It was one of the harshest boiler-room sump situations I’d ever seen. That was one ugly sump pit. The fluid was loaded with abrasive slag and a lot of it. This was at a power plant, actually.
The sump pumps being used were fine, except for one thing – as the seals began to wear, water would seep into the lubrication oil which caused a lot of problems.
The pumps worked, but they needed to be replaced or repaired way to often.
At the time we had recently added a new pump in our arsenal from HEVVY. It was their new HNS sump pump with a patented Plenum54 Pressurized Slurry Sealing System. Plus, this pump had a new XD (Extreme Duty) Tandem Seal.
I understand the hesitancy to change. You always think the disruption of the change may not be worth the effort, but we are the pump experts and we figured out the best and fastest way to get the new technology in this application.
One stipulation the customer had: they wanted to make sure they could use their old discharge piping / hose. We figured out how to surmount that obstacle. Since the HNS is a modular design, we are using the DP50B Wet End on their HNS which eliminated any issue with piping / adapter changes.
Wow, what a difference! The customer has extended their seal life and no longer has to pull their pumps due to water in their lubrication oil. Saving time, saving money, saving all that messy disruption. The customer is ecstatic.
If there is any theme out there in the world of pumps, it is this: make sure you have the best pump, applied properly, for that particular application.
What are your problem areas? Chances are there is a better way to move that fluid.
By Eric Marion