Hydro’s Bob Jennings and Ken Babusiak joined Empowering Pumps’ Charli Matthews for an entertaining and informative podcast about pumps, steel, and the future of reliability-driven operations.
With decades of experience under their belts, Bob and Ken share how the tools, talent, and tech of the industry have evolved—and what that means for staying competitive in today’s fast-paced landscape. From strategies to retain young talent to the real value of learning and adaptation, this convo is loaded with wisdom.
You can listen to the podcast below or browse all of Empowering Pumps podcasts here.
You can also watch the taping of the podcast here:
Want to expand your knowledge? Explore Empowering Pumps and Equipment or read our case studies focused on Hydro’s work in the steel industry.
Operating a pump off its design point has many drawbacks. Inefficiency and wasting energy across a throttled valve bothrequire more horsepower than an optimized system. Running away from the best efficiency point increases risk of degradation, which may cause recurring premature component failures due to higher radial loads, hydraulic instability, and other influences. These factors negatively affect reliability while simultaneously driving up the cost of equipment operation and maintenance. For this reason, opportunities to optimize a pump are extremely beneficial and have a very short payback period.
The benefits of modifying pump performance to better match system demand were demonstrated in a recent project undertaken at a Gulf Coast refinery. The refinery had a single-stage, double suction (BB2) pump where the required output had been greatly reduced from the original design. The mechanical seals were repeatedly failing, which resulted in frequent maintenance and seal replacements. The refinery partnered with Hydro, Inc to perform a field evaluation of the pump and develop a design upgrade to increase reliability and efficiency.
