ME1289
Mechanical
- Jul 7, 2020
- 18
Does anyone have experience with a vertical Sundyne LMV-801 with an intermediate bearing box between the motor and the pump?
We have a pair of 15 HP pumps that have experienced repeat bearing failures even after factory troubleshooting. Pumps are high suction pressure (~400 PSIG) and typically run around 60 GPM with 50 PSI differential. We're pumping cold, light end hydrocarbons. Pumps run at 3530 RPM.
The bearing box has a small oil reservoir and lube oil disk that moves oil up internal galleys and trickles down the bearings and shaft.
The bearings run very hot in the summer with skin temperatures approaching 190F on 90F ambient days. This seems too high to me. We run a high quality Royal Purple 46 weight synthetic. We got about 6 months out of the last set of bearings
The high temperature leads me to believe we are overloading the bearings with thrust but I'm also skeptical about the lubrication setup. Not sure how to measure our oil flow to ensure the bearings are getting adequately lubricated.
Additionally, the bearing box doesn't have any cooling fins (like a standard bearing power end on a horizontal pump) or forced cooling so I question it's ability to reject heat. Also, since the motor is physically small, the 'windage' from the motor fan doesn't really circulate around the bearings either.
Could be a combination of all three factors (thrust, poor lubrication, poor heat rejection) or just one.
Anyone have experience with this bearing setup? I'm only familiar with close coupled Sundyne pumps where the impeller is connected directly to an extended shaft motor with no intermediate bearings.
Thanks!
We have a pair of 15 HP pumps that have experienced repeat bearing failures even after factory troubleshooting. Pumps are high suction pressure (~400 PSIG) and typically run around 60 GPM with 50 PSI differential. We're pumping cold, light end hydrocarbons. Pumps run at 3530 RPM.
The bearing box has a small oil reservoir and lube oil disk that moves oil up internal galleys and trickles down the bearings and shaft.
The bearings run very hot in the summer with skin temperatures approaching 190F on 90F ambient days. This seems too high to me. We run a high quality Royal Purple 46 weight synthetic. We got about 6 months out of the last set of bearings
The high temperature leads me to believe we are overloading the bearings with thrust but I'm also skeptical about the lubrication setup. Not sure how to measure our oil flow to ensure the bearings are getting adequately lubricated.
Additionally, the bearing box doesn't have any cooling fins (like a standard bearing power end on a horizontal pump) or forced cooling so I question it's ability to reject heat. Also, since the motor is physically small, the 'windage' from the motor fan doesn't really circulate around the bearings either.
Could be a combination of all three factors (thrust, poor lubrication, poor heat rejection) or just one.
Anyone have experience with this bearing setup? I'm only familiar with close coupled Sundyne pumps where the impeller is connected directly to an extended shaft motor with no intermediate bearings.
Thanks!