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GRAPHALLOY® Bushings Deep Well Pump at Gas Fired Power Plant

3/02/2021

This gas fired power plant has historically experienced short service life with rubber bearings due to some dry running issues on an 8-stage deep well vertical turbine water pump operating at 1100 GPM, at 1800 RPM.

The power plant needs to continuously run in order to service their customers and they were desperate for a solution to keep their pump running. This station can produce enough electricity to power 180,000 homes.

The power plant contracted their provider of well and pump services to find a bearing solution and upgrade the pump. The contractor had used Graphalloy bushings in other deep well pumps with great success, and recommended Graphalloy to the power plant maintenance manager.

The Graphalloy material is non-galling and self-lubricating which means the material can run dry and keep running. Due to these same features, Graphalloy bushings are also good solutions for low lubricity fluids and light hydrocarbons where flashing may be an issue. After discussions with Graphalloy engineers, they replaced all 48 rubber bearing inserts in the spider hubs of the water lubed vertical line shaft well pump with Graphalloy bronze grade bushings with a long spiral groove to move particulates.

After over three years in service, the customer has been very pleased with GRAPHALLOY’s performance. During the following outage, they pulled two more pumps and again replaced the pump OEM provided rubber bushings with Graphalloy.

Graphalloy is used in deep well water pumps around the world. In Hawaii, Graphalloy bushings have lasted up to 19 years before being replaced.

If you would like more information on the type of deep well pumps where Graphalloy is installed, contact us at +1 914 968 8400 sales@graphalloy.com or +44 1636 672661 dennis.rawle@graphalloy.com

 


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