ABSTRACT
The pump engineer or reliability technician is understandably concerned with the physical pump. However, to achieve pump failure reductions, reliability-focused contributors must become familiar with these perceived “non-pump topics.” The bottom of a pre-grouted baseplate provides lots of flat surface area. Utilizing a pre-grouted baseplate with conventional grouting methods helps to minimize some of the cost, but the last pour still requires a full grout crew, skilled carpentry work, and good logistics. A cost comparison can be developed, based on the installation of a typical API baseplate using epoxy grout, for the conventional two-pour procedure and a pre-grouted baseplate using the new installation method. While it must be pointed out that today's costs differ from the above, it is of interest to note that the reliability advantage of pre-grouted baseplates has been well proven and several pump OEM's are now routinely employing the method.
