Are Your Pumps Draining Your Budget?

The Hidden Cost of “If It Ain’t Broke…”

The “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset is one of the most expensive strategies in facilities management. Waiting for a pump to fail means accepting unplanned downtime, expensive emergency call-out fees and costly overnight shipping for parts.

The Proactive Solution: A Preventative Maintenance Plan

A structured maintenance plan is your first line of defence. It’s about spotting trouble long before it starts.

• What you can do:
  • Listen & Look: Schedule regular walk-arounds. Is a pump making a new noise, like a grinding or rattling? Is there a new vibration you can feel? Are there any minor leaks around the seals? These are the early warning signs of failure.
  • Basic Checks: Ensure lubrication is at the right level and that the area around the pump is clean and well-ventilated to prevent overheating.
• How a partner like Dura Pump helps:
  We take the guesswork and time pressure off your team. A Dura Pump Proserv maintenance plan includes regular site visits from expert engineers who perform in-depth. They can detect bearing wear or misalignment issues that are invisible to the naked eye, allowing you to schedule a low-cost repair at a convenient time, rather than dealing with a high-cost failure during peak operations.

Your Pumps: The Silent Energy Thieves

Did you know that pumps can account for up to 40% of your total energy usage? Many pumps are installed to run at one constant, high speed, regardless of the actual demand. It’s like keeping your foot slammed on the accelerator pedal, even when you’re in slow-moving traffic.

The Proactive Solution: An Energy-Focused System Audit

Optimising how your pumps run can deliver some of the biggest and quickest cost savings.

• What you can do:
  • Question Everything: Is that booster set running at full power 24/7, even when water demand is low overnight? Is your heating circulation pump running flat-out in milder weather? Identifying these inefficiencies is the first step.
  • Consider Upgrades: The single most effective upgrade for energy saving is a Variable Speed Drive (VSD). A VSD acts like a dimmer switch for your pump’s motor, allowing it to automatically speed up or slow down to precisely match demand. The energy savings are staggering—reducing a pump’s speed by just 20% can cut its energy consumption by nearly 50%!
• How a partner like Dura Pump helps:
  This is our specialty. Our engineers can perform a Pump Energy Audit on your site. We analyse your entire system, identify oversized or inefficient pumps, and calculate the precise ROI of installing VSDs. We can show you exactly how many months it will take for the upgrade to pay for itself in energy savings, giving you a clear, data-driven case to present for the investment.

Services energy savings

Taming the “Problem Pump”

Every facility has one. That one pump that constantly needs attention. It’s always leaking, tripping the breaker, or needing another “quick fix.” These patch-up jobs feel small, but the cumulative cost of parts, labour, and frustration is enormous.

The Proactive Solution: Root Cause Analysis

Stop treating the symptom and start fixing the disease. A persistent issue is rarely a problem with the pump itself, but a problem with the system the pump is in.

• What you can do:
  • Look Beyond the Pump: If a seal fails repeatedly, is it because of excessive vibration from pipework or a misaligned shaft? If a pump is noisy (a sign of cavitation), is there a blockage in the suction line or is the pipework too small?
  • Document the Issues: Keep a log of every repair for that problem pump. This history can reveal patterns that point to the real source of the trouble.
• How a partner like Dura Pump helps:
  When we’re called to a “problem pump,” we don’t just replace the broken part. We act as system detectives. Our engineers perform a Root Cause Analysis to understand why the failure is happening. We’ll assess everything from the pipework design and valve placement to the fluid being handled. By fixing the underlying system issue—whether it’s correcting pipework, re-specifying the pump for the actual duty, or improving alignment—we solve the problem for good, saving you the endless cycle of budget-draining repairs.

Stop Draining Your Budget, Start Optimising Your Facility

Your pumps don’t have to be a source of financial stress. By being proactive with maintenance, optimising for energy savings and properly addressing persistent issues, you can transform them from a budget drain into a model of efficiency. This proactive approach not only saves money but also increases reliability and gives you valuable peace of mind.