Smart maintenance of a water pump can be in several ways which are as follows:
Table of Contents
Preventative Maintenance
In this type, you take proper steps to prevent a component from failing. Well, there are no specific actions that you can take and companies are still figuring it out.
Reactionary Maintenance
In this type of maintenance, the equipment is already failed and you need to fix it. You have a spare for this case as you cannot afford to run without a spare. It is normal to install spare as it helps a lot.
Predictive Maintenance
In it, you take specific readings from a plant to be able to predict a problem and can calculate the estimated time before failure. You need to take a lot of information for this, but still, it is difficult to figure out how to use this information. These readings are noted and can be used to stop equipment when a predictive limit has been reached.
Continuous Diagnostic
In this maintenance, you constantly take note of significant changes in the readings. The main purpose of this is to predict impending failure.
History
You also need to have a record of the past failure of the component. In this way, you can estimate the life of new equipment as it related to the previous one. No matter, what type of maintenance we use, but still the reactionary maintenance is the reality of all plants today. We take readings in almost all the types, so it is important to know which information we gather.
The Readings We Note
We monitor the following readings in a plant:
Heat Readings
Reading the amount of heat in seal and bearing case can help predict the MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure). This reading helps predict cavitation, so we can fix it before it fails. Moreover, it can help predict the internal recirculation and flow problems.
Pressure Readings
You can read the pressure readings at suction, stuffing box and pump discharge to check if you are in the operating range of the seal.
Speed Readings
A motor is used in the pump which has variable frequency and the curves made can help you predict a problem.
Noise Readings
We also read noise from the pump as it can help indicate a problem with bearing, rubbing and cavitation.
Flow Readings
Flow can help indicate problems with the discharge recirculation system, impeller adjustment, and wear rings.
Monitoring of Vibration
Companies also monitor the vibration of the pump which is dependent on acceleration, amplitude, frequency, velocity, I.P.S and other technical jargon. There may be the acceleration responsible for the vibrations in the system. However, the system depends on the frequency of vibration. Most of the people monitor the measured sound like a reference to find any problem in the system. If you note any abnormal behavior, you should shut down the system for inspection. This way, you can ensure that the equipment is safe and there is no major failure occur.
