Company Announcement - Companies looking for vertical industrial turbine pumps need not search abroad for a supplier; these machines are made locally. This reminder was issued recently by Gauteng-based APE Pumps, a company long acknowledged as a leading supplier of this type of machine to the South African and southern African markets. Besides the convenience associated with dealing with a manufacturer in the same country, locally sourced pumps also carry the advantages of rapid response to service requests and a very short lead time on spare parts.

Vertical industrial turbine pumps can be used in almost any industrial or agricultural application.  They are typically installed in chemical process plants, sewage treatment works, cooling water circulation applications, irrigation projects, water works, mines (for dewatering), and in pipelines as booster and transfer pumps. APE Pumps offers various materials of manufacture for these machines, according to the application. Casings are generally made in a high quality close-grained cast iron and have long radius water passages to give the best performance in terms of efficiency and life.  Casings in bronze and steel are also available.

The impellers are of mixed flow design and can be either open-vane or shrouded, depending on the size.  Shrouded impellers have long suction eye rings to deliver enhanced performance and longer life.  They are usually fitted to the shaft by means of a taper sleeve, using a key when the load requires it. Stainless steel shafts run in bearings that can be either product-lubricated or grease-lubricated under pressure, and column pipes are configured as either screwed or flanged steel, with suitable protection according to the application. The discharge heads are rigid cast iron or fabricated steel bends with spigotted seats for the thrust bearing and drive motor stool, and contain the housing for the stuffing box. There is a choice of soft packed glands, mechanical seals or a glandless arrangement.

APE Pumps designs its vertical turbine range for any type of drive, including electric motor, belt, gear and engine or steam turbine. The machines can be suspended in wet sumps, boreholes, rivers, steel tanks or dams, in dry pits with a suction pipe connected to the bellmouth, or as a pot pump with various positions of the inlet and outlet branches