VESCONITE BENEFITS Materials used by Vesconite swell significantly less when exposed to water than other materials
Australia-based pumps refurbishment company FITT Resources has prioritised energy efficiency as an important driver in its refurbishment packages.
This includes South Africa-based manufacturer Vesconite, whose bushings are part of its energy-reducing refurbishment package.
FITT Resources servicing head Daniel Hechter says electricity costs in Australia are among the highest globally, at A$0.25/kWh. As a result, the company’s pumps retrofitting not only increases the life of a pump, but also focuses on increasing the pump’s energy efficiency.
The retrofitting is programme-orientated, says Hechter, explaining that it includes a number of interventions to increase energy efficiency, by ensur- ing that flow is better and that less electricity is used.
Vesconite’s retrofitting tasks typically include installing bushings as interstage bushings in the multistage high- and low-pressure pumps that it repairs. The pumps that FITT Resources repairs have traditionally used bronze bushings, which has been expensive and damaging to shafts.
However, Vesconite bushings offer the advantage of being able to run with small clearances, which causes less cycle, or movement of pressurised water, from the previous stage to the next.
Hechter notes that it is challenging to calculate the exact energy savings that can be attributed to Vesconite’s bushings, but that energy consumption is reduced in general, following a refurbishment package. “Capital and labour are expensive in Australia, so it is important to use retrofitting to return original-equipment manufacturer (OEM) equipment to its original, if not better state,” Hechter says.
Water utilities in Australia continue to rely on FITT Resources, which is also a supplier of OEM pumps, seals and filtration systems, to refit their multistage pumps. In the last four years, several multistage pumps have either been retrofitted with Vesconite Hilube or Vesconite bushings.