-21-June-2006

Tales of a pump user

Pump consultant Joe Askew speaks to lead mechanical engineer Phil White about his experiences from the point of view of a pump user – the usefulness of manufacturers, the expertise of engineers, and how both could be improved.

Joe Askew: How helpful are manufacturers in providing you with the correct type of system? Do they try to be fair, and recommend the best system?

Phil White: Manufacturers do a fair job of providing the right system. However, sometimes when the system is not a textbook case or the fit is not good, they seem limited as to what they can do. Some try to push pre-engineered pumps in a box; but most will tell you if they don’t have a pump that fits the need or hydraulics. Support from the factory is apparently not flexible.

Joe Askew: How adaptable are pump manufacturers in accommodating user requests?

Phil White: A select few have found that to be competitive they do need to try and accommodate user requests. Many ‘old school’ pump companies are fairly blunt in telling you that they “just provide the pump”.

Joe Askew: In your experience, how well do companies truly understand pumps and pumping systems? What relation is there between the systems companies ‘think’ they are operating and the systems they ‘do’ operate?

Phil White: People operating the pumps have little or no knowledge of what :they are doing with or to the pumps. The pumps seem to be a means to an end and most operators don’t understand how a pump can help them with the process.

Joe Askew: How could the operators be more knowledgeable about pumps and systems? What type of pump and system training would be useful?

Phil White: In many cases, the operator knows very little about the system or the pumps in their system. Therefore, it is difficult for them to tell if the system is operating correctly. Because of this, they manipulate the pump in a wide variety of ways in order to move liquid. Specific training for the system and the pumps relative to the process they are carrying out would be the best solution. However, that is unlikely to happen.

Joe Askew: How much pump and pump system troubleshooting are most operators expected to do?

Phil White: In general, they will not be expected to do much troubleshooting, but if a problem occurs at two o’clock in the morning, they will be the first responders and don’t want to leave with production on the sheets. They must begin the troubleshooting, as best as they can, out of necessity.

Joe Askew: How much pump and pump system troubleshooting are most operators capable of doing?

Phil White: Given the right criteria, checklists and tools, they are at least capable of generating useful data from which others can draw inferences and speed up the troubleshooting process.

Joe Askew: Do suppliers give you good advice with regards to the service and maintenance of your pumps?

Phil White: Suppliers give good advice – but it is much like the suggested service your automobile maker provides. Most people/companies don’t follow that advice.

Joe Askew: What technological solution in pumps has impressed you the most and the least?

Phil White: Pumps seem to have become more resilient out of necessity. They take a lot of abuse and for the most part provide good service even in severe use. Run to failure, though, is an expensive proposition but seems to be the mode of operation for many facilities. The least impressive solution – it seems that everyone is creating innovative products, but they are going to market too quickly. The innovation is therefore not tried and tested and fails.

Joe Askew: What role does external monitoring, such as suction/discharge pressure gauges and flow meters play in the operation and maintenance of your pumps?

Phil White: These devices should be mandatory, but in reality seem to depend on who is installing the pump. They are invaluable when evaluating pumps but are usually not considered worth the investment, and often become a casualty of project budgeting.

Joe Askew: Which one configuration change in pumps/systems would you make if you could?

Phil White: There needs to be an immediate diagnostic tool available and data such as amps, inlet and exit pressures and system curves should be quickly available. Most engineers armed with that information could quickly make some useful deductions about the system. But this information is often difficult to obtain. Many plants do not even have pump/system curves on hand any more. Many installations do not provide any of this information, so that an engineer trying to troubleshoot must have portable and external tools for data collection. This leads to erroneous data and wrong conclusions.

Joe Askew: Are you saying that the pump should have readout/feedback capabilities for pump/system curves and suction and discharge pressure? What are the “portable and external tools for data collection”? Do most plants supply these tools to the plant/ maintenance/ reliability engineer? Are they used to troubleshoot pumps/ systems?

Phil White: No, I would not expect a pump to be able to have all that but these tools and the curves need to be readily available. Installing permanent files somewhere on the internet might be a solution. These tools are not necessarily available to plant personnel. In short, the troubleshooting tools, experience and skills for troubleshooting pumps and system problems don’t have a good basis in most plants. Pump companies could be better armed to do this on an as-needed basis.

Joe Askew: How much difference does awareness of life cycle costs make?

Phil White: In over 15 years’ experience of working with pumps, I have never heard the life cycle cost mentioned. Most users simply expect to install the pump and forget about it and/or repair it as needed.

Joe Askew: How much does energy savings in pump efficiency matter to you when selecting a pump?

Phil White: Rarely does the energy efficiency of a pump get looked at. What the pump needs to do, in the way of rate and head, takes precedence, and energy consumption takes a back seat.

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