Refurbishing Pump & Motor Bases
A Power Plant customer had several pump motor bases that had extreme corrosion due to the aggressive salt water environment they were in. Many of their pumps & motors were older units, and new bases were not available either because the factory no longer made parts for the pumps, or the ones that did would require a lot of machining and changes to get them to fit correctly. Additionally, they were rather costly.   Â
Pumpcoat did a survey of the units, and put together a refurbishment program for their pump bases.
Working on site according to our customer’s schedule, Pumpcoat~PCI Contractors protected the motor and pump by using plastic sheeting along with taping off the bearing housings and motor air vents. Containment and Dust collection were provided, and the coupling guards were removed and grit blasted and coated at our shop. Each base was prepared by needle gun and grinding, then wiped down with a special solvent that removes excess salt. Â
After allowing to air dry, Pumpcoat~PCI coated each base plate with a coating system designed to protect from future corrosion. The top coat color was matched to the pump as needed. Â
Some units were worse off, so Pumpcoat replaced welded nuts, damaged bolts, and added support ribs to the frames that needed them.   Â
A few of the pumps that needed maintenance were brought to our shop and repaired – new shaft sleeves, gaskets, oil seals and pump bearings were replaced, and the pumps were reinstalled at the customer’s. In less than a week, the pumps were back in service, looking and working good as new. The epoxy coating system would continue to protect the pump bases from the aggressive environment for quite awhile. Â
Our customer was happy with the work and the cost-savings to their budget over not having to purchase brand new bases.
