This document provides guidance on pump maintenance and troubleshooting. It discusses different types of maintenance including fix-on-failure, scheduled, preventive, and predictive maintenance. The document then covers mechanical and hydraulic pump problems, whether internal or external to the pump. Specific issues that could cause problems are identified. The importance of qualitative measurements like sounds and smells is emphasized. Case studies using gauge readings to troubleshoot issues are presented. Maintaining pumps is important to avoid downtime and costs.

1. PUMP MAINTENANCE
AND TROUBLESHOOTING
Brian Gongol
DJ Gongol & Associates, Inc.
January 27, 2016
NWOD Snowball Conference
Kearney, Nebraska

2. Not all maintenance is worth doing!

3. Maintenance is about one thing
Getting the full life-cycle value from a product

4. Extending life means actively saving money

5. Think of operational savings in pretax dollars
$1.25 to $1.33 in pretax income
to the ordinary taxpayer

6. So let's save some money!

7. Types of maintenance
 Fix on failure
 Scheduled
 Preventive
 Predictive

8. Each approach has its place

9. Fix on failure
When it's cheap, simple, and in-stock, like a pen

10. Scheduled maintenance
When there is lots of data from prior experience

11. Preventive maintenance
When a failure puts you at serious risk
of long-term downtime

12. Predictive maintenance
When the signals of trouble are well-known
and surveillance is cheap

13. In the context of your health...

14. Fix on failure
Bandage on a papercut

15. Scheduled maintenance
Getting your annual physical
(prostate exams, colonoscopies, cholesterol tests...)

16. Preventive maintenance
Regular exercise

17. Predictive maintenance
 Blood pressure checks
 Body-composition bathroom scales
 Blood-sugar tests

18. We rely too heavily on fix-on-failure
(Not a recommended
maintenance strategy.)

19. You would never fly Fix-On-Failure Airlines

20. Avoid the curse of Shary Bobbins

21. Always put safety first

22. You are the most valuable piece of equipment

23. Lock out, tag out

24. Check for gases

25. Seriously. Check for gases.

26. Prevent slips, trips, and falls
Carpet pattern designed as if to maximize disorientation
CenturyLink Center, Omaha

27. Prevent muscle strain

28. Keep safety equipment in good repair
 Guards
 Belts
 Sensors
 Handrails

29. Measurement means control

30. Everyone knows quantitative measurements

31. Pump run times

32. Energy consumption

33. Flows

34. Pressure readings

35. Oil temperatures

36. Motor casing temperatures

37. But qualitative measurements matter, too

38. Vibration

39. Smells/scents/odors

40. Smells/scents/odors
 bitter
 burnt
 citrusy
 fermented
 fishy
 fresh
 fruity
 grassy
 hot
 moldy
 musty
 oily
 oppressive
 organic
 pungent
 rotten
 sharp
 smoky
 sour
 sulfuric
 sweet

41. Sounds

42. Sounds
 bassy
 buzz
 chirp
 clack
 clap
 click
 crescendo
 dissonant
 echo
 grind
 growl
 harmonic
 hum
 knock
 loud
 muffled
 piercing
 ping
 quiet
 rattle
 rhythmic
 ringing
 rumble
 screech
 sharp
 squeak
 squeal
 staccato
 tap
 whinny
 whoosh

43. Why take measurements?
And keep qualitative records?

44. From fix-on-failure to anticipation
Making the change means
collecting and using data

45. Not appropriate to everything

46. Litmus test
If downtime would wake you in the middle of the night
and a replacement isn't on your own shelf,
use some kind of predictive/preventive measurement

47. Make it easy to measure and record

48. Make it easy to review performance

49. Take the time to review

50. I-35W: Calculations were "too much work"

51. Take records straight to a tablet or netbook
 Eliminates handwriting errors
 Eliminates copying errors
 Promotes rapid visualization

52. Prices are so low, it's highly justifiable

53. Use free resources

54. E-mail

55. Calendars

56. Charts and task lists

57. 7x7

58. Make them easy to digest at a glance

59. People like to keep up unbroken chains

60. "X" days without a safety incident

61. Know your indicators
 Problem indicators
 Smoke from under the hood
 Planned indicators
 Squeaking brakes

62. Conduct a post-mortem on failures and incidents
 What did it cost you?
 What signals were missed?

63. Primary predictive-maintenance indicators
 Temperatures
 Oil/lubricant conditions
 Ultrasonic analysis
 Vibration
 Performance trends

