Five Ways to Reduce Pump Breakdowns

A pump is often the unseen heartbeat of an industrial facility, quarry, or a particular process line. When it operates smoothly, nobody gives it a second thought. But, when a process-critical pump breaks down, production often grinds to a sudden and costly halt.

A pump breakdown does not just mean the cost of repair – unplanned downtime, lost production hours, overtime costs, wasted stock, contractual or legal compliance breaches, and unnecessary stress for engineering and site management teams.

While any mechanical equipment will inevitably wear over time, catastrophic and premature pump failures can catch those leaving things to chance. The vast majority of pump breakdowns stem from a mismatch between pump capability and operating conditions, installation shortcuts, or maintenance oversights.

If you see obvious symptoms of pump damage, you might want to jump across to our pump issue deep-dives below – or call us on 0800 118 2500 if you have an urgent pump breakdown situation.

If you want to strengthen resilience and efficiency across your pump dependent processes, here are five practical, high-impact ways to reduce pump breakdowns and extend the operating life of your pumping assets.

 

1. Stop Operating Centrifugal Pumps Far Away from the Best Efficiency Point (BEP)

Unlike positive displacement pumps, throttling back a centrifugal pump isn’t always beneficial. In reality, operating a centrifugal pump far to the left of its Best Efficiency Point (BEP) is one of the quickest ways to cause internal mechanical damage.

The Hidden Impact of Low-Flow Operation

When a pump operates at low flow (part-load operation), the hydraulic energy that should be moving fluid through the system gets trapped inside the pump casing. This creates two major issues:

Excessive Radial Thrust: At BEP, hydraulic pressure around the impeller is evenly balanced. At low flow, pressure distribution becomes asymmetrical, generating a powerful sideways force (radial thrust) against the shaft. This causes shaft deflection, putting extreme stress on bearings and leading to premature mechanical seal failures.

Internal Recirculation & Erosion: Fluid fails to exit the impeller cleanly, creating high-velocity vortices and back-flow around the suction and discharge eyes. This localised turbulence causes pitting and wear patterns that mimic cavitation damage.

The Solution:

• Always size your pump for its actual duty point.
• Fit level switches to prevent dry running and low-suction inlet pressure.
• Only use throttling valves as a last resort (energy wastage and higher wear)

 

2. Audit the Pipework

Many a ‘pump problem’ can be traced back to poor pipework design, installation shortcuts, or unplanned layout changes.

Eliminate Pipework Strain: A pump is designed to transfer fluid, not to act as a structural support anchor for heavy pipework. Incorrect pipe installation introduces severe mechanical stresses that transfer directly into the pump casing. Heavy pipework connected to the pump without independent supports, or misaligned pipe flanges forced together by their bolts, exerts massive strain on the pump housing and shaft.

Check For Suction Line Air Traps: Using concentric reducers on horizontal suction lines creates high spots where trapped air gathers. Over time, these air pockets break off and enter the pump, causing severe vibration, flow disruption, and mechanical shock to the impeller.

The Solution:

• Ensure all pipework is independently supported and naturally aligns with the pump connection flanges without forced bolting.
• Always use eccentric (rather than concentric) reducers on horizontal suction lines with the flat side facing upwards to prevent air bubbles from accumulating.
• Avoid high spots in the pipework, and fit air release valves where such bends are unavoidable.

 

3. Shift from Reactive Repairs to Condition-Based Maintenance

However busy things are, try to keep one-step ahead on maintenance. Running a pump to failure (“reactive maintenance”) might be tempting in the short-term, but remember that preventative maintenance yields time and budget savings in the end.

Build an Early Warning System (Condition-Based)

By establishing a simple condition-monitoring baseline when a pump is newly commissioned or freshly overhauled, you can detect internal wear weeks or months before a complete breakdown occurs:

Vibration Analysis: An elevation in vibration amplitude—particularly at specific bearing or vane pass frequencies—indicates shaft misalignment, impeller unbalance, or early bearing degradation.

