mud pump maintenance & supply free sample

Many things go into getting the most life out of your mud pump and its components — all important to extend the usage of this vital piece of equipment on an HDD jobsite. Some of the most important key points are covered below.

The most important thing you can do is service your pump, per the manufacturer’s requirements. We get plenty of pumps in the shop for service work that look like they have been abused for years without having basic maintenance,  such as regular oil changes. You wouldn’t dream of treating your personal vehicle like that, so why would you treat your pump like that.

Check the oil daily and change the oil regularly. If you find water or drilling mud contamination in the oil, change the oil as soon as possible. Failure to do so will most likely leave you a substantial bill to rebuild the gear end, which could have been avoided if proper maintenance procedures would have been followed. Water in the oil does not allow the oil to perform correctly, which will burn up your gear end. Drilling mud in your gear end will act as a lapping compound and will wear out all of the bearing surfaces in your pump. Either way it will be costly. The main reasons for having water or drilling mud in the gear end of your pump is because your pony rod packing is failing and/or you have let your liners and pistons get severely worn. Indication of this is fluid that should be contained inside the fluid end of your pump is now moving past your piston and spraying into the cradle of the pump, which forces its way past the pony rod packing. Pony rod packing is meant to keep the oil in the gear end and the liner wash fluid out of the gear end. Even with brand new packing, you can have water or drilling fluid enter the gear end if it is sprayed with sufficient force, because a piston or liner is worn out.

There is also usually a valve on the inlet of the spray bar. This valve should be closed enough so that liner wash fluid does not spray all over the top of the pump and other components.

Liner wash fluid can be comprised of different fluids, but we recommend just using clean water. In extremely cold conditions, you can use RV antifreeze. The liner wash or rod wash system is usually a closed loop type of system, consisting of a tank, a small pump and a spray bar. The pump will move fluid from the tank through the spray bar, and onto the inside of the liner to cool the liner, preventing scorching. The fluid will then collect in the bottom of the cradle of the pump and drain back down into the collection tank below the cradle and repeat the cycle. It is important to have clean fluid no matter what fluid you use. If your liners are leaking and the tank is full of drilling fluid, you will not cool the liners properly — which will just make the situation worse. There is also usually a valve on the inlet of the spray bar. This valve should be closed enough so that liner wash fluid does not spray all over the top of the pump and other components. Ensure that the water is spraying inside the liner and that any overspray is not traveling out of the pump onto the ground or onto the pony rod packing where it could be pulled into the gear end. If the fluid is spraying out of the cradle area and falling onto the ground, it won’t be long before your liner wash tank is empty. It only takes a minute without the cooling fluid being sprayed before the liners become scorched. You will then need to replace the pistons and liners, which is an avoidable costly repair. Make a point to check the liner wash fluid level several times a day.

Drilling fluid — whether pumping drilling mud, straight water or some combination of fluid — needs to be clean. Clean meaning free of solids. If you are recycling your fluid, make sure you are using a quality mud recycling system and check the solids content often throughout the day to make sure the system is doing its job. A quality mud system being run correctly should be able to keep your solids content down to one quarter of 1 percent or lower. When filling your mud recycling system, be sure to screen the fluid coming into the tanks. If it is a mud recycling system, simply make sure the fluid is going over the scalping shaker with screens in the shaker. If using some other type of tank, use an inline filter or some other method of filtering. Pumping out of creeks, rivers, lakes and ponds can introduce plenty of solids into your tanks if you are not filtering this fluid. When obtaining water out of a fire hydrant, there can be a lot of sand in the line, so don’t assume it’s clean and ensure it’s filtered before use.

Cavitation is a whole other detailed discussion, but all triplex pumps have a minimum amount of suction pressure that is required to run properly. Make sure this suction pressure is maintained at all times or your pump may cavitate. If you run a pump that is cavitating, it will shorten the life of all fluid end expendables and, in severe cases, can lead to gear end and fluid end destruction. If the pump is experiencing cavitation issues, the problem must be identified and corrected immediately.

