To think that so many pumps operating today were built up to 50 years ago… It shows you what happened in the good ole days when it seemed we were more skilled at matching operating demands to the pump selected and the pump designers were good too.
Pumping applications still account for more than 20% of the global electric motor energy consumption – so there is a real opportunity for plant owners and managers to increase the efficiency of their older equipment. And because the equipment is older it is getting harder and harder to use it efficiently.
Operating conditions evolve over time. When this happens pumping application demands also change. You can see changes in flow, media characteristics or duty… Just because a pump can operate on the outer edges of the system curve does not mean it should. Performance and reliability can be reduced.
Dialing up/back pump flows has consequences. To know in advance what those consequences will be you need to measure the operating conditions to calculate the point at which the pump will operate on the system curve.
Then you need to compare these with the original documentation about the pumps performance – are you exceeding maximum flow? Are you above the net positive suction head required?
Let’s imagine a multistage boiler pump – it has suffered severe damage… The suction side seal, several impellers, sleeves and even stationary components had been destroyed.
This pump has almost certainly been operated at or near shutoff flow. The water in there has turned to steam because there was insufficient flow to discharge the heat generated by the pump.
Inefficient Pump Operations
The most likely cause of the problem is the plant has changed its need to steam over time and scaled back their water input to the point where this pump can no longer pump anywhere near its best efficiency point.
In some cases it might be possible to increase the system flow so that the pump can remain in service – this is the most likely outcome. However, in other cases some retrofitting of either the pump or the system might be required so that you can operate your pump within its specifications. In other cases a new pump may be the best option to reduce energy consumption while meeting your needs now and in the future.
If you are having trouble with a pump or even a pumping system call the team at Pye Barker on 404-363-6000 or drop us a line sales@pyebarker.com we’ll do what we can to help you out.
Today I’m going to go through the remaining 5 categories of problems we see all too often with centrifugal pump installations.
Centrifugal pumps are the exception to the rule about pipe size – experienced pump users know they need a suction line to be one size larger than the pump suction… Not for self-priming pumps.
The bigger pipe means there will be more air in the line – which means you have longer waits for the pump to prime.
You need to make sure that the suction pipe never goes above the pump’s suction inlet. Any piping above the inlet is a place for air/other non condensable gases to collect… which can bind the suction line.
Any time the temperature drops below freezing for more than an hour or more there is a risk any water in the pump will solidify. When water (unlike most liquids) freezes it expands, which can cause the casing to crack – an unnecessary expense and a big one too.
When there is a risk of freezing nights, either drain the fluid out of the pump or supply a heat source when the ambient temperature is predicted to fall below freezing.
When centrifugal pumps run in reverse (by accident or by design), the impeller may eventually come loose and damage the pump. Backward-running impellers generally only create about 50 percent of the rated flow and only generate about 50 percent of the rated head.
If your pump is under-performing check to see it is running in the right direction. It’s far less embarrassing when you figure it out yourself rather than place a service call, and our techs come out to they tell you it’s being installed backwards.
Using Non-collapsible flex piping is a convenient form of piping when you need a portable pump unit. However, the internal diameter (ID) of flex pipe is smaller than the same sized standard pipe.
This means you need to recalculate the pipe friction for the NPSHA and make sure your flex piping is strong enough to withstand the suction.
By calculating NPSHA you know the minimum operating level your sump needs to be and can spot air binding risks more easily.
For example, if the fluid is 160 degrees F, the vapor pressure of the fluid alone will likely preclude you from this application. For example, water at 160 F has a vapor pressure that equates to a negative 11 feet.
If the sump you are drawing from will likely have constantly changing levels, at some level of submergence it will be possible for the system to create a vortex and air bind the pump. Even if the pump is not completely air bound, performance can still be affected.
Knowing NPSHA means you’ll be able to keep enough liquid in the sump to avoid air binding your pump.
If you are having trouble with your centrifugal pumps give Pye-Barker a call at 404-363-6000 or drop us a line sales@pyebarker.com we can help you troubleshoot your centrifugal pumps or help you select the right replacement if that is the best course of action.
When you buy a pump with a 20 year lifespan you aren’t just buying the sticker price of say $68,333, you are committing to spend some $689,000 in installation, maintenance and operating costs over the next 20 years according to The Hydraulic Institute. Of which $415,812 is the operating cost – which is about 2/3 of the total life-cycle cost.
