How to ensure you get the right pump for each application; maximize the life of each pump and minimize operating costs -- while avoiding the traps associated with just "keeping the line running."
Pressure and viscosity of the fluid being pumped are critical in influencing what type of
pump is best suited for the application. However, reality and best practices often collide.
When our pump specialists end up talking to a client about a pump that the client is using and wondering “what on earth happened for that pump to be installed in that application?”
There was just no way that we would recommend a centrifugal pump be used to pump highly
viscous liquids. Likewise there is no way we’d recommend the client use a positive
displacement pump to pump water when the client needs lower pressure and a high flow
rate.
However the pump is there and it has failed prematurely and the client needs to find a way to
get their operation back online.
Usually the common reasons we see include:
1. Convenience – the pump that just failed was installed because it happened to be on
the shelf at the time the old pump failed – and ‘anything was better than nothing’
2. The supplier recommended a pump that they could supply, but there are better classes
of pump for the application on the market
3. The plant engineer buys a pump based on his experience and past practices. This may
not reflect current best practices.
Every time the ‘wrong’ class of pump is used, the operating costs and maintenance costs are
going to be higher than necessary, pumps will fail sooner driving both capital and operating
costs up.
What Can Go Wrong When You Use The Wrong Pump?
In the end it is a failure to look at the system as a whole rather than by assessing the purchase as a set of independent parts.
Operating Costs. Between 40% and 60% of the total cost of ownership of a pump will be
maintenance and power costs. The ongoing operating and maintenance costs can be even
higher if the system isn’t built to keep operating costs to a minimum.
Using the wrong pump means higher energy requirements than necessary. On a 25hp pump, paying 10% more in running costs might not be a big deal. However a 5% premium in power consumption on a 200hp pump will cost you thousands of dollars per year.
Many of the supporting technologies such as ‘smart’ controls and variable frequency drives
may not be compatible if the pump has been installed just to keep the line moving, causing
further problems.
Warranty Concerns. A pump used well outside of its performance curve is going to fail
prematurely. It may even fail during its warranty period.
Obviously the manufacturer is not going to warrant a pump that is not being used within its operating parameters – at the very least, checking with the supplier when you install a pump in a pinch, you’ll know what you
are getting yourself into and can perhaps get hold of a more suitable pump before the pump
you are about to install fails.
There can be nothing more frustrating than finding out after a pump has failed that the
manufacturer doesn’t have to honor its warranty because you were not using a particular
pump properly.
When the pump finally does fail then the cycle repeats and the wrong pump is installed again.
This means both operating and capital costs remain unnecessarily high when the wrong pump is installed again.
The next time you experience this problem it might be time to change your approach.
How Do We End The Cycle Of Using The Wrong Pumps For Each Application?
There is a very simple solution to avoiding this cycle of wrong pump, high costs, premature
failure.
Step one is to break the cycle when the next pump fails by bringing in some outside expertise.
A lot of plants won’t or can’t spare the money to bring in a design engineer to specify their
pumps however a good engineered solutions provider can often times provide a lot of the
same input for a fraction of the cost if you are willing to purchase their solution from them.
They can then help you get your line back up and running as quickly as possible and at the
same time should be able to provide a solution that will work for that particular line far better
than the pumps that are currently being used and are failing.
Once that line is under control a plant-wide audit of all your pumps and their performance
curves should be undertaken so that each pump can have its performance optimized when it
finally ends its life or the operational costs savings make replacing it a ‘deal too good to
refuse.’
What Are The Benefits To Managing Pump Lifecycles?
Moving to a systems approach for your pumps will help you and your plant to achieve the following:
Drive Down Operating Costs
Around 30% of a centrifugal pump’s TCO is energy consumption (purchase is about 10%).
Repairs and maintenance runs at about 20%.
Minimizing power consumption should be a chief goal in your purchasing process. It will pay off over the life of the pump.
A systems approach to purchasing will be your best bet for getting the lowest possible power
consumption because as the pump system is designed, choices about pump model and
accessories can be made that will help to keep the power consumption as low as possible
given your current situation.
Meeting Application Performance Goals
When you are making an investment in a pump, it’s worth remembering that it’s not actually
a pump you want. You actually want a flow rate of liquid at a specified pressure. Delivering
the specified output can mean productivity gains in a production setting which turns into
increased profit.