The long and the short of it is to use clean drilling fluid and you will extend the life of your pumps expendables and downhole tooling, and keep up with your maintenance on the gear end of your pump. Avoid pump cavitation at all times. Taking a few minutes a day to inspect and maintain your pump can save you downtime and costly repair bills.

The positive displacement mud pump is a key component of the drilling process and its lifespan and reliability are critical to a successful operation.

The fluid end is the most easily damaged part of the mud pump. The pumping process occurs within the fluid end with valves, pistons, and liners. Because these components are high-wear items, many pumps are designed to allow quick replacement of these parts.

Due to the nature of its operation, pistons, liners, and valve assemblies will wear and are considered expendable components. There will be some corrosion and metallurgy imperfections, but the majority of pump failures can be traced back to poor maintenance, errors during the repair process, and pumping drilling fluid with excessive solids content.

A few signs include cut piston rubber, discoloration, pistons that are hard to remove, scored liners, valve and seat pitting or cracks, valve inserts severely worn, cracked, or completely missing, and even drilling fluids making their way to the power end of the pump.

The fluid end of a positive displacement triplex pump presents many opportunities for issues. The results of these issues in such a high-pressure system can mean expensive downtime on the pump itself and, possibly, the entire rig — not to mention the costly repair or replacement of the pump. To reduce severe vibration caused by the pumping process, many pumps incorporate both a suction and discharge pulsation dampener; these are connected to the suction and discharge manifolds of the fluid end. These dampeners reduce the cavitation effect on the entire pump which increases the life of everything within the pump.

Poor maintenance — such as improper valve and seat installation — is another factor. Improper cleaning when replacing a valve seat can leave sand or debris in the valve seat area; preventing the new seat from properly forming a seal with the fluid cylinder, causing a pathway for a washout to occur. It is important to pull up on a seat firmly by hand and make sure it doesn’t pop out and is properly seated. The seats must be seated well, before resuming repairs. You should never reuse a valve seat if at all possible.

The fluid end is the most easily damaged part of the mud pump. The pumping process occurs within the fluid end with valves, pistons, and liners. Because these components are high-wear items, many pumps are designed to allow quick replacement of these parts.

Additionally, the throat (inside diameter) can begin to wash out from extended usage hours or rather quickly when the fluid solids content is excessive. When this happens it can cut all the way through the seat and into the fluid end module/seat deck. This causes excessive expense not only from a parts standpoint but also extended downtime for parts delivery and labor hours to remove and replace the fluid module. With that said, a properly operated and maintained mud recycling system is vital to not only the pump but everything the drilling fluid comes in contact with downstream.

Cavitation is an undesirable condition that reduces pump efficiency and leads to excessive wear and damage to pump components. Factors that can contribute to cavitation, such as fluid velocity and pressure, can sometimes be attributed to an inadequate mud system design and/or the diminishing performance of the mud pump’s feed system.

Although cavitation is avoidable, without proper inspection of the feed system, it can accelerate the wear of fluid end parts. Over time, cavitation can also lead to expensive maintenance issues and a potentially catastrophic failure.

When a mud pump has entered full cavitation, rig crews and field service technicians will see the equipment shaking and hear the pump “knocking,” which typically sounds like marbles and stones being thrown around inside the equipment. However, the process of cavitation starts long before audible signs reveal themselves – hence the name “the silent killer.”

Mild cavitation begins to occur when the mud pump is starved for fluid. While the pump itself may not be making noise, damage is still being done to the internal components of the fluid end. In the early stages, cavitation can damage a pump’s module, piston and valve assembly.

The imperceptible but intense shock waves generated by cavitation travel directly from the fluid end to the pump’s power end, causing premature vibrational damage to the crosshead slides. The vibrations are then passed onto the shaft, bull gear and into the main bearings.

