Feature Report

Centrifugal Pumps:
When to Repair,
Replace or Modify?
When a pump operates inefficiently, or fails all together, the challenge is to make the most
economical decision on how to remedy the situation. Some guidance is provided here

C
Robert X. Perez
and Heinz P. entrifugal pumps are widely used the hydraulic minimum flow.
Bloch throughout the chemical process in- Regardless of the reason for pump misap-
Consultants dustries (CPI). Their reliable and effi- plication, the effects of a poor hydraulic fit
cient performance plays a significant will typically be dismal reliability performance
role in plant operations. This article considers and poor overall system efficiency. Figure
the different options on what to do when a 1 shows the numerous adverse effects of
pump begins to operate unreliably or fails. operating too far away from a pump’s BEP
IN BRIEF “sweet spot.” In the field, problems related
PUMP HYDRAULICS Pump hydraulics to off-design operations are typically mani-
HYDRAULIC RERATES
Operation far away from a pump’s best ef- fested by higher than normal vibration levels
ficiency point (BEP) is a common cause of and frequent bearing and seal failures.
PUMP FAILURES pump unreliability. There are a number of rea-
REPAIR OR REPLACE? sons why a centrifugal pump may be found Hydraulic rerates
operating in an off-design condition: The One solution available to avoid problems
REPAIR/SPARE PART
pump may either have originally been mis- caused by an oversized centrifugal pump is
PHILOSOPHIES
applied or the process requirements may to perform a hydraulic rerate on the pump’s
MAKING THE CASE FOR have changed since its initial specification fluid end. The basic idea of a pump hydraulic
UPGRADES and installation. Two minimum flows must rerate is to fit an impeller with a lower flow
PAYBACK TIME be satisfied on the pump curve for reliable rating inside the existing oversized pump
EXAMPLES service: 1) The minimum continuous stable casing. To accommodate a new impeller,
flow (MCSF), which prevents internal recir- case-wear-ring adapters are used to allow
PUMP REPLACEMENT
culation; and
2) the mini-
mum ther-
mal flow, the
point where
rapid inter-
nal heating
begins. The
pump manu-
facturer will
usually state
the MCSF for
its pumps in
its documen-
tation. For
best overall
performance,
it is always
best to keep
the operating
FIGURE 1. The Barringer-Nelson curve shows reliability impact of pump operation away from BEP (Source:
point above Paul Barringer)
36 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM MARCH 2022
for smaller diameter sets of casing and impeller wear
rings. This would also be a fine opportunity to consider
advanced perfluoralkyl (Vespel CR-6100) stationary
wear parts.
In addition to these modifications, volute throat
area(s) must be matched to the new impeller. This is
done by cutting out the original volute lips and welding
in custom-designed volute lips. This simple, straight-
forward design approach can provide pump users a
cost-effective solution to chronic failures caused by
hydraulic instabilities.
Performing a hydraulic rerate is the task of mechani-
cal engineers, and outside the scope of this article.
More information on how to do this and the benefits
can be found in Ref. 1. We now focus on the decision-
making process for handling a pump failure.

Pump failures
When a centrifugal pump fails, there are several pos-
sible paths forward that a processing facility may con-
sider. The following options are possible:
• Repair the existing pump (Figure 2) at an outside
shop or in-house using replacement parts from stores
• Replace it with a rebuilt pump (in kind) kept in
stores
• Replace it with an identical pump kept in stores or
purchased from a distributor or manufacturer
• Repair it with key upgraded mechanical
component(s) to improve mechanical reliability
• Perform a hydraulic rerate using the existing pump
casing to improve the hydraulic fit (as briefly described
above)
• Replace existing pump with a completely different
model pump that better fits the service
It is important that all centrifugal-pump maintenance
decisions be economically justified, meaning that the
benefits derived from the repair, replacement or modifi-
cation must be of greater value than the base cost. For
maintenance events, such as repairs, the value added
by the repair should exceed the cost of the repair. For
major modifications, economic criteria, such as the in-
vestor rate of return (IRR) and net present value, should
be used to objectively evaluate the benefits of the initial
investment. The benefits of modifications and replace-
ments are typically increased reliability, an improvement
in efficiency, or both. A faithful economic justification
requires that the user understands all the benefits de-
rived by the modification along with all the associated
modification costs.