64. Nobody wants to do the dirtiest job

65. Create a culture that encourages maintenance
Starting with ownership of the process

66. Wax/paint/clean the equipment

67. Broken window effect

68. A baseline for what's right...
...makes it easier to see when something's wrong

69. A hidden payback
When you practice regular maintenance,
you get to know the equipment
on an expert level
Expert-level understanding makes
trouble resolution much faster

70. What you have in common with machines
Some of the things that
make your life more pleasant
help equipment, too

71. Winter heating
Proper heating in winter prevents freezing

72. Summer cooling
Well-ventilated motors
are more reliable and more efficient

73. Turn better maintenance into a game

74. Rival departments (or shifts)

75. Rival communities

76. Leverage your efforts & improve motivation
Friendly rivalries with
something on the line
(pride or a small wager)
raise the level of performance
all around

77. Make it a measurable goal with a small wager
Doughnuts?
Lunch?
A round of beers?

78. Buddy system aids information-sharing

79. Create your own "peer group"
Valuable for comparisons in reports

80. If you're doing well
The peer group helps you take credit

81. If you're doing badly
Peer pressure can motivate improvement

82. If you need more resources
The peer group helps you make the case

83. Reward good maintenance ideas
Multi-thousand-dollar ideas go un-shared
because people don't think they'll be rewarded

84. Rewards beget buy-in
"You can achieve amazing progress
if you set a clear goal and find a measure
that will drive progress toward that goal
in a feedback loop."
- Bill Gates

85. Use mental tricks to help yourself
Make maintenance automatic

86. Conserve mental energy
Don't make more
choices than
necessary

87. Color-coded tools

88. Opt-in versus opt-out
 When the default option is participation, one-third of people
stick with retirement plans who wouldn't have signed up on
their own

89. Add a third choice to make

90. Add a third choice to make

91. Batches of three
Just clustering tasks and choices
in groups of three
reduces the mental tax
of decision-making

92. Conserve mental energy for what matters
"What do you want for dinner?"
"I don't know. What do you want?"
"I don't know."

93. Tools under $25 to improve maintenance

94. Kneepad

95. Graph pads

96. Fold-out two-wheeler

97. Lock-out, tag-out devices

98. Pilot's kneeboard

99. Custom toolkits for frequent tasks

100. Foam roller

101. Reach extender

102. Zip ties (cable ties)

103. Carabiners

104. It is not wasteful to duplicate tools
 If it's the difference between doing the maintenance and not
 If it saves time on a quick payback period

105. Play hurt sometimes
Figure out what is adding extra strain,
then eliminate it

106. Caring for assets makes you a:
 Guardian
 Conservator
 Trustee
 Custodian
 Steward
 Fiduciary

107. "Cheap" isn't always cheap
"Cheap" up-front
may cost you a fortune

108. Doing maintenance right saves you grief
AVOID PAIN!

109. Good maintenance saves customers money
PLEASE THE PEOPLE!

110. First-Half Summary
 Do the right maintenance for the right equipment
 Fix-on-failure, scheduled, preventive, predictive
 Use your brain as often as your hands
 Place a real value on maintenance and communicate it

111. References:
 Cost of anti-terrorism:
 http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/11/u-s-spends-over-16-billion-annually-on-counter-
terrorism/
 Cost of deferred maintenance:
 http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/news/
 Retirement opt-in participation:
 http://www.nber.org/bah/summer06/w12009.html
 Airport security photo (public domain):
 https://twitter.com/TSAMedia_RossF/status/375424954600157185/photo/1
 I-35W "too much work":
 http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/52124637.html
 I-35W photo (public domain):
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:I35W_Collapse_-_Day_4_-_Operations_%26_Scene_(95).jpg
 Osama bin Laden screen capture:
 http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/usama-bin-laden
 Aircraft boneyard photo (public domain):
 http://research.archives.gov/description/6505216
 All other photos and illustrations are original work by Brian Gongol. Copyright and all other rights are reserved.

112. PUMP TROUBLESHOOTING
Brian Gongol
DJ Gongol & Associates, Inc.
January 27, 2016
NWOD Snowball Conference
Kearney, Nebraska

113. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (as Sherlock Holmes)
"Once you eliminate the impossible,
whatever remains, no matter how improbable,
must be the truth."