If not corrected, the vibrations caused by cavitation will work their way directly to critical power end components, which will result in the premature failure of the mud pump. A busted mud pump means expensive downtime and repair costs.

To stop cavitation before it starts, install and tune high-speed pressure sensors on the mud suction line set to sound an alarm if the pressure falls below 30 psi.

Although the pump may not be knocking loudly when cavitation first presents, regular inspections by a properly trained field technician may be able to detect moderate vibrations and slight knocking sounds.

Gardner Denver offers Pump University, a mobile classroom that travels to facilities and/or drilling rigs and trains rig crews on best practices for pumping equipment maintenance.

Program participants have found that, by improving their maintenance skills, they have extended the life of fluid end expendables on their sites. They have also reported decreases in both production and repair costs, as well as reductions in workplace hazards.

Severe cavitation will drastically decrease module life and will eventually lead to catastrophic pump failure. Along with downtime and repair costs, the failure of the drilling pump can also cause damage to the suction and discharge piping.

When a mud pump has entered full cavitation, rig crews and field service technicians will see the equipment shaking and hear the pump ‘knocking’… However, the process of cavitation starts long before audible signs reveal themselves – hence the name ‘the silent killer.’In 2017, a leading North American drilling contractor was encountering chronic mud system issues on multiple rigs. The contractor engaged in more than 25 premature module washes in one year and suffered a major power-end failure.

Gardner Denver’s engineering team spent time on the contractor’s rigs, observing the pumps during operation and surveying the mud system’s design and configuration.

The engineering team discovered that the suction systems were undersized, feed lines were too small and there was no dampening on the suction side of the pump.

There were also issues with feed line maintenance – lines weren’t cleaned out on a regular basis, resulting in solids from the fluid forming a thick cake on the bottom of the pipe, which further reduced its diameter.

Following the implementation of these recommendations, the contractor saw significant performance improvements from the drilling pumps. Consumables life was extended significantly, and module washes were reduced by nearly 85%.

Although pump age does not affect its susceptibility to cavitation, the age of the rig can. An older rig’s mud systems may not be equipped for the way pumps are run today – at maximum horsepower.

Prior check to the start of a mud pump for clear water inlet and outlet pipes, buttered front and rear bearings and a filled packing. The China mud pump should be equipped with a high-pressure water pump, which pumps water to the sealing fill with a pressure greater than that of the mud pump. As a protection to the fill, never turn off the water pump while the mud pump is in its working state. Otherwise, the sealing part is of immediate wear.

The service life of the mud pump depends on the clearance between the impeller and the guard plate. An unreasonable clearance is responsible for the vibration and the noise of the pump and the damage of overflowing parts. Therefore, when it comes to the impeller replacement, the clearance shall meet the requirements of the design drawing by adjusting screws on the rear bearing. Take the suction capacity of mud into account for the allowable suction range of the mud pump is determined by water transported.

The Construction Department shall have some professional person responsible for the maintenance and repair of the construction machinery. Regular check and maintenance of the mud pump and other machinery, such as the drilling mud pump parts, are useful for the early detection and a prompt solution.

Pay attention to the size of sediment particles, among which the large ones are prone to wear the vulnerable parts of the China mud pumpsuch as pump shells, bearings, impellers, and so on. Timely maintain the use and replace the damaged. Take advanced anti-wear measures to lengthen the service life of vulnerable parts, which can downturn the cost and up forward the efficiency. Meanwhile, keep backup vulnerable parts in stock in case of unexpected replacement needs.

We keep your mud pumps running in first class condition – providing onsite inspections, repairs and complete overhaul as well as all associated parts.

Periodically we’ll inspect for wear, cracks and damage to critical components such as bearings, bull gear and pinion, conrods and crossheads. We’ll check the condition of your seals and other rubber goods and look for oil contamination. We’ll inspect your frame and ensure your pump is set up as per the manufacturer’s recommended tolerances, providing feedback and detailed reporting.