To decide which path forward makes the most eco-
nomic sense, the reliability professional first needs to
know the following:
1. What is the length of time since the last repair or
the current mean time between failures (MTBF) met-
ric? Best-of-class pumps easily reach MTBF between
six to ten years. Pumps with MTBF of less than two
years should be considered completely unaccept-
able. Therefore, pumps providing MTBF performance
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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM MARCH 2022 37
 greater than six years should con- the economic test for deciding if a we see that $1,500 < $4,000. In this
tinue to be repaired as usual and pump should be repaired or replaced case, a repair is not justified since the
pumps providing MTBF performance can be stated as follows: If the value value added by the repair is less than
less than two years should be scruti- added by the repair is greater than the repair cost.
nized for improvement opportunities. the repair cost minus its salvage The reader will note that the lower
Pumps with MTBF between two and value, then it makes more sense to the replacement cost, the more likely
six years should be reviewed on a repair the pump than replace it. This it will make sense to replace a pump
case-by-case basis. can be expressed by Equation (1): than to repair it. Some facilities set
2. What is (are) the root cause(s) of a horsepower limit to define when
the most recent failure? The pump failed pumps are simply replaced,
owners must understand why their (1) which simplifies the decision-making
pump is failing before an upgrade process for a repair shop.
or replacement pump can be evalu- Where:
ated. The most effective modifica- ms = market salvage value Repair/spare part philosophies
tions are those that address the root mpr = market value of the pump after Once a pump is installed, site man-
cause of past failures. repair agement decides its criticality and if
3. How is the pump performing and rva = value added to the pump by the it makes sense to repair it or replace
how close to BEP is it operating? repair it when it fails. Pumps that are fully
4. What is the cost to restore the rc= repair cost spared are considered less critical,
pump back to the manufacturer’s while pumps that are unspared (non-
specifications? From this relationship, we can con- spared) are considered more critical.
5. What is the value of process clude that only repairs that produce There are several cases to consider,
downtime related to an unplanned an added value greater than the cost as follows:
pump failure? of repair makes economic sense. • For smaller, less critical pumps
6. What is the cost of an in-kind re- This statement assumes that the (<5 hp), which are uneconomi-
placement pump and its delivery time. pump in question can be removed cal to repair, either keep complete
7. What is the cost to keep a re- from service and repaired without an pump replacements in stores or
placement pump in stores? economic penalty. order replacement pumps from the
8. What is the cost of design im- Here are a few examples illustrat- manufacturer or distributor when re-
provements being considered? ing how the value-added relation- quired. The decision to either stock
9. What is the total cost of a cen- ship works: a complete spare pump or order it
trifugal pump hydraulic rerate being Example 1. Consider repairing a when required will depend on the
considered? 150-hp centrifugal pump with the expected delivery time.
10. What is the total cost to replace following costs:
• For a fully spared pump that can
an existing pump with one that has a Pump salvage value = $2,000
be removed and repaired because
better hydraulic fit? Post repair pump value= $20,000
the other installed spare is deemed
Value added = $20,000 – $2,000 =
Repair or replace? $18,000 to be reliable and capable of supply-
A common question that comes up Repair cost = $8,000 ing the required flow on its own: In
when pumps fail: Which pump war- Plugging these values into Equation services with medium- to large-size
rants repair and which should simply (1), we see that $18,000 > $8,000. pumps, it makes sense to pull the
be replaced? As described in Ref. 1, Therefore, a repair is justified in this failed pump and repair it — either in
case since the value the shop or off site.
added by the repair is • For a fully spared pump that
greater than the repair can be removed without impacting
cost. the process but takes too long to
Example 2. Consider repair: This might apply to trouble-
repairing a 5-hp cen- some pumps that fail frequently,
trifugal pump with the which may mean that time to repair
following costs: may approach or exceed the time
Pump salvage value = between failures. In these services,
$500 it makes sense to keep a rebuilt or
Post repair pump new pump in stores. When needed,
value = $2,000 the replacement pump can be
Value added = $2,000 removed from the warehouse and
– $500 = $1,500 installed in the field.