Temperature Tracking: Monitoring bearing housing temperatures provides immediate insight into lubrication breakdown or excessive mechanical loads.

Performance Baseline Monitoring: Track flow rates, discharge pressures, and motor current draw under standard operating conditions. A gradual drop in pressure alongside an increase in power draw indicates internal wear-ring clearance expansion or impeller erosion.

The Solution: Whether you’re currently in a rat-race of a whirlwind, ‘fighting fires’ to keep operational, or moving from timed (periodic) servicing to advanced Condition Based Maintenance (CBM), break down your journey into small, easily actioned steps. Small, quick wins build momentum.

Many sites use Atlantic Pumps’ field engineers to either handle all their pump inspection and maintenance needs, or just to guide their in-house team on the more specialist pumps when required.

 

4. Match Pump Materials and Wear Parts to the Process Fluid

Process lines rarely stay identical over their entire lifespan. Changes in raw material sources, increases in slurry solids percentage, variations in fluid pH, or altered fluid viscosity can turn an adequate pump setup into a high-maintenance headache.

Media Compatibility Checklist

Abrasive Slurries: Standard cast iron or stainless steel impellers deteriorate rapidly when handling aggressive abrasive slurries. Heavy-duty applications require high-chrome alloys, thick rubber liners, or specialized hardened materials to handle continuous impact.

Chemical & Elastomer Attack: If chemical dosing parameters change, standard NBR or EPDM mechanical seal elastomers can swell, harden, or dissolve, leading to sudden, catastrophic seal leakage.

Viscosity Changes: Highly viscous fluids increase internal resistance, causing motor overloading and severe efficiency loss if the pump design (or motor power rating) is not correctly rated for high shear or heavy fluid resistance.

The Solution: Periodically audit your process fluids. If fluid characteristics change, review the materials of construction with your pump manufacturer to select suitable wear parts, elastomers, and impeller metallurgy designed specifically for the actual operating media.

 

5. Pump Foundations: Check for Balance, Alignment and Support

While mobile pumps and even some heavy-duty submersibles comfortably handle typical conditions across construction sites, marine uses, and mine or quarry dewatering, heavy industrial pumps weigh 1/4 to over 3 tonnes just for the bare-shaft unit (without the motor drive). Add in the rotation, centrifugal forces and thick slurry movement at high flow-rates and you’ll see the need for a firm, level mounting plate. These pumps are often attached to a rigid skid base and sited on a reinforced concrete pad.

Even slight angular or parallel misalignment places heavy cyclical bending loads on pump shafts, accelerating bearing race pitting, tearing elastomeric drive couplings, and causing mechanical seal faces to leak.

The Solution: Check your pump is on a firm, level foundation and that fixing bolts are tight to avoid ‘soft foot’. These checks should be done before initial startup and re-checked after a run period to ensure operational heat or forces aren’t twisting the shaft out of alignment or loosening the mount.

 

Summary: Protecting Your Site’s Reliability

Reducing pump breakdowns does not require overly complex engineering overhauls. By eliminating pipe stress, operating close to the pump’s Best Efficiency Point, maintaining precise shaft alignment, implementing basic condition monitoring, and matching wear materials to your process fluid, you can dramatically extend mean time between failures (MTBF) across your site.

 

Pump troubleshooting by issue:

Vibration
Cavitation
Impeller damage
Progressive Cavity Troubleshooting Webinar

 

Speak to the Industrial Pump Experts

Are pump failures causing unplanned downtime on your site? Atlantic Pumps specialises in heavy-duty, abrasive, and demanding fluid handling applications. Our team of technical specialists can help you audit your current pump setups, optimise system pipework, and supply high-durability pumps and wear parts built for performance.

Call our technical team today on 0800 118 2500 to discuss your site requirements, or explore our full range of industrial pumping solutions.