When you have the right pumps available you avoid the ‘anything was better than nothing’
trap.
Managing Downtime AND Preventing Breakdowns
When purchasing pumps you have two main ways to prevent breakdowns. The first is select
the best pump for the job which will minimize frequency of breakdowns and outages. The
second way is to make sure that adequate redundancy is available so that when a breakdown does occur then it doesn’t cause the operation to grind to a complete halt.
Taking time to understand your goals and what is acceptable allows the best decision to be
made to create redundancy. This might range from having redundant capacity installed, to
having a replacement pump on the shelf ready to go or having a replacement pump at your
supplier warehouse a, to just accepting the lead time to order a new one from a supplier when it does break down.
That way the purchaser knows what they are in for in advance and to plan accordingly.
Which Industries Could This Work For?
This approach to managing pump lifecycles would work in the following industries:
Food & beverage
Pharmaceuticals
Pulp & paper
Chemicals & Petrochemicals
Transportation
Wastewater treatment plants
Electrical & electronics
Oil & gas
Any many more.
How Much More Efficient Would It Be To Have This?
Once a plant has had all of its pumping applications carefully mapped out, it becomes
possible for you to save your maintenance team’s time and effort by utilizing Pye-Barker to
design build and commission your pump systems and work with you to keep inventory costs
to a minimum.
It takes specialized knowledge to build fully integrated pump assemblies. There is a lot
involved: getting components to integrate and work together, testing to make sure they are
working as specified – it can be hard work for an overwhelmed maintenance team who are
not ‘elbows deep’ in this work every day.
In the end this investment can help to keep save your maintenance team countless hours, keep your applications running smoothly.
A strong inventory management process is required. A big reason the wrong pump ends up
getting used is that ‘it’s what we had on the shelf when the last pump failed.’
The easiest way to end this is to work with a supplier to manage your inventory with you.
Part of that is they need to know what you have in your inventory so that they can advise you
about what pumps you should be carrying, and what they need to carry so that if a given
pump fails they can pick it and get it installed for you as quickly as possible.
That way when a pump fails unexpectedly, you aren’t left high and dry trying to make a
metaphorical square peg fit into a round hole.
Of course this means you need to find the right supply company that can analyze your current
plant, do the engineering to optimize each line, supply the right systems and manage your
inventory with you so that you are never left in a jam looking for the replacement pump you
need.
What To Look For When Assessing A Pump Systems Provider
Based on 150 years of engineering experience at Pye-Barker, here are some of the top
considerations for selecting a pump systems provider – they should help you evaluate your
vendor and get you the best possible result:
1. Who is going to be designing the system for us?
2. How much experience do they have designing similar systems?
3. What will my projected total cost of ownership be?
4. Can it be made better?
5. How big a range of products can they access?
6. In situations where space is at a premium: Is the system occupying the smallest
footprint possible?
7. Who is going to be building this system for us?
8. How much experience do they have building, testing and commissioning systems like
this?
9. What are our costs if the project is delayed?
10. What is the cost of lost production if the project is delayed?
11. Who is going to look do the maintenance in the long term?
12. Who is responsible for the system long term?
13. Who will I be dealing with if there are warranty problems? (Do I want to have a
single contact for the whole system or will I be chasing component manufacturers?)
About Pye-Baker’s Pumps Systems Consulting, Supplying And Installation
Pye-Barker can optimize your entire plant’s pumps and other positive displacement
technologies. We can advise you on the design, specification, provide all the parts for your
pump system, install them and maintain them for you. With 150 years of positive
displacement engineering experience. There isn’t an application we haven’t had direct
experience with already and worked out how to custom design and build a system for it.
Pye Barker specializes in managing the entire process of designing, building and repairing
pump systems so that their clients never have to worry about them during any part of their
lifecycle.
All Pye-Barker designs that are built and installed by Pye-Barker are guaranteed to get the
specified performance, otherwise Pye-Barker will guarantee to keep working with you until
your pump system works as specified even if it means installing a whole new pump.
What To Do Next
If you are planning to build, upgrade or add a pump system, the first step to getting the right
performance is a no-cost, no-obligation “Design Needs Assessment.” To schedule your
“Design Needs Assessment” call 404-363-6000, or send an email to sales@pyebarker.com or
go to https://pyebarker.com/contact/#quote
This post was brought to you by Pye-Barker Engineered Solutions in partnership with IndustryNet.
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