Where overhaul is required we’ll take care of complete disassembly, cleaning and NDT. Repairs will be made to machined components as necessary. Bearings, seals and other components will be replaced in line with our inspections. Motors will be overhauled, lube systems serviced and pulsation dampeners recertified. We’ll also check your fluid ends are in spec and can repair or replace. Your pump is then fully reassembled and commissioned.

The fluid end of a duplex or triplex pump offers hundreds of opportunities for error. The results of an error in such a high-pressure system can mean (1) expensive downtime on the pump and maybe the entire rig, (2) expensive repair-replacement, and (3) possible injury or death of a crewman or a company man. Under the laws of nature, pump pistons and liners will wear, and there will be some corrosion and metallurgical imperfections, but the majority of pump failures are manmade. Theoretically, thorough training and retraining should avoid most mud pump problems. Realistically, a critical failure analysis during repair will be necessary to determine how to correct the failure. Telltale signs of trouble are distortion of piston rods, frayed piston polymer, discoloration, odor, hard-to-remove piston, rod cracks, pitting, total fracture, valve seat wear, and unsuitable external appearance.

The fluid end of a duplex or triplex pump offers hundreds of opportunities for error. The results of an error in such a high-pressure system can mean (1) expensive downtime on the pump and maybe the entire rig, (2) expensive repair-replacement, and (3) possible injury or death of a crewman or a company man. Under the laws of nature, pump pistons and liners will wear, and there will be some corrosion and metallurgical imperfections, but the majority of pump failures are manmade. Theoretically, thorough training and retraining should avoid most mud pump problems. Realistically, a critical failure analysis during repair will be necessary to determine how to correct the failure. Telltale signs of trouble are distortion of piston rods, frayed piston polymer, discoloration, odor, hard-to-remove piston, rod cracks, pitting, total fracture, valve seat wear, and unsuitable external appearance.

Along with our complete pump packaging capabilities, Forum can perform complete module repair for both triplex and duplex fluid ends. Our fully trained repair team also provide gear end repair for pumps in all oilfield applications.

JL Offshore AS can support your drilling equipment needs in Repair and Refurbishment, Field Service, Inspections and Spare Parts for Mud Pumps, Drawworks, Rotary Tables, Travelling Blocks and Crown Blocks. We have experienced mechanics and technicians for field support that are highly respected in the industry and their technical expertise in inspecting and refurbishing drilling equipment meets or exceeds OEM standards.

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We specialize in complete Emsco restoration of internal wear parts Offering thermal spray coatings and specialty welding processes OD & IS Grinding & Machining To OEM Size.

Periodically we"ll inspect for wear, cracks and damage to critical components such as bearings, bull gear and pinion, conrods and crossheads. We"ll check the condition of your seals and other rubber goods and look for oil contamination. We"ll inspect your frame and ensure your pump is set up as per the manufacturer"s recommended tolerances, providing feedback and detailed reporting.

Emsco parts including the fluid end, power end, stuffing boxes, plungers, seals, bearings, diesel engines, and natural gas engines. We also have blasting and painting facilities as well as a machine shop. We have many years of experience rebuilding mud pumps

Where Emsco overhaul is required we"ll take care of complete disassembly, cleaning and NDT. Repairs will be made to machined components as necessary. Bearings, seals and other components will be replaced in line with our inspections. Motors will be overhauled, lube systems serviced and pulsation dampeners recertified. We"ll also check your fluid ends are in spec and can repair or replace. Your pump is then fully reassembled and commissioned.

Mystique Mud pump Coolant and Lubricant extends mud pump liner and piston life and provides internal lubrication and extra cooling to the coolant system of mud pumps. It extends the life of all liners, even ceramic. Mystique will not cause corrosion or rusting of iron, and is safe with all alloys. Recommened dilution rate of 12.5%. (25 gallons will treat a 200-gallon system.) For use on closed systems.