Chemical feed systems are certainly no impulse buy, so make sure your company’s costly investment is built to perform exactly the way you need it to. Issues with substandard equipment can cause major headaches for your company: reduced throughput, high corrosion rates, inferior chemical control, inconsistent quality and potential danger to people and equipment.
Delivery systems are the center of any chemical feed system. Most use a metering pump although sometimes systems may use gravity feed or eductors to pump a number of gases and liquids. There are different types of chemical metering pumps – packed plunger, piston, or diaphragm – and all these pumps employ positive displacement.
When choosing a metering pump, you need to know what to look for: net positive suction head (NPSH), suction side static head, pressure relief, potential siphoning, pump turndown, and compatibility with other materials. To ensure the pump will work properly, the design specifications should be as close as possible to operating conditions. For example, if you purchase a plunger pump and don’t test it or don’t have it built for your company’s normal output, one day you could be using this expensive new chemical feed system and an increase in the discharge line pressure may suddenly reduce the pump’s output. Not good!
Many factors can affect a metering pump’s performance, so output has to be checked frequently with a calibration cylinder. If you’re not really thrilled about constantly checking the calibration, you can purchase a computerized chemical feed system that will automatically verify the metering pump output and make adjustments as necessary.
When purchasing a chemical feed system, it’s best if you can find a company that provides the entire system – from beginning design to the final tested and pre-assembled system. As the customer, you need to be able to approve the designs before production. Engineers should have the expertise to help you choose the proper equipment for your business and verify that it meets or exceeds industry standards.
At Carbis Fluid Handling, we understand how critical skid-mounted chemical feed systems are to our customers’ business. We employ stringent quality controls to ensure your investment is justified when your company gets improved throughput, precise chemical control, and high quality components. Carbis Fluid Handling offers everything your company needs for a complete chemical feed system, from the original design to construction and delivery of your pre-assembled system.
Contact Carbis Fluid Handling today for more information on how we can help with your liquid transfer and chemical feed systems.
