Pumping reliability
May 1st 2008

Flygt pumps have helped Brintons Carpets to cope with a demanding waste effluent process that was leading to unreliability and high maintenance costs

Established in Kidderminster over 200 years ago, Brintons Carpets has been weaving carpets there ever since. One of the world's largest manufacturers of high-quality woven Axminsters and Wilton Carpet, Brintons is a leading producer both of residential and commercial carpets.

As part of its production process, hot effluent containing manufacturing solids needs to be transferred through pumps installed in a dry pit, via a filter and then pumped to waste via a heat recovery system. The two existing centrifugal pumps supplied by another manufacturer were proving unreliable and troublesome in operation. Whenever they blocked the pit would flood, resulting in pump failure due to flooding and requiring maintenance personnel to enter a confined space to remove the pumps for repair.

Furthermore, whenever a blockage occurred it was necessary to by-pass the heat recovery system – which significantly increased the site energy bill. With this happening up to four times a year, it was clear that a much more reliable solution was needed.

Peter Newell, Brintons' energy manager, asked ITT Water & Wastewater to assess and resolve the problem. His brief called for a pump that could be dry installed, but would withstand flooding without damage. It needed to be able to handle wet-side temperatures of up to 60°C in a relatively confined space with little air circulation and, pass the type of fibrous 'stringy' waste which can cause severe problems for standard centrifugal pumps. 316 stainless steel construction was necessary to cope with aggressive materials. Reliable, round-the-clock operation and minimal maintenance were also essential.

The whole package needed to be delivered to a fixed timescale, within budget.

The solution was a Flygt submersible D8000 vortex impeller stainless steel pump, specifically designed for demanding pumping applications where waste water contains solid materials. At a total cost within the available budget, the Flygt pumping equipment provided a proven engineered solution which was tailored to Brintons' needs, and installed within the required timescale.

The operation is now fully reliable, and handling the tough demands of the application without difficulty.

Annual maintenance repair costs have been substantially reduced.

Health and safety risks to maintenance personnel have also been reduced, since they no longer need to enter the pit to deal with blocked pumps.

"Drawing on ITT Water & Wastewater's wealth of experience and knowledge was invaluable," says Peter Newell. "It was able to specify and supply a product which fully meets the required duty. We are delighted with the product and the service. The pump has been running now for six months without any blockages or loss of performance. The heat recovery system has been able to perform to its full capacity and there have been no interruptions to production."

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