114. All pump problems are either mechanical...

115. ...or hydraulic

116. Secondarily, they are either internal...

117. ...or external to the pump

118. How to tell a mechanical problem
Take away the water

119. How to tell a hydraulic problem
Take measurements

120. Mechanical problems - internal to the pump

121. Bearings

122. Seals

123. Packing

124. Tightness of fit

125. Suction flap valves

126. Debris

127. Internal rubbing

128. Friction

129. Mechanical problems - external to the pump

130. Motors

131. Controls

132. Alignment

133. Balance

134. Transmission

135. Belts

136. Sheaves

137. Couplings

138. Valves (throttling)

139. Valves (isolation)

140. Valves (air-release)

141. Piping

142. Rotation

143. Jay-Z had 99 problems
We've come up with about 50...and this is halftime

144. Hydraulic problems - internal to the pump

145. Recirculation

146. Clearances

147. Wearplate wear

148. Wear ring wear

149. Volute wear

150. Impeller wear
In at least three flavors...

151. Chemical attack

152. Abrasion

153. Cavitation*
Cavitation damage happens inside the pump...
but it's almost always caused outside the pump

154. Hydraulic problems - external to the pump

155. Suction side or discharge side
The two flavors of external hydraulic issues

156. Hydraulic problems - external - suction

157. NPSH
NPSHa (net) = Atmospheric pressure
- vapor pressure
- safety factor
- total dynamic suction lift
- NPSHr for the pump

158. Atmospheric pressure

159. Heat/vapor pressure

160. Air entrainment

161. Air in high spot

162. Turbulence

163. Vortexing

164. Minimum submergence

165. Plugged suction

166. Debris
Never underestimate what a storm can do
...and deposit in your wetwells

167. Horizontal runs

168. Valves

169. Leaks
Not water getting out,
but air getting in

170. Changes to fluid properties
For instance...

171. Gases in solution

172. Surfactants

173. Viscosity

174. Specific gravity

175. Froth/foam/bubbles

176. Hydraulic problems - external - discharge

177. Valves

178. Leaks/breaks

179. Sediment

180. Debris

181. Changes to effective pipe diameter
Caused by...

182. Air

183. Ice

184. Corrosion

185. Scaling

186. Buildup

187. Tools to assist in your investigation

188. Impeller condition: Excess wear

189. Impeller condition: Suction cavitation

190. Impeller condition: Discharge cavitation

191. Shaft breakage

192. Seal failure

193. Strange or unwelcome noises

194. Strange or unwelcome noises
Suction cavitation
Discharge cavitation
Surges
The scream

195. Use all of your available senses (minus taste)

196. Record performance

197. Keep pump curves handy

198. Gauge readings make a huge difference

199. Gauge readings make a huge difference
Look in the direction of change
Was the change gradual or abrupt?
Some are dead giveaways,
others just point in the right direction

200. Gauge case studies

201. Gauge case studies
 The prime that took forever

202. Gauge case studies

203. Gauge case studies
 The prime that took forever
 The hole in the suction line

204. Gauge case studies

205. Gauge case studies
 The prime that took forever
 The hole in the suction line
 The plugged suction

206. Gauge case studies

207. Gauge case studies
 The prime that took forever
 The hole in the suction line
 The plugged suction
 The forcemain failure

208. Gauge case studies

209. Gauge case studies
 The prime that took forever
 The hole in the suction line
 The plugged suction
 The forcemain failure
 The sedimentation
inclination

210. Gauge case studies

211. Gauge case studies
 The prime that took forever
 The hole in the suction line
 The plugged suction
 The forcemain failure
 The sedimentation
inclination
 The bubble, bubble, toil,
and trouble

212. Gauge case studies

213. Gauge case studies
 The prime that took forever
 The hole in the suction line
 The plugged suction
 The forcemain failure
 The sedimentation
inclination
 The bubble, bubble, toil,
and trouble
 The surge-and-slam

214. Gauge case studies

215. Always divide and conquer

216. Questions?
 Thank you for coming!

217. Thank you for your attention!
 Contact us anytime with
questions
 Brian Gongol
 DJ Gongol & Associates
 515-223-4144
 info@djgongol.com

218. References:
 Photo: Mechanic tightening nut (public domain)
 http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/fsac.1a35263/
 All other photos are original work by and copyright reserved
to Brian Gongol