Verderflex, a manufacturer of peristaltic hose and tube pumps, recently provided a cost-effective solution to a Swiss airport that had been experiencing significant problems with its water softening treatment. The local water supply required treatment to prevent scaling in the pipework.
The Challenge
The existing treatment system required a salt solution to be dosed from a storage tank close to the pumps over a 350-m pipe-run to the water supply. The piping system had a series of valves and pipes that were not sealed correctly when they were installed, and the pipe work contained a large proportion of air.
Consequently, although the mag-drive pumps transferring the solution were of good quality, intermittent use meant they ran dry, leading to bearing failure. These mag-drive pumps had to be replaced every 3 months, resulting in plant downtime and high maintenance costs.
Due to the scale of the airport’s construction and layout, it was not possible to install new pipe work and valves, and a far more robust pumping solution was required that would not only dose the solution accurately, but would require less maintenance when compared to a mag-drive centrifugal pump.
The Solution
Verderflex’s local distributor recommended a Verderflex Dura 35 peristaltic hose pump for this application. A peristaltic pump consists of a hose, which is housed in a casing and squeezed by a rotor. As the only part in contact with the fluid is a flexible hose, the pump can run dry and certainly tolerate air in the pipes.
The pump itself was sized to run slowly, so as to increase the hose life. The estimated running time of less than 1,200 hours per year with one year between hose changes was considered extremely favorable.
Originally published on Waterworld