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Troubleshooting

11.1 Skill and experience

One of the major problems facing industry today is the limited number
of people who have sufficient sldll and experience to diagnose and
rectify the basic problems plaguing centrifugal pumps. The other major
difficulty is that the same lack of skill and experience is creating many of
these problems in the first place.
A detailed evaluation of a pump problem requires a depth of knowledge
which usually surpasses that to which most people are ever exposed. For
example, most pump engineers, operators and maintenance people
develop their knowledge base from the same 'school of hard l~nocks'.
While this on-the-job type of training has much to commend it, it
unfortunately exposes the pupil to the opportunity of learning other
people's mistakes and misconceptions. At best, it only teaches what is
necessary to execute a particular job function in exactly the same
manner as it was previously performed - good or bad!
A system engineer may have learned how to size a pump based on the
operating parameters of the system. However, if that pump is unable to
withstand the effects of certain installation or operating anomalies
which may occur in that plant, the reliable life of the pump could be
detrimentally affected.

A purchasing manager may be faced with the responsibility of buying
equipment within a capital cost budget which has no mechanism for the
evaluation of long term operation and maintenance costs. Consequently
the 'most economical' pump purchased may result in frequent and
repetitive failures which could quickly exceed the initial cost difference
and even the total price of the pump itself.
Operations personnel arc often required to 'tune' the system to provide
the desired output of product. In this cndeavour, they may be faced