What usually happens when buying a pump? C’mon now be honest… we both know that we get into this argument about which one has the lower sticker price, "sure we could use yours but that one is like $5,000 cheaper".
Doesn’t matter that it will cost you 10% more to operate – which is $41,500 in operating costs because it’s not optimal for the system, you’ll have more repairs and maintenance costs because of it… that doesn’t matter, what matters is the satisfaction of saving $5,000 right now.
Who knows what impact a cheaper pump will have on production down time, on profits, or on production output…
Imagine what would happen if your manager ever asked:
“How many production dollars have we lost because we keep shutting the system down to repair that cheap pump YOU purchased?”
That’s only the beginning of the problem.
Why Your Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) firm is offering up ‘poor designs.’
Pump System design has come along way over the last couple of decades. Most of the designs we see for a pumping system using a fixed speed control valve system… now they are the cheapest to install but they are not the cheapest to run.
Variable-speed drives and parallel multi-pump systems are often cheaper to operate and the additional installation and set up costs are made back very quickly after being put into use.
EPC firms do this because you, the end client, have trained them to. The same – ‘how do we keep the price tag as low as possible to win the work mentality’ filters into system design as it does for choosing the right pump.
The designs are in fact good, they just aren’t optimized for total life cycle cost. Likewise your cheaper pump is perfectly good but it is a terrible selection once you evaluate the life-cycle costs. Anyone with a keen financial mind will understand the implications to the plant. Even in a balance sheet kind of way.
Now you know how to avoid this mess going forward…
What Can We Do With My Existing System?
This is not a quick fix, but it is relatively simple to optimize an existing system. The reason being it’s not “let’s put in a variable speed drive and everything will be fixed.”
We need to review your existing systems, and look for opportunities that will reduce energy consumption and improve reliability – generally by reducing wear and tear. This will decrease downtime and costs associated with lost production, maintenance and repairs, all while extending equipment life. Costs associated with downtime routinely exceed energy and reliability costs combined. To get some help assessing your system call at 404-363-6000 or drop us a line sales@pyebarker.com and our team can help you figure out what’s best for you.
When I think about our clients using pumps, I think they are always going to be indoors – in a safe climate controlled environment.
It’s not always true – about a third of the pumps we sell would actually be used outside. Funny how your mind works sometimes…
Regardless of whether you are looking to mitigate noise, protect against extreme hot or cold, keep your pump safe from vandalism or theft or even just to keep an ‘eye-sore’ out of sight. There are five key considerations to consider when designing your pump enclosure.
Consideration #1: Size & Strength. The size of your enclosure is as much dictated by ease of maintenance as it is by the size of the pump(s) inside. We see our share of installations where you look at them and say “Gee, I’m glad I’m not the guy who has to service that.”
When you are custom designing a pump enclosure you have every chance to avoid this. So talk to your pump supplier – we’ll be able to help you to understand what maintenance and repair access is required so that your maintenance and repairs are as quick as possible.
Strength of the enclosure is mainly concerned with wind and snow loads (where applicable).
Consideration #2: Climate Control. The first thing that springs to mind – we don’t want water freezing in our pumps do we? Also remember viscosity of other fluids can vary with temperature – oil for instance. We need to consider the temperature range that we want our pump to be operating in.
You might need insulation, heating, ventilation and even cooling in some applications depending on your temperature requirements.
Consideration #3: Protection. To protect against vandalism, theft and terrorism the best pump enclosures are plain looking and blend into the environment. That way the only people who tend to notice them are your maintenance team.
Make sure the doors lock and the structure is robust enough to deter an attacker or persuade them to seek a softer target. If you have a security alarm on the structure, then you want it to be impenetrable until your security team can respond to the threat.
Consideration #4: Access & Maintenance. I’ve mentioned maintenance before as a consideration of size of your enclosure. Ease of maintenance also needs to consider access points – so that both break repairs and routine maintenance are as easy as possible.
Your enclosure should outlast the pump inside it. So be sure that you can hoist out the entire unit and drop in a new one – otherwise it will be a sorry sight – dismantling the enclosure so that you can replace the pump.
Consideration #5: Monitoring. While not a feature of the enclosure as such, it is well worth considering what monitoring is going to be needed for the pump station. We don’t want to find out that out of sight, out of mind has been applied to monitoring system.
The simplest monitoring system would be to have a wireless monitoring system linked into a master monitoring system/control room. Usually you only need a pump power monitor to be sure the pump is working as planned. A spike or decline in power consumption is a dead giveaway there is a problem.
