The importance of pumps to the daily operation of buildings and processes necessitates a proactive maintenance program, which incorporates a preventative and predictive maintenance schedule. Most pump maintenance activities centre on checking packing and mechanical seals for leakage, performance maintenance activities on bearings, assuring proper alignment, and improving efficiency. Improving efficiency will decrease both maintenance and operating costs.
Basic Measure to Improve Pump efficiency:
- Shut down unnecessary pumps.
- Restore internal clearances if performance has changed.
- Trim or change impellers if head is higher than necessary.
- Control throttle instead of running wide-open or bypassing flow.
- Replace oversized pumps.
- Use multiple pumps instead of one large one.
- Use a small booster pump.
- Change the speed of a pump for the most efficient match of kilowatts requirements with output. This also may be achieved by the installations of a variable speed drive.
Excessive pump maintenance
This is often associated with one of the following:
- Oversized pumps that are heavily throttled.
- Pumps in cavitation.
- Badly worn pumps.
- Pumps that are misapplied for the present operation.
- Changes from design conditions. Changes in plant operating conditions (expansions, shutdowns, etc.) can cause pumps that were previously well applied to operate at reduced efficiency.
