How Should Water Pumps Be Serviced & Maintained
If you want to ensure that your pump is reliable and doesn’t fail, you need to invest in preventative maintenance and servicing. At Pumping Solutions, we service and maintain a wide variety of pumps that are used in a number of different systems including water booster pumps, sewage treatment stations and water pumping stations. Water pumps vary significantly depending on their application and it’s important to remember this when looking for information on maintenance and servicing of these systems. In this post, we’ll be focussing on servicing submersible pumping stations when providing information.
What’s Done During A Water Pump Service?
There are a lot of parts on a water pump station, which all require periodic attention to check their condition. As we’ve already mentioned, the type of pump and the application will dictate the checks that are relevant for your system. We’ve included a list of some of the key areas to assess in a submersible pumping station below.
- Check the physical condition of the system to ensure it is secure and undamaged
- Specifically examine the condition of the pump including its impeller, seals, bearings, valves and volute.
- Assess the condition of pipework for wear or damage
- Ensure sump and floats are clean
- Check electrical components to ensure insulation is intact, fuses are in good condition and that bulbs and heaters are working properly
- Finally, check that all safeguards are operating correctly and that alarm beacons and buzzers are functional.
This is a very basic overview of the pump system servicing process and different companies will complete services slightly differently. One thing that you should expect is a copy of a service record sheet with each of the elements checked against a system that indicates its condition. It is typical for this to be something like OK, serviceable or failed. Similar to your MOT (pass, advisory and fail), OK means that the part is functioning correctly and requires no attention, serviceable means that it’s not yet failed but is showing signs of wear and failed indicates that the part requires replacement immediately.
Checks You Can Complete Yourself
Although we always advocate having a professional pump specialist complete servicing and maintenance, there are things you can do yourself to ensure that your pump continues to operate efficiently and to reduce the risk of failure.
Submersible pumps are significantly more difficult for you to assess the condition of as the pump itself sits below the waterline out of sight. In these systems, you can look for signs of damage to the system and also pay attention to any alarms that your system is sounding. Calling a specialist when you notice damage or warning buzzers, will often allow you to have your system repaired before complete failure.
If your pump casing is visible above the ground, you may be able to notice the warning signs of failing components. Seeing water leaking from the casing and from joints is an indication that the seals have failed. You may not always be able to see water leaking from the pump, however, seeing damp patches or mould and smelling stale water or sewage are key signs that your pump isn’t sealed properly. If you notice any of these things, you should call a pump company as soon as possible to arrange an inspection and repair.
When Should You Replace A Water Pump?
Knowing when to replace a water pump can be difficult. Most of the wear that occurs on a water pump is on the internal parts of the unit and therefore, can’t be seen until opened up. Therefore, in most cases you will have to rely on your pump specialist to provide you with guidance during routine maintenance and servicing.
Aside from replacing a damaged or worn pump, there is also a case for replacing an old inefficient one. In one of our previous articles we’ve covered this topic, so it’s worth referring to it if you are wondering about this.