We are more than happy to assist you with specifying your pump housing systems when you order your pumps with us. Give our team a call on 404-363-6000 or drop us a line at sales@pyebarker.com and we can figure out the best pump system for you and work with your pump housing designer to give you a great pump housing.
Regardless of whether you are building a brand new blower system or are overhauling an existing one. This is the perfect time for you and your team to be sure that you are getting the best possible performance from your blower system.
Let’s dissect these roadblocks and make sure you are getting everything you can out of your system
Roadblock #1: Improper Ventilation. For optimal blower performance the blower room needs to be adequately ventilated. If not, you are risking additional downtime, increased maintenance intervals and reduced performance. Check with us about the ventilation and installation specs for your units.
Roadblock #2: Piping System Design. The aim of the game is to minimize pressure drop. This can be measured in an existing system by measuring the pressure at the blower and then the pressure at the discharge points. And it can be calculated from a blueprint.
As a rule choose the right material for your pipes. Use larger diameter pipes and minimize the number of elbows and T’s in the piping system so that your blowers aren’t working to combat pressure drop.
Roadblock #3: System Integration of the Blower Units. We are living in the ‘Golden Age’ of blower systems. Okay, I exaggerate slightly but blower manufactures have made huge strides in creating fully integrated blower units. No more buying individual components and trying to get them to work together. It’s safer and cheaper just to buy the off the shelf systems. The manufacturer has tested them and if they are installed correctly there is only one place to point the finger if you have a problem.
Roadblock #4: Blower System Integration. While blower manufacturers can only test the power consumption of their units and promote their energy efficiency, a given blower may or may not be energy efficient in your system. So be sure to understand your system’s requirements and how the blowers specified perform in that system.
Make sure you use a master controller to keep running costs down through reduced energy consumption and reduced maintenance costs.
Roadblock #5: Maintenance Program. Most of our clients get this, but all the same we see enough cases where the recommended maintenance is seen as a recommendation not a prescription to minimize downtime. I won’t go into the ‘ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure’ routine.
What I’ll advise is: Set up a service log for each component. Follow the service recommendations from the manufacturer. It will reduce downtime and it will prevent costly repairs.
I’ve just outlined 5 roadblocks to efficient blower systems.
If you are seeing these roadblocks in your system then it might be a good time to talk. We can help you identify problems with the system as it stands and then make sure that you get the right blower units for the requirements. Call 404-363-6000 or drop us a line at sales@pyebarker.com and we can guide you through the process.
We do our share of field service for centrifugal pumps – when we get there we often see them being used beyond their specifications and obviously that is when trouble strikes.
If you boil all the problems down, they fall into 10 categories. I’ll deal with the first five now and we’ll dive into the next 5 in a later post.
Centrifugal Pump Mistake #1: Too Much Suction Lift
Play it safe and don’t force your pump to do more work than it has to. Otherwise you are facing unnecessary downtime and additional repairs that could have been avoided.
In many cases when a pump goes down the whole system goes down – so the cost of lost running time is much higher if you calculate the value of the whole system. When you design the system keep the lift well within the limits.
Centrifugal Pump Mistake #2: The pump is too far from the liquid source.
Intelligent system designers know that the suction pipe length be held to a minimum to promote long pump life. Every section of suction piping equates to a volume of air that must be removed when the pump starts. Best practices say to reduce priming time to a minimum.
The literature recommends no more than 30 feet but closer is definitely better. See what I said about suction lift and downtime.
Centrifugal Pump Mistake #3: Leaks in the suction line.
The suction line on a self-priming pump is at less than atmospheric pressure. That means liquid doesn’t leak out of the suction line. Air leaks into the line.
A roll of kitchen cling wrap can be used to test for air leaks – just wrap the line in plastic and see if it is sucked anywhere.
The golden rule is, if your pump takes more than four minutes to prime then you should call in your maintenance team.
Centrifugal Pump Mistake #4: Air/Gas Binding
When you start a centrifugal pump, the air in the suction line needs to be vented otherwise it will form pockets around the impeller – which spins in the air and it heats up… as obvious as this remedial lesson is – we still see air bound pumps…
Make sure some sort of vent is installed so that air can escape while the pump is priming. We are more than happy to make sure your design meets proper pump specs.
Centrifugal Pump Mistake #5: Failure to Complete The Initial Priming
Okay – so the name is slightly misleading. There are warnings in all the product literature yet this still happens from time to time.
