Five basic criteria for selection and application of pumps

There are a lot of questions to be answered when choosing a pump. I have found that there are five basic criteria that need to be determined before any selection is done, or application of the same. Some of these will sound obvious, and some of the companies and individuals may say they support all of these criteria. But they take short cuts in making the choice in order to save money.

The first and foremost thing to be kept in mind is that no one gets hurt. Safety of the personel is of primary importance. We cannot afford to put people at unncecessary risk. Secondly, we have to protect the environmnet. This saves money in the long run, and according to the law, it is the right tihing to do. Preventing and reducing carbon emissions makes the world a safer place for people to live, and the product can be sold easily rather than losing it as it can be cleaned up. 

Thirdly, the size of the equipment should be determined to calculate the right capacity of the process unit because throughput is where companies can make a profit. The fourth and fifth criteria are related. How long the equipment needs to perform its' function and how to select, install and operate the equipment to accomplish all of the criteria at minimun life cycle cost are inter-related. Though these sound obvious, different organizations have different goals.

Companies want their projects to be installed at minimum cost and want to get them running on time. This rarely leads to minimum life cycle cost because better quality equipment lasts longer with lower maintenance costs. However, the initial cost is likely to be more.

Read more about each of the above criteria in the forthcoming articles by the same author.