Repair cost = $4,000 • For when an unspared pump’s
FIGURE 2. A mechanic inspects a centrifugal pump impeller during a Plugging these val- downtime must be minimized due
repair ues into Equation (1)
38 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM MARCH 2022
 TABLE 1. LIKELIHOOD PROJECT WILL BE
APPROVED, BASED ON THE PAYBACK PERIOD • Warehouse spares
other inputs are held fixed, a • Required training and modifica-
Payback Period Range Comment point will eventually be reached tion/updating of operating procedures
< 1 year Sure to be approved at which additions of the input
>1 year but <2 years Likely to be approved yield progressively smaller, or The annualized benefits may include
>2 years but <5 years Difficult project to sell
diminishing, increases in output. the following:
In centrifugal pump applica- • Reduction in repair costs
>5 years Not likely to be approved
tions, the pump’s reliability or • Reduction in production losses
process capability are usually • Increase in process throughput
to its potential economic impact
considered the commodity of inter- • Energy savings
on the plant: These pumps tend
est, while various design improve-
to be more complex and costly, so
ment options can be considered Note that annualized benefits are
it makes sense to store a pump inputs to improve reliability or capa- relative terms. To define an economic
bundle or rotating assembly in the bility to a given economic evaluation. benefit, you need to have a future
warehouse to minimize the repair There is a limit to how many eco- case and a base case. For example,
time in the event of major failures. nomical improvements can be made if a pump is failing twice a year and
Spare seals, bearings and couplings to any given machine. Eventually, costs $10,000 per repair, then the
should also be kept in stores for the nth improvement will no longer base maintenance cost is $20,000/
minor repairs. be economically justified. Here are yr. If you expect the pump failure-rate
An ineffective spare-parts man- some examples of common centrifu- interval to increase to once every 5
agement program can negatively af- gal pump improvements: years, then the future maintenance
fect pump reliability at your site. For • Upgrading mechanical seals and costs are expected to be $10,000/5
this reason, spare parts manage- related sealing systems in a pump or $2,000/yr. In this example, the an-
ment should be an integral part of to improve reliability nualized benefits of the upgrade are
every pump reliability program. How- • Upgrading pump casing metal- expected to be $18,0000 per year.
ever, often spare parts management lurgy to increase useful life The point here is you must always
tends to fly below the radar and is • Installing vibration monitoring consider the future case and the
often given little thought or consider- equipment to prevent catastrophic base case in determining the annual-
ation. To maintain the effectiveness failures ized benefits,
of the program, a team consisting • Rerating a pump to allow op-
of a rotating equipment engineer (or eration closer to its best efficiency
professional), shop foreman, ware-
point (BEP) flow to improve hydrau-
house specialist and a management (3)
lic stability
representative should be involved in
• Installing a spillback line in a
all critical spare part decisions and
tracking. The team should also meet pump’s discharge line to prevent The annualized risk, or simply
regularly to discuss: 1) the status of operation below its minimum contin- risk, is defined here as the sum of
all critical spares; 2) current spare- uous stable flow (MCSF) to prevent all the annualized losses associ-
part stocking levels; 3) changes in internal recirculation at low-flow ated with the failure mode being
stocking levels; 4) decisions to dis- demand conditions analyzed. Therefore, the annualized
pose of obsolete inventory; 5) ad- The payback-period method ex- risk is equal to the annualized main-
dition or deletions of suppliers; 6) plained here is a simple means of tenance costs plus the annualized
stocking upgraded parts, if available, evaluating the benefits of a potential process losses plus the annualized
and so on. After some trial and error, upgrade to management. The pay- environmental fines plus the annu-
an optimal mix of spare parts will be back period is defined as the initial alized demurrage costs and so on.
determined for your given centrifugal investment divided by the expected When evaluating the economics of
pump population. annual revenue realized by the im- reliability projects, we need to know
provement. The payback period of a the differential between the base risk
Making the case for upgrades modification is determined by divid- and the future risk expected from
Rotating machinery professionals are ing the total installation cost of the the improvement. This differential is
always looking for ways to improve upgrade by the annualized benefits: defined as the △Risk, which is the
the reliability or capabilities of their annualized benefit, or revenue, ex-
process pumps. However, there is pected to be realized from a reliability
always a limit to the level of improve- improvement project.
ments that are economically justified. (2) For example, assuming a pump
The economical limit is governed by Installation costs can include, but is failure results in a $20,000 repair,
the law of diminishing returns [2], not limited to, the following items: a $50,000 process loss, and a
which is an economic law stating • Cost of new components and $100,000 demurrage cost, then the
that if one input in the production of equipment losses experienced per seal failure is
a commodity is increased, while all • Demolition and installation costs $170,000. If the pump is failing twice

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM MARCH 2022 39

 TABLE 2. PUMP REPLACEMENT replaced, then the non-leaking seal year. Every time the failure occurs, it
ECONOMICS
will normally fail within a few days. costs $100,000/yr to pull the pump,
Year Revenue For this reason, it is considered good replace with casing with a spare cas-
0 ($500,000)* practice to replace both seals when ing in stores, and expedite the reas-
1 $64,990 either one of the seals has failed. sembly and installation. An RCFA
2 $66,940 Root-cause failure analyses indicates that the current metallurgy
(RCFAs) in the pump’s historical re- and coating combination is unsuited
3 $68,948
cord indicate that most of the seal for the application.
