- 30 August 2006 -

All pumps go to heaven

Pump consultant Joe Askew offers a whimsical, anecdotal look at how, in an ideal world, centrifugal pumps should be treated - working for the application they were designed for, processing the correct materials, being properly lubricated and undergoing frequent maintenance.

Welcome to Pump Heaven! Pump Heaven is an independently operated safe haven for all those centrifugal pumps longing for a safe place to reside, offering a pleasant environment for pumps to perform their pumping duties. We at Pump Heaven have made a solemn pledge to all the pumps that seek refuge within our secure compound. That pledge is outlined in our Corporate Mission Statement that is proudly displayed upon entering the Pearly White Gates.

Pump Heaven corporate mission statement

Overtime work
We at Pump Heaven will never overwork our centrifugal pumps. You were designed and created for a specific purpose and function and were meant to operate at specific conditions of service covering your pumping capacity, pump head and operating speed. Your particular design criteria will always be respected here and we will never knowingly ask you to work beyond your individual capabilities.

Toxic chemicals
Pump Heaven recognises that all of our pumps have been designed to handle a certain type, concentration, and temperature of a fluid. Your materials of construction are as individual to you as a human's body tissue and blood type. We understand that even slight variations in the fluids you pump can have disastrous results. We will never introduce into your wet-end any other process fluid(s) that your blood and guts cannot adequately handle. We conduct routine quality control checks to insure that no unwanted or unknown chemical additives are introduced into your process flow stream.

Pump Heaven will not scrub your insides with any chemical that you were not originally designed to handle. We have heard horror stories from some of our residents that came to us from other After Pump Life facilities. Those pumps tell us that they were subjected to wash-down cycles using low concentrations of hot sulphuric acid even though they were never designed for those harsh chemicals. Pump Heaven un-derstands the importance of honouring your manufacturers' desires to pump only those fluids you were originally designed to pump. Our staff have also been alerted to making sure those products you pump are safe for your mechanical seal.

Nutrition
Proper diet and exercise is crucial to all species - including centrifugal pumps. Good exercise seems to come naturally during your normal pumping day. Correct nutrition, on the other hand, is a top priority here at Pump Heaven. We have seen some pumps arrive at our front gates with completely failed bearings, showing signs of extreme overheating, spalling, and just completely destroyed from mal-nutrition. But bearings demand proper sustenance or they will refuse to function correctly.

To that end, Pump Heaven pledges to always make sure that you have the correct lubrication. That will include feeding you the right grease or oil in adequate quantities to fulfill your manufacturer's desires for your particular bearings. We will never substitute lubrication that may look like the lubrication you are supposed to have, but which, in fact, isn't. We will never feed you a lubricant that is contaminated with foreign materials like water, sand, or chemicals. All of the lubrication products stocked here at Pump Heaven are of the highest quality and undergo rigorous quality checks to insure their viability and freshness for your nutritional needs.

We fully appreciate that even a slight amount of off-spec substances in your lubrication can cause your bearings to pre-maturely fail. Our goal is for all our pumps to have happy bearings.

Safety from violence
We offer our pumps in residence the commitment that we will keep you safe from violence. That will include any unwanted external influence that may invade our process fluids. For clean fluid pumps we are adamant about keeping our suction strainers in tip-top condition. Pump Heaven understands completely the importance of making sure no foreign object makes its way into your liquid end.

Our strainers are set up to keep out items such as welding rods, slag, scale, grit, rags, wood, and even sand. If necessary we will even go the extra mile installing secondary and even tertiary strainers to insure the safety of our pumps. Our staff are instructed to make sure these strainers are checked regularly and cleaned of debris. In all cases we have duplex strainers installed so we can maintain process flow through the system while conducting maintenance on either side of the strainer. We know that a happy pump is a well functioning pump, and Pump Heaven prides itself on being the most sought after place among all of the After Pump Life facilities.

Assisted living
Oh yes - we do provide assisted living here at Pump Heaven. All of our pumps come to us requiring a certain amount of assistance even to function during their normal pumping day. Pump Heaven is fully aware of our centrifugal pumps' requirements for sufficient process energy at the pump inlet to perform the flow and head duties as dictated by their creator. We painstakingly ensure that you are provided more than sufficient energy at your suction, which we call Net Positive Suction Head or NPSH for short. Each of our pumps has their own unique NPSH requirements that are kept on file at our central records department.

Here at Pump Heaven we also monitor suction pressures to ensure they do not fall below our prescribed minimum for your particular needs. Fluid temperature is also carefully controlled within a specified design range. Elevated fluid temperatures will increase a fluid's vapour pressure, which in turn reduces the available energy at your inlet to properly function. Whether you are pumping from a tank with a positive suction or from a below grade sump, Pump Heaven will never allow the fluid levels to drop below where you are comfortable.

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