There is a priming chamber of some description in all centrifugal pumps. This needs to be filled prior to operation. There are lots of ways to do this – check your documentation and consult with the system designer for the best practice in your situation.
Finally remember: If there is evaporation of the fluid in the priming chamber, leakage, pump movement or maintenance your ‘self-priming’ pumps need to re-primed.
Looking to install a new system with centrifugal pumps? Call 404-363-6000 or drop us a line at sales@pyebarker.com and the team at Pye-Barker can review your system and/or recommend the right pumps and make sure you won’t have any trouble with pump performance. Or we can help you troubleshoot a problem system with you.
Most plant and operations managers realize that compressed air systems often represent major sources of waste in their plant(s). Astute managers know that slashing waste from expenses adds pure profit back to the business.
For this reason we’ve seen an equal rise of compressed air auditing services.
A good compressed air audit covers both the supply side and the demand side of your compressed air system. At the end of the audit you should get a series of short term (can do now) and longer term activities in order to get you a more efficient compressed air system.
Those short term changes often create the savings to fund longer term activities.
For the Supply Side, a good audit will include:
On the supply side we are looking for savings from:
That’s all for part 1 – part 2 will be along shortly. If you are looking to reduce the operating costs of your compressed air system it might be time to inquire about an audit. Call 404-363-6000 or drop us a line at sales@pyebarker.com to have an initial discussion about what you are looking to achieve with your compressed air system.
It’s a common problem across a number of industries using Double Diaphragm Pumps to experience vibration on both the intake side and the discharge side of a pump.
These vibrations often result in damage to piping systems and the pumps themselves. Sadly in many industries vibrations and inconsistent flow are often tolerated because of an unwillingness to look for an easily found solution or because of ‘false economics.’
When clients of Pye-Barker look at the price for installing pressure dampeners to prevent vibration in a pumping system or create a desired even output, and then make any sort of comment about price – I often remind them it is really cheap.
Compared to replacing the pump or having to replace your piping system. And really cheap compared to a way to undo mounting fatigue.
Here are four common industries that can drastically reduce waste and maintenance costs as well as, increase productivity by using pulsation dampening, or pulsation dampening equipment like a pulsation dampener diaphragm pump, in their pumping systems:
Chemical Companies: When pumping products such as surfactants or even volatile chemicals, these substances can aerate leading to foaming or excess vaporization (waste). This can create problems for both storage (requiring longer settling time) and for filling the final containers efficiently (causing overspray, wasted material and rejected product).
Installing the right pulsation dampening system can in many cases eliminate the problem of aeration.
Paper Production: Unloading pumps can experience vibrations and pulsation so strong that it can cause pipe stress, mounting fatigue and even rip the pump from its foundations. Which will obviously lead to unacceptably long downtimes and create a health and safety risk.
Simply installing the correct pulsation dampener on the discharge side of the pumps will reduce mounting fatigue and pipe damage.
Steel Processing: Using plunger pumps in the descaling process can result in erratic flow of the raw material which causes de-scaling to be erratic. For the best results in de-scaling, steel processors need a steady flow of raw material through the de-scaling processor.
Installing the right pulsation dampener on the discharge side of the pump as well as an inlet stabiliser will reduce the vibrations to allow uniform descaling of their raw materials. It also means the entire pumping system no longer violently vibrates. Saving on maintenance and repairs.
Waste Water Processing: When using reciprocating pumps to move waste water – many water treatment operations experience pulsation in on the discharge sides of their pumps. This can cause pipe joints to break and crack discharge pipes.
Pipe damage like this can lead to leaks and easily preventable downtime, which can be prevented with a pulsation dampener solution.
Regardless of what industry you are in and what you are pumping, if your pumping systems are experiencing vibration or water hammer which is damaging pipes, causing downtime or disrupting your operational efficiency; Pye-Barker can supply and install the pump dampening solution for your problems.
Give us a call on 404-363-6000 or drop us a line at sales@pyebarker.com, we’ll take care if the rest.
While the ‘too much’ point for water in a compressed air system varies according to its application, we all know the effects of that water in the system. It can collect in your pipes and equipment where it can cause rust and require premature replacement of the various system components. Additional leaks increase running costs (A single leak may cost you $2,000 per year). Finally water in air means water in your tools damaging them or you end up with air that doesn’t meet compliance standards.
Humidity – The bane of air compressors and compressed air systems.
