Good pump engineers tend to have a touch of the detective
6 Nov 2017
The United Kingdom’s chemicals sector has positioned itself strongly within the European Union market. Now however, that reliance could easily create headaches for UK exporters.
New markets and expansion of others represents part of the remedy. So too does the promotion of greater efficiencies in the shape of digitalisation and training.
It is also a matter of re-examining and honing the technology we have. Pumps play a significant role here, performing a vital task in the effective handling and processing of chemicals and mixtures.
Frequently they are called on to cope with products the most difficult products involving a variety of acids and alkalis that are either aggressive, abrasive or both.
The stakes are higher and the cost of failure much greater, whether this is measured in terms of time, cost or safety.
Buying a pump requires a ‘Totex’ approach that measures costs effectiveness in terms of lifecycle
Yet, as Peter Staddon of The Pump Company reminds us in our main pumps feature, the approach remains very much the same as for handling less contentious material.
Namely, cheap, quick wins with wrongly-sized pumps rarely succeed. Buying a pump requires a ‘Totex’ approach that measures costs effectiveness in terms of lifecycle rather than initial purchase.
Also, the human element should never be underestimated. The purchaser or client is often hampered by lack of knowledge or a lack of awareness of the information they need to impart.
So the pump specialist needs to rely as much if not more on their own arsenal of knowledge – a combination of learned intuition and checklist data that varies according to degree of experience.
Lastly, there is the forensic ability to ask the right questions and tease out answers. As Staddon points out, good engineers tend to have a touch of the detective
