Vertical Turbine Pump Re-bowls
When dealing with worn or damaged centrifugal water pumps, the cost to repair major parts is often close to the cost of replacing the same components. This is especially common in the repair of vertical turbine pump bowl assemblies.
That is why Nickerson Company’s repair cost evaluation process includes the comparison of the cost to repair against the cost of a new pump bowl assembly. Our in-house fabrication and machine shops enable us to easily incorporate new pump bowl assemblies with existing pump parts. In most cases, we are able to duplicate existing pump performance and, if desired, can modify pump performance to fit changing needs.
Pump Adaptation and Reconfiguration
As applications change, it is sometimes necessary to modify the configuration of centrifugal water pumps. We are able to make these pump configuration changes in our in-house mechanical, machine and fabrication shops. Nickerson regularly lengthens and shortens pumps in accordance with changing needs, and can alter the configuration or orientation of pump suction and discharge connections.
Upgrades to Materials of Construction
During the teardown and inspection process, we frequently find that the material incompatibility of certain components are the root cause of pump failure. Nickerson is able to upgrade the materials of construction of the failed components and return the pump to peak performance.
In addition to upgrading the materials of construction, we often add protective coatings that can help improve both reliability and run times. In the case of deep well pump bowls, we provide heavy-duty material pump upgrade packages specifically engineered to help centrifugal water pumps withstand the effects of pumping abrasive and corrosive materials.
3M™ Powder, Epoxy Catalyst and Rubber Coatings
There are a wide variety of highly-effective spray-on protective coatings that have proven to be highly effective in preventing both erosion and corrosion. These protective coatings have been proven to significantly extend service life and long-term performance.
The coating process typically involves careful surface preparation, generally achieved through sand blasting, followed by the application of an epoxy catalyst or rubber coating. Depending on the coating product, an initial primer coat followed by one or more top coats may be needed to ensure the desired coating.
Nickerson Company also offers 3M™ powder coating, a plastic-like coating that is applied to a heated part. This type of pump coating uses electrostatic attraction between the powder and the parts to adhere the material to virtually every exposed surface. Powder coatings are especially effective in both corrosive and abrasive conditions.
For many centrifugal water pumps, a particular coating product and procedure is required to meet engineering specifications. Nickerson Company has worked extensively with a wide variety of these industrial coating products and can comply with nearly any specification. We also regularly advise our customers on the best protective coating options based on the particular application, as well as corrosive and abrasive conditions.
Spray-on Metalized Pump Coatings
In addition to epoxy catalyst, rubber coatings and powder coatings, Nickerson also has extensive experience applying spray-on metalizing products to achieve hard surface wear journals. We have achieved excellent results providing shaft wear journals in both tungsten carbide and chromium oxide, which form a wear surface many times harder and more corrosion-resistant than the base shaft material. This process can also be utilized to fill in and repair wear damage on a shaft, and then followed by a hard surface wear journal.