Worn impellor and wear plate.
What is not obvious in this image, but was found was the erosion on the flutes of the impellor. Both impellor and wear plate were replaced during refurbishment
Pioneer Pump Refurbishment
Are capital funds in short supply? Does a saving of 50-60% sound good to you? Then refurbishment could be an option.
Qualtex has gained a reputation for quality pump refurbishment. Although pump refurbishment can be considered a relatively simple job there are still aspects which can catch you out. It is our focus to ensure we follow best practice while refurbishing any plant, whether it is a pump, spindle, gear box or decanter. Our target is to ensure our customers get the best possible performance from their plant within the boundaries of age and use.
Recently we refurbished a Pioneer Pump; upon opening the pump there were a number of issues. Namely the pump had been patched up. Whilst a patch up can be acceptable in an emergency breakdown situation it can cause reliability issues if left as a long term solution.In this example there were stilson marks on the shaft, speedy sleeves had been fitted to the seal diameters and the impellor had been incorrectly set up within the pump housing; increasing the load on the mechanical seal and possibly being the cause of seal failure.
The best solution was to return the pump to the manufacturers’ standard by hard chroming and regrinding the seal diameters to the original sizes and positioning the impellor as per the manufacturers’ specifications. All parts were cleaned and inspected. In addition our engineer replaced the bearings, mechanical seal, impellor, wear plate, set axial end floats and reset the clearance tolerance of the impellor. If impellor clearance is too large the pump gets water slippage, decreasing its efficiency. If the gap is too tight the impellor can impinge on the housing, so clearly its something you want to get right. During the pump refurbishment we were also able to increase the pumps speed to achieve the customers required flow rates, whilst remaining within specifications.
The pump is finally set to the base and soft footed, reducing stress on the frame. We then use our Easy Laser Belt aligning tool and belt tensioning tool to accurately align and set up the drive components. Alignment is proven to increase the life and reliability of drive components and bearings.
In situations where motors and pumps are direct coupled they will be aligned with the use of one of our shaft lasers.
If you are experiencing reliability issues with pumps and are considering buying a new one, why not give Qualtex a call to discuss refurbishment options?
