Fluoroelastomer Specialists
How does one decide when a valve or pump is not ideal and hindering operations? The decision to change is often hard and costly to make. However, the decision to not make a change may be more costly due to high operating expenses. In every pipeline, there are many options. In certain circumstances, the decision is made by trusting the local salesperson that has provided past support and solutions. The product may not be the best technology, but they offer support, help solve problems and get the process into operation.
This article will help show how costly a poor valve or pump selection may result in massive operating expenses. At some point, every operation makes the decision that what is being done does not make economic and operational
sense. Those decisions are difficult and require investment.
In one case, a minerals processing facility selected a brand of pinch valves to handle a minerals slurry where the valves operated every 45 seconds on and off. They had two processing plants, and between the two operations, they had installed 156 small pinch valves.
The valves required regular maintenance, and the rubber sleeves were replaced every four months. The two plants asked the manufacturer for help extending the life of the rubber sleeves. Some of the manufacturer’s recommendations were to change the rubber material, train people to change the rubber sleeves and change the pressure rating of the valves.
Even though the operating pressure was only 60 pounds per square inch gauge (psig) and the slurry was 40% solids, the manufacturer recommended higher pressure rated rubber sleeves. Despite several visits from the manufacturer, not much progress was made in three years to extend the valve sleeve life.
After dealing with this, these processing facilities looked for better alternatives. A different manufacturer’s test valve ran continuously for two years without a single rubber sleeve change and no maintenance.
After that, the plant began replacing the failing pinch valves with the new brand with the same success. In their two plants, they replaced 156 valves. The average lifetime reported by the plant for the better pinch valve was 27 months before the valve required repair.
Read more: Mineral Concentrators & Mineral Processing
