We have a customer who manufactures fiberglass bathtubs — tubs made from materials that are more affordable than brass, copper, or cast-iron models, easier to install, and more convenient to repair.
But making them that way requires a special pump. It drives a mixture of resin and fiberglass strands around the manufacturing plant. To form the product, they mix the liquid with a chemical, which turns it into a hardened gel that fits a certain mold — a bathtub, in their case.
The manufacturer approached me with a problem. They have a Moyno progressing cavity pump that has to be rebuilt every year. You can imagine how expensive that is. They asked me if we could come up with an alternative.
The best option is to use a Viking size KK4624B abrasive liquids pump. This pump is perfect for this application. The cost of the pump quoted is approx. half of the cost of the rebuild parts for the Moyno pump.
We’re still going back and forward on it, since they have to coordinate the project with a shutdown schedule. But we’re looking forward to seeing their pump problem project through!
We recently dealt with a customer who extrudes cottonseed oil. This customer was using diaphragm pumps when we encountered their setup. These pumps were taxing the entire system, causing a number of efficiency problems, as well as requiring frequent maintenance. In short, they were costing the company both manpower and operational hours, which adds up to a lot of money. Looking at the system, it was clear that the pumps were inadequate for their operation.
We recommended the customer upgrade to some top-of-the-line Viking spur gear pumps. While the initial investment might have been more than the previous pumps, the overall cost of ownership would be substantially less. Immediately, the customer noticed that the operational improvement. The capabilities of their system had never been higher, and they no longer needed to worry about constant repairs. The benefits are not just short-term though. Years down the line, they will have saved money on repairs and made money from being able to run their system more often and more efficiently.
When one part of your system is overworked, it spreads quickly to other components. In this case, the diaphragm pumps put undue tax on the air compressors. When you are in an industry where every second counts, the last thing you want is to be worried about when the next problem might spring up. The costs of substandard equipment are both direct and indirect, and business owners don’t need the added stress. Thanks to Viking, this company has a low-maintenance, high-performance pump, and the owner is much happier as a result.
Creating power through coal requires all sorts of machinery, and if one piece of the system fails, problems arise. Coal pulverizers require pumps to circulate oil to maintain function, making them a critical part of the operation. Recently, we encountered a very large company that used sub-optimal pumps. They were dealing with constant leaks and poor service life, so we suggested upgrading to a better pump.
This client has 14 pumps--seven in use, and seven on standby, totaling two for each pulverizer--so they wanted to do a trial with one pump before committing to such a large order. We suggested they install a Viking KK4124B, a high-level product designed for lots of use. The superior reliability of the Viking pump would not only save the client money over time, it would limit the hazard issues caused by oil leaks. It did not take long for the client to notice huge improvements, and they decided to order 13 more pumps.
In addition to offering this client a much better product compared to their previous pump, we were happy to provide the service required to make the changeover a success. We created a custom base for the Viking pump so that it could slip in and replace the existing pump with minimal difficulty. We want all of our clients to experience the benefits of the products we supply, and do not mind going the extra mile to make the transition as smooth as possible.
When you genuinely believe in the quality of your products, as we do here at Pye-Barker, convincing people of the benefits is a fun and exciting process. We know that once a client sees how much money and hassle better equipment will save them, they will understand our enthusiasm.
One of our customers is a global thermoplastic elastomer manufacturer. They relocated several pumps that they used in their previous plant in Duluth to their new location in Buford, Georgia. Due to the poor piping network in their new facility, there was excessive suction pressure to the pumps. The result was excessive cavitation, noise, and much more limited flow. This customer had existing competitive internal gear pumps that were to deliver 25 GPM of Parulux oil, which could not be delivered with existing pumps. After recommended suction piping changes, we supplied three Viking SG1026 external gear pumps direct driven by a 900 rpm motor and customer is getting more than 25 GPM flow and no cavitation issues.
When we took a look, it was clear to us what needed to be done. We made recommendations for them to change their piping in order to reduce suction pressure to the pump. We also recommended they start using a different style of pump. We were even able to use some of their existing material on their existing pumps and modify it.
Our customer increased their suction pipe size to 2 inch and reduced their maximum suction lift to 25 feet, and changed pumps to recommended Viking SG1026 2-inch pumps with same size motors for existing power, and these pumps exceeded required flow of 25 GPM discharge.
After all of our recommendations and a different pump, now everything works great.