We all know air has water in it – they tell us how much on the news every night when they report humidity. In Atlanta we see an average relative humidity of 82% in the morning and 52% in the afternoon. {https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/Georgia/humidity-annual.php}
Thank goodness for air conditioning, right? The point is there is a lot of water in the air.
When your compressor is running that means that water in the air is going to be sucked into the compressor along with the air and the particulates. When we compress air it gets hot, basic physics. PV=nRT. While the air is hot it can hold all that atmospheric water. However, as the temperature starts to decrease it can hold less of that water as a vapor, so it condenses.
The water in your compressed air condenses the same way. Then you have water in your pipes, in your tools. Exactly where you don’t it want to be.
Remember, there are also other forms of impurities in compressed air including oils (from the compressor, if you haven’t switched to an oil-less) and other particulates. You need to be very clear about the end quality/qualities of air you require for your systems and processes. The more pure/higher the quality you need the more capital investment and running cost you’ll incur.
Once you know your requirements it’s very easy for us to recommend a solution. For air at the lower end of the purity spectrum, it might be enough just to have a good filtration system. For higher quality air, a dryer might be the best course of action. However with the high relative humidity in Georgia, it make sense to install a dryer to reduce maintenance costs.
For industrial applications, installing a Non-Cycling Air Dryer would be the best alternative. It’s easy to install, its energy efficient and will provide air quality that is suitable for those purposes. Gardner Denver’s RNC Series of Non-cycling air dryers are designed to be energy efficient and provide a low pressure drop in the system while they operate.
For food/medical/pharmaceutical grade air, Gardner Denver’s RNC Series can be customized to meet the relevant standards while still being easy to install and energy efficient.
If you need to get water out of your compressed air system, then give the team at Pye-Barker a call on 404-363-6000 or drop us a line at sales@pyebarker.com. We can come and inspect your compressed air system and see how we can help you to meet your air quality standards and reduce your operating and maintenance costs.
Historically our clients have been very diligent about installing monitoring solutions for their mission critical pumps. Due to the cost of installing the system and the cost of ongoing maintenance of the system, condition monitoring solutions for all pumps on site has been typically unrealistic.
Manual monitoring of the remaining pumps or a policy of ‘run until breakdown’ is normal which in light of today’s technology can prove to be MORE expensive and unnecessary.
Older monitoring systems meant wiring the sensors into the control center; it was expensive, time consuming and created a lot of infrastructure to maintain.
It meant a limited roll out of electronic condition monitoring to pumps with either a high risk of maintenance issues or a high impact when a maintenance issue does occur. For example – pumps that have repeat failures, pumps without spares or pumps where failure could cause an environmental incident.
With the advances of wireless technology the same monitoring systems can be installed without the time or expense of maintaining a complicated infrastructure. It has now become affordable to install a higher quality monitoring system across more of your pumping process system.
These three monitoring applications can help a plant implement predictive maintenance systems which can reduce maintenance costs, unexpected failures, repair and overhaul time – and at the same time increase uptime by up to 30% and increase MTBF.
Affordable Monitoring Application #1: Cavitation
While many cases of cavitation occur when a pump is operated outside of their design specifications, there are still times when a pump operating within its specifications can still experience cavitation.
A simple discharge pressure monitoring system (consisting of vibration monitoring and discharge pressure) can give your central monitoring system an alert when a pump is likely ‘pre-cavitation.’ Depending on the frequency of manual rounds this might mean the prevention of damage and downtime compared to discovering cavitation in progress.
For high-head multi-stage pumps – the risk of damage with even brief periods of cavitation means that pressure differential across the pump should be continuously monitored.
Affordable Monitoring Application #2: Vibration
Vibration monitoring systems can give you indicators on running condition as well as faults and failures. Vibration transmitters can give you a series of vibration frequencies which can in turn be used to diagnose the cause of the vibrations in a given pump.
Affordable Monitoring Application #3: Pump Seal Monitoring
For pumps that have auxiliary seal flush system, API 682 recommends moving from switches to continuous level management.
With recent advances in technology, rather than having to wire the monitoring system into the network it can be installed wirelessly and then connected to the central monitoring system.
I’ll admit it may take some retrofitting of technology to get the seal flush reservoirs installed so they can be remotely monitored. But continuous monitoring will give far more lead time to address maintenance issues compared to intermittent manual maintenance inspections of pump seals.
If it is time to increase the reliability of your pumping systems then the team here at Pye-Barker can help you select and install pump monitoring systems for your plant. Drop us a line at sales@pyebarker.com or call 404-363-6000 for help with all your pumping system needs.
