Weird and Wonderful Pump Failures - Calgary Pump Symposium

Start-up and Operation issues:
o
The minimum flow control system
• During normal operation the closed minimum flow valve
would cool off and not open properly when forward flow
to the process was cut back at the fired heater.
• The small filters in the pump discharge flow meter purge
oil system would continually plug up taking the flow
meter off-line or make the measurement in-accurate. The
operators had to manually control the min-flow valve with
absolutely no information as to the actual pump flow rate.
• The pump discharge pressure at less than min-flow was
enough to force the min-flow valve closed. The actuator
was not sized big enough to keep the valve open!