Avoiding Costly Mistakes: The Importance of OEM Parts for Slurry Pumps

High-performing centrifugal slurry pumps are vital to your operation’s success. The parts you supply those pumps with are even more important since they ensure your pumps operate at optimal efficiency. Without quality parts, pumps can suffer and require increased maintenance or cause unplanned shutdowns. These stalls in production cost facility owners productivity and take away from the bottom line.

But what types of parts should you avoid and why?

First, it’s important to know which parts experience wear at higher rates than others. These parts require you to check for signs of degradation more often and perform proper maintenance. The pump parts that see the most wear are typically the impeller, suction liner, and pump casing.

An exploded view of the GIW® WBC, constructed from rugged Gasite® alloys. 

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) design slurry pump components with longer wear lives by investing in cutting-edge materials technology. KSB GIW, Inc.’s Materials R&D Lab developed a family of high-chromium white iron alloys called Gasite®. For the most severe duty applications, they have another defense layer that can be added to their white iron: a laser-cladded coating called Enduraclad®. Extensive materials testing means the R&D lab can provide customers with parts that are resistant to erosive and corrosive wear. To offer the greatest wear resistance, they analyze the application and select one of their proven materials that meets the site requirements.

Many part replicators attempt to reverse-engineer KSB GIW, Inc. components. Although the low prices may be enticing to mining operators who seek to reduce their operational expenses, purchasing these parts can be a costly mistake in the end.

Those who purchase pirated parts can suffer from parts not fitting, parts not lasting, large variations in quality, large variations in supply, and large variations in price. Some customers have operating costs of $80,000 per hour. When a critical pump fails prematurely, the lost operating costs can escalate into millions very quickly.

KSB GIW, Inc. knows that a customer’s success is not based on pump design alone — the entire system must be taken into account. The first step is to study the customer’s system, production, and operations. Understanding this helps KSB GIW, Inc.  determine what pump hydraulic design and materials would be the most suitable, and if there are any system or operational improvements that can be made.

With 130 years of field experience combined with rigorous research and testing, the technicians at KSB GIW, Inc. are adept at accurately forecasting pump wear life.

A critical point is knowing how long the pump parts need to last. Mines, for example, have set maintenance cycles. The mine will run for a number of weeks before needing to shut down for repairs. All GIW® Slurry Pumps are engineered with this in mind.

But maintenance cycles aren’t the only concern. Mine owners invest in and depend on high-quality KSB GIW, Inc. pumps and parts for their safety and reliability. By choosing GIW® products, our customers have access to world-renowned experts in slurry pumping technology and the best support available.