Some owners of manufacturing plants may blame guide bearings for the pump failures that they keep experiencing. Such people may keep replacing the old bearings with new ones without seeing any change in the frequency of pump failures. This article discusses some of the problems that you should investigate in order to understand the root cause of frequent guide bearing failures in industrial pumps.
Inappropriate Strainers
Pumps that pump fluids containing debris, such as solid wastes from manufacturing processes, require large strainers with the correct size of holes to keep the debris from causing the pump to develop clogs. The pumps may cavitate and fail in case the strainers are clogged by debris. You should therefore start the pump repair process by inspecting the strainer to confirm that its hole size is appropriate for the kind of debris contained in the fluid that is being pumped. Replace the strainers so that the pump's guide bearings don't fail as a result of debris.
Improper Machining of Bearing Bores
The guide bearings may also fail frequently if the bearing bores are unbalanced due to improper machining during maintenance work. Unbalanced bores cause bearings to wear out quickly on one side due to the uneven application of the system's pressure within the bearing assembly. This can be confirmed by looking at old bearings in order to see whether they aged uniformly. Bearing bores should be machined afresh to the tolerances specified for that pump. The restoration of balance will get rid of premature bearing failure.
Poor Pump Alignment
How frequently do you check the alignment of your pumps on their mounts? You may be incurring high pump repair costs because the pump wasn't correctly aligned when it was installed. Use more than one tool, such as a spirit level and an infrared scanner, to confirm that the pump is level on its base. Otherwise, the guide bearings will keep failing prematurely because pump loads aren't distributed evenly due to an imbalance in the position of the pump.
Inadequate Lubrication
Are the bearing lubricants that you use suitable for the conditions at your facility? Guide bearings can fail frequently if the lubricants used aren't adequate for the conditions, such as temperature and contaminant exposure, at your facility. Infrequent lubricant changes may also cause the bearings to fail once the degraded lubricants aren't removed in time. You should therefore analyse the lubricants that you use so that any anomalies can be fixed in order to end the frequent guide bearing failures.
Ask pump repair professionals like those at Global Rewinds to analyse your pumps in case the suggestions above don't produce positive outcomes in the service life of the guide bearings.
Share30 January 2017
Greetings to all who come here. My name is Brad Hansen and I am an accountant who happens to know an awful lot about wells. My church began charity work in Cambodia over a decade ago and it has installed dozens of wells in villages across the country. Before I started helping in Cambodia, I had no idea about different types of water pumps. Over the years, I have learnt that different pumps are needed depending on terrain and usage. Of course, making sure that pumps are cost effective and easily maintained is important for charity projects. These days, I use my accountancy skills to purchase water pumps and other equipment at the best possible prices. Initially, I honed my understandings through research and talking to experts, so I feel that I have some knowledge to share. I hope readers of this blog find it helpful. Peace to you all.
