort up front could mean years of trouble free pumping.
Poor Piping Design and Installation.
It sounds all too obvious, but it is one of the most common ways to ruin a pump pre-maturely. 90° bends immediately before the intake can cause turbulence inside the pump resulting in cavitation and loss of suction. Inverted U’s on the intake side can see air sucked into the pump causing cavitation.
Piping installation faults can cause misalignment between the pipe and the pump. This can lead to nozzle breakages, casing wear and damage and even base plate damage.
Got a pump that is consistently down for maintenance or not lasting like you expected it to? Give one of the team here at Pye-Barker a call at 404-363-6000 or drop us a line sales@pyebarker.com. We can arrange to come and conduct an inspection of your system and identify what could be causing the wear and tear on your pump.
When clients are comparing two alternative proposals, far too often we find them preferring the cheaper option because it is exactly that, cheaper upfront…
The reason I say upfront is because when you buy a pump or a blower or an air compressor you are actually making a capital investment in your business.
You either have an existing unit that needs replacing or you need it as part of new process. No doubt that process is either going to cut costs or is going make you money by allowing you to offer up a new product or service.
So while it is tempting to pay as little as possible up front there is more to the purchase than just sticker price.
Let’s work through an example say purchasing a new air compressor unit.
We often find ourselves competing against the 800lb gorilla in the market and they will typically give away their unit in order to get the order; knowing full well that once you’ve brought their unit you are locked in with them for the life of the unit for spare parts AND servicing.
Sadly they know that you can’t shop those around and that you’ll have to pay their price. And their margins on parts and servicing will more than make up for the money they gave up on the initial purchase.
So while you might have saved money on the initial purchase, you will pay more over the lifetime of the purchase. Which means you haven’t actually cut your costs the way you thought you did or in other words, you haven’t made as much additional profit from your new products or service as you anticipated.
This is called Total Cost of Ownership – it’s a common metric for capital equipment purchases.
The Gardner Denver air compressors we carry might be a little more costly upfront than some of our competitors however you’ll find they are actually very inexpensive to own over the life of the compressor. Our parts pricing is competitive and our service contracts are more competitive (and handled by our own Gardner Denver factory trained service technicians). We do this for the simple reason we don’t run an extortion racket to make back the discounts we offered selling you the unit in the first place.
Along with the slightly higher price you also get better quality components and construction so that you’ll need less maintenance and repairs. Which means that you know your air system is doing what you wanted it to do all along – providing the reliable air you need without interruption.
Regardless of if you are looking for a new pump, air compressor, blower or vacuum pump, here at Pye-Barker we can help you evaluate your options so that you get the best option for your requirements and the highest return on your investment. Give one of the team a call at 404-363-6000 or drop us a line sales@pyebarker.com.
Viking Motor Speed PumpsI’ve just gotten my hands on some of the new Viking Motor Speed Pumps. And frankly I’m fairly impressed. For Pye-Barker’s clients these look like they are the perfect product for applications where you are pumping low viscosity liquids at high speed and capacity.
What these pumps are ideally suited to would include: -
What we really like here about the Viking Motor Speed Pump Line is:
They are designed to do what they do well and do it reliably.
These cast iron workhorses are designed for peak efficiency running at motor speed so you can use a smaller pump running at higher speed and still get a long life out the pump.
The engineering team at Viking have made significant improvements on the existing pump design so that the new range offers higher speed and flow from a smaller footprint – so that you can reclaim space that would otherwise be occupied.
Everything in the pumps design is to maximize the flow rates and minimize the wear and tear on the pump so that it lasts, with a minimum of maintenance or downtime.
Reduced Downtime Risks.
Viking has also standardized the parts across the range. This makes ordering spare and replacement parts easier so that you can have the parts you need on hand or have parts shipped direct to your dock with a minimum of fuss. And with fewer options, factory delivery becomes a non-issue.
(There is the added bonus of Viking parts costing less than in some other pump manufacturers more convoluted product lines).
These pumps are FAST.
Because there is no need to use a reducer (except at the higher flow rates), everything about the engineering of these pumps is aimed at making them pump faster, economically.
The smallest pump in the range (G-GG) can move 10GPM all the way up to 580 GPM with the largest pump (Q-QS) (at 2500SSU).
For this reason we here at Pye-Barker feel they are priced very competitively compared to other pump options for the same application. And as we all need to be getting more and more return on our investment to remain competitive – this is certainly one opportunity to explore.
To discover more about your options with the Viking Motor Speed Pump, you can get each pump in the range’s specifications by requesting a copy of Viking’s product brochure.
To get your questions answered quickly with a minimum of fuss, speak to one our Pumping Solutions Specialists right now – just call 404-363-6000 or email us at sales@pyebarker.com.