4 $71,016 failures are due to abrasives embed- Assuming we believe you can im-
5 $73,147 ding in the softer primary ring and prove the MTBF of these pumps from
6 $75,341 causing a leak. After considering sev- once every year to once every four
7 $77,601 eral options, it has been deemed that years, then the annualized benefit of
installing double seals with a dedi- a casing upgrade will be $100,000/
8 $79,930
cated pressurized-seal oil system is yr – $25,000/yr = $75,000/yr. If the
9 $82,327
the most attractive of the upgrade cost of the new upgraded casing
10 $84,797 options considered. It is believed that is $60,000, then the total project
11 $87,341 a pressurized sealing arrangement cost will be $180,000 (for the main,
12 $89,961 will increase the mean time between installed spare, and warehouse
13 $92,660
seal failures from 6 months to 8 years. spare). We won’t include the cost
If the cost of replacing inboard and of installing the new casings, since
14 $95,440
outboard seals is $40,000, then the future repairs have already been ac-
15 $98,303 annualized reduction in maintenance counted for.
16 $101,252 costs realized from the upgrade is ex- Using Equation (3), we find that the
17 $104,290 pected to be: payback period for this example will
18 $107,419
be $180,000/$75,000/yr = 2.4 yr.
$40,000/(0.5 yr) – $40,000/8 According to Table 1, a project with a
19 $110,641
= $80,000 – $5,000 payback greater than two years may
20 $113,960 = $75,000/yr be difficult to sell to site management.
IRR 14.41% To increase the chances of getting
NPV $617,276.87 The upgrade costs include pur- this upgrade approved, the user may
Rate 4% chasing four seals (two to install and have to find additional upgrade ben-
two to put in stores), a pressurized- efits, such as listing any production
*Note: Investment
seal oil system, and the cost of in- downtime events caused by unex-
stalling the required seal auxiliary pip- pected failures or taking a salvage
a year, then the annualized base case ing and instrumentation for the new credit for the existing casings.
risk is 2 × $170,000 or $340,000/ seal oil system. No modifications to Remember that the payback pe-
yr. If we believe an upgraded pump the pump shaft or pump casing are riod evaluation method does not
will only fail every five years, then the required for the seal upgrade. The consider the time value of money
annualized future risk is expected total project cost of the upgrade is as considered in other economic
to be 0.2 × $170,000 or $34,000/ estimated to be $120,000. analysis methods. However, most
yr. Therefore, the annualized △Risk Using Equation (3), we see that managers tend to find the payback
for this project is $340,000/yr minus the payback period for this project is method to be an intuitive and ac-
34,000/yr or $306,000/yr. $120,000/$75,000 = 1.6 yr. Referring ceptable means of evaluating the
Table 1 tabulates some improve- to Table 1, we can see that this proj- economic benefits of smaller proj-
ment-project payback-period ranges ect has a good chance of getting ap- ects. Other larger or more complex
along with the likelihood projects that proved. (Notice that this simple eco- projects may require more sophisti-
fall in these ranges will be approved nomic analysis did not take credit for cated economic evaluations, such as
by management (based on the au- any pipeline outages or slowdowns determining the internal rate of return
thors’ experiences). caused by unplanned seal replace- (IRR) or net present value over the life
ments. Taking credit for any process of a project.
