Equipment Knowledge

Equipment Knowledge

Why Do Pump Bearings Fail?

What do we mean by good bearing life? Most of us change the bearings every time we disassemble the equipment to replace the mechanical seal or the packing sleeve. Is this really a sensible thing to do? If you think about it for a minute there is nothing in a bearing to wear out, there are no sacrificial parts.

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Equipment Knowledge

Troubleshoot AC Motors

The following charts will give you multiple pathways to assist when you are attempting to troubleshoot AC Motors. The 4 problems covered are: Problem A – Motor won’t start or motor accelerates too slowly, Problem B – Motor runs noisy, Problem C – Motor overheats, Problem D – Motor bearings run hot or noisy

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Equipment Knowledge

Pumps: You Get What You Pay For… Or Do You?

One of the most costly mistakes that almost every company makes with its pumps is to actually buy the wrong pump. Sadly, this is a situation that occurs with much more frequency than anyone would care to admit. The ramifications are truly enormous—and they are magnified even more in tough economic environments. Efficiency drops. Reliability plummets. Maintenance costs rise dramatically. Even in the best of times, you couldn’t afford to gamble on the efficiency and reliability of your pumping systems. Don’t start now.

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Equipment Knowledge

Who Should Recondition My Seals?

Such a question often comes up when it is time to recondition a mechanical seal: We use several different brands of mechanical seals in my plant. When a pump is taken out of service, we usually send the seal back to the original seal manufacturer for reconditioning. One of my suppliers has offered to recondition all of my seals, regardless of brand. Is this a good idea? Most process plant maintenance departments return their used mechanical seals to the original seal manufacturer (or Seal OEM) for reconditioning.

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Equipment Knowledge

What is a valve?

The valve is one of the most basic and indispensable components of our modern technological society. It is essential to virtually all manufacturing processes and every energy production and supply system. Yet it is one of the oldest products known to man, with a history of thousands of years.

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Engineering

Understanding Shaft Alignment: Basics

Part one of a four-part series that will cover alignment fundamentals and thermal growth, and highlight the importance of field measurements through two case studies. Despite the best efforts to precisely align rotating machinery shafts, dynamic movement (commonly believed to be due to the thermal growth of the machine casings) has resulted in machines operating at less than optimum alignment conditions. This vexing problem has plagued machine reliability professionals for decades.

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Engineering

Understanding the ‘Diesel Effect’ and How it Damages Hydraulic Cylinders

I was recently engaged by a client to conduct failure analysis on a large (and expensive) double-acting cylinder off a hydraulic excavator. This cylinder had been changed-out due to leaking rod seals after achieving only half of its expected service life. Inspection revealed that apart from the rod seals, which had failed as a result of the ‘diesel effect’, the other parts of the cylinder were in serviceable condition. The diesel effect occurs in a hydraulic cylinder when air is drawn past the rod seals, mixes with the hydraulic fluid and explodes when pressurized.

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Equipment Knowledge

The 7 Secrets of Pump Reliability

Contrary to popular opinion, a centrifugal pump is not designed to develop a specific head at a certain capacity as requested by the pump purchaser. In fact a pump is designed and built to produce a whole range of head-capacity conditions as identified by it’s performance curve. The pump will operate on that curve if it is driven at the designated speed.

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