To try and give an answer, you should not be surprised to find pumps and drivers that are decades old.
Diesels have the down side for reaching total lifetime hours of not running every day. On the other hand they run in as benign environment as you can find. They sit in a warmed room.They never start on a cold day in Minot. They run at a fixed rpm's . Fuel quality? They may have problems associated with the strange things that happen to diesel that sits in a tank. Similar for pumps. There are a range of technologies available for evaluations of pumps, especially bearings, electrical motors, including analysis of electrical signatures that are used by process industries especially. Diesel engines can also have more advanced analysis. The fire protection industry to my knowledge is not using these. We treat an annual pump test as proof of current output capacity. Go look at Fluke's website for some use of instruments. Could one paraphrase an out of date truism to "no one ever got fired for buying Fluke"? Diesel engines? Some of the pump run times were set in antiquity. I've wondered if less frequent pump runs, for longer time, would result in longer life span. I'd like to here what a manufacturer would say. bv ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Greenman " < rongreenman @ gmail .com> To: sprinklerforum @lists. firesprinkler .org Sent: Tuesday, June 18, 2013 4:01:51 PM Subject: Re: Pump Life Expectancy Gut feeling, not statistic based. Diesels: Don't use them regularly they die quickly. Don't use them properly they die quickly. If they're exercised regularly (maybe 25 can be stretched a bit, but I have no data to back that up so I'm not suggesting you ought to) per manufacturer's recommendations, or per NFPA 25, there should be a number of hours where oil changes, and other engine type maintenance (regardless of pump driver or truck motor) would be recommended by the manufacturer. There should be an overhaul recommendation. Electric drivers: electric motors don't need much attention and I can't imagine too much going wrong. The pump itself is a fickle beast. keep everything adjusted properly and regularly exercise it and they last a really long time. When the pressure starts falling off precipitously you'll need an overhaul. Of course a bearing or some other part could go before that. Don't do those things and you have a very short-lived otherwise robust piece of expensive equipment that you'll use like it was a throw-away item similar to a modern TV. And of course, multiply maintenance by a factor of more to much more if it's all in a harsh environment. On Tue, Jun 18, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Cahill , Christopher < ccahill @ burnsmcd .com>wrote: > Ballpark / Sanity Check > > How long with regular but maybe not full NFPA 25 maintenance should a fire > pump last? In-other-words assuming testing every other year or so. I > imagine an electric motor lasts longer than a diesel. Thinking there is > some mid-point a diesel engine needs an overhaul. Both I'd think need a > repacking of the impellor at some point. Thoughts? > > > Chris Cahill , PE* > Senior Fire Protection Engineer, Aviation & Facilities Group > Burns & McDonnell > 8201 Norman Center Drive > Bloomington , MN 55437 > Phone: 952.656.3652 > Fax: 952.229.2923 > ccahill @ burnsmcd .com< mailto : ccahill @ burnsmcd .com> > www . burnsmcd .com< http :// www . burnsmcd .com/> > > Proud to be one of FORTUNE's 100 Best Companies to Work For > *Registered in: MN > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Sprinklerforum mailing list > Sprinklerforum @lists. firesprinkler .org > > http ://lists. firesprinkler .org/ listinfo . cgi / sprinklerforum - > firesprinkler .org > -- Ron Greenman Instructor Fire Protection Engineering Technology Bates Technical College 1101 So. Yakima Ave. Tacoma, WA 98405 rgreenman @bates. ctc . edu http :// www .bates. ctc . edu / fireprotection / 253.680.7346 253.576.9700 (cell) Member: ASEE , SFPE , ASCET , NFPA, AFSA , NFSA , AFAA , NIBS, WSAFM , WFC , WFSC They are happy men whose natures sort with their vocations. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626) _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list Sprinklerforum @lists. firesprinkler .org http ://lists. firesprinkler .org/ listinfo . cgi / sprinklerforum - firesprinkler .org _______________________________________________ Sprinklerforum mailing list [email protected] http://lists.firesprinkler.org/listinfo.cgi/sprinklerforum-firesprinkler.org