Payback time examples related losses will decrease further Some final advice on upgrades: To
Two examples of determining the improve the payout period and make be successful, centrifugal pump pro-
payback time are presented here. this upgrade project even more eco- fessionals should 1) use economic
Upgrading mechanical seals in a nomically attractive.) thinking when considering all poten-
pipeline pump. Assume there is a Upgrading slurry-service pump tial upgrade decisions; and 2) always
multistage (double-ended), pipeline casings. Let’s say you own a pair try to justify your projects using clear,
pump that is experiencing a seal fail- of 500-hp slurry pumps that, due well thought out project scopes that
ure every six months. Experience has to severe casing erosion, are cur- have compelling payback time cal-
shown that if only the leaking seal is rently experiencing one failure every culations. Never push improvement
40 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM MARCH 2022
projects that are not justified and al- more reliable pump pair will, on aver- Authors
ways listen to your managers’ con- age, have a MTBF of 10 years, which Robert Perez is a mechanical en-
cerns if they question your calcula- equates to a maintenance cost sav- gineer and semi-retired consultant
based in San Antonio, Tex. (Email:
tions or assumptions. Don’t let your ings of $20,000 – $20,000/10 or [email protected]), with
enthusiasm get in the way of your $18,000/yr. These findings mean over 40 years of rotating equip-
company’s best interests. that the project will attain a total an- ment experience in the petro-
chemical industry. He earned a
nual revenue stream of $46,990/ BSME degree from Texas A&M
Pump replacement yr plus $18,000/yr (or $64,990/yr). University at College Station, an
MSME degree from the University
Typically, the costliest way to im- (Note that this total does not include of Texas at Austin and holds a Texas PE license. Perez
prove a pump’s reliability perfor- any process losses or additional op- has authored numerous articles for magazines and con-
mance is by completely replacing erational labor costs.) ference proceedings, five books, and coauthored five
books covering machinery reliability.
it with one that is better suited for After researching pump and pip-
the application. Initially, site person- ing options, the project group has
Heinz P. Bloch is a consulting
nel tend to seek improvement with determined that replacing these engineer at Process Machinery
mechanical seal, metallurgy, bearing pumps will cost $500,000, which in- Consulting, and resides in Mont-
upgrades or modifications to oper- cludes the cost of two new pumps gomery, Tex. (heinzpbloch@gmail.
com). His professional career
ating procedures in their attempts to (assuming there is a main and an commenced in 1962 and in-
gain better reliability. Yet, after years installed spare) all design costs, rec- cluded long-term assignments as
of frustration, site management may ommended spare parts, and all field Exxon Chemical’s Regional Ma-
chinery Specialist for the U.S. He
eventually have to concede that the modifications and installation costs. has authored or co-written over
existing pump or pumps were com- If we enter these data into an Excel 790 publications, among them 24 comprehensive
pletely misapplied. spreadsheet and solve for the inter- books on practical machinery management, failure
analysis, failure avoidance, compressors, steam tur-
When considering a centrifu- nal rate of return and the net pres- bines, pumps, oil mist lubrication and optimized lubri-
gal pump replacement, the project ent value (NPV), we get the output cation for industry. Bloch holds B.S. and M.S. degrees
(cum laude) in mechanical engineering from the New
group must first find a pump that fits data shown in Table 2. There we can Jersey Institute of Technology. He is an ASME Life Fel-
the current hydraulic requirements. see that the IRR (14.41%) and NPV low and was awarded life-time registration as a Profes-
If several pump designs are being ($617,276) for this project are fac- sional Engineer in New Jersey.
considered, the pump that requires torable, which is the first hurdle the
the least piping modifications is usu- project will face.
ally favored above the other options. Next, management will compare
If the selected pump will not fit on the these economic projections with
existing foundation, then the cost of the other competing projects being
the new foundation, or modifying/ considered at the time. Since capital
adapting foundations and/or base budgets are finite, only the most at-
plates must be included in the total tractive projects will be funded. The
project cost. Other miscellaneous possible outcomes are that the proj-
project costs, such as replacing ect will either be fully funded, deferred
warehouse spares, training of main- until the next capital budget review,
tenance and operations personnel, or canceled. Reliability profession-
required control modifications, and als must realize that many reliability-
so on, must also be included in the improvement projects never see the
total cost of the project. light of day for reasons outside of
As an example, consider having their control. At the end of the day,
two 150-hp pumps that are over- remember that only well-conceived
sized and operate at 25% of the reliability improvement projects are
BEP flow. The repair history shows ever fully approved and eventually
that the pumps have been repaired, realized. To have a realistic chance of
on average, once yearly at a cost of approval, reliability projects need to
$20,000 per repair for the past five have excellent economics numbers
years. A review of the pump curve and key sponsors who will support
shows that the current hydraulic ef- the project every step of the way.
ficiency is about 27%. The most at- Sponsors can be reliability manag-
tractive replacement pump option ers, operations superintendents,
being considered can provide an ef- plant managers, and executives. n
ficiency of 67%. The energy savings Edited by Gerald Ondrey
from the more efficient pump have
been calculated to be $46,990/yr Reference
(based on an energy cost of $0.097/ 1. Perez, R. X. and Bloch, Heinz P., “Pump Wisdom — Problem
Solving for Operators and Specialists,” 2nd Edition, John Wiley
hp-h). We will assume that a new, & Sons, Hoboken, N.J., 2022.

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM MARCH 2022 41