Had a main pump impeller shatter on me yesterday on the Ohio River job.

Everyone says to run them until they're paper thin, but this one blew at 70% wear and took out the housing. Anyone have a better rule than just eyeballing it?

3 comments

3 Comments

cole36226d ago

We switched to a 50% wear limit after a similar failure on a dredge in Mobile Bay. The downtime from a blown housing costs way more than a new impeller. Now we just pull it during the regular service if the caliper shows it's halfway gone.

victor_stone24d ago

Yeah, that's a solid rule. We learned the hard way too, had a pump eat itself because we pushed a liner too far. The wrecked shaft and seal replacement took three days. A new wear part is cheap compared to that mess.

paul_morgan27d ago

Run them until they're paper thin" is a great plan until they're confetti. That 70% wear rule clearly didn't work out. Maybe just replace things before they explode.