Pumping Grease

[niferous]

At my shop we have to pump grease into centrifugal pumps that we've rebuilt and it's usually a large amount. We've got a large air compressor and we can get the grease in a 55 gallon drum. My initial thought was to just use a 1" double diaphragm pump to just pump the grease into the pumps but I'm nut sure if that's going to work. We sell the double diaphragm pumps as well so we have one we can use and plenty of hose and fittings.

Right now we're just using lever operated grease guns and it's taking upwards to 70 pumps per grease fitting, 2 fittings per pump, and 4-5 pumps per day. Would it be as simple as plumbing a reduced 3/8" line into the outlet side of the pump with a bushing and then having a ball valve on the end of the line to control the flow? After the ball valve just use a regular 3/8" grease hose to apply the grease.

Does anyone see a better or cheaper way to do this?

 

[A_Pmech]

Drum-top grease pumps are readily available from any MRO supplier.

 

[zkling]

What AP said above, or possibly a pneumatic grease gun, ran off either bulk from a hose or a smaller on board reservoir.

 

[sloppy]

They make automated greasing systems.. I dont know about the "cheaper" part but if this is a item that cant go down it might make sense..

 

[niferous]

That's anything but cheaper. A pump like I'm talking about would run about $350 and in hose and fittings I'm looking at another $20 tops. The cheapest 400 lb drum air operated grease gun I can see online is $850.

 

[sloppy]

So what do they pay a guy a hour to stand there pumping a grease gun.. Its something to factor in when considering automation.. Not to mention the guy that says he is greasing stuff but isnt

 

[zkling]

That's anything but cheaper. A pump like I'm talking about would run about $350 and in hose and fittings I'm looking at another $20 tops. The cheapest 400 lb drum air operated grease gun I can see online is $850.

I guess to answer your initial question, yes that would work, as long as your pump can handle the viscosity and pressure needed to get the grease from the drum to the pump to be filled. How much grease are you putting into each pump?

Only thing to watch with just putting a valve on the end of a pumped grease line, is you will need a way for the pump to stop or recirculate when the valve is closed, otherwise since most grease isn't very compressible you could blow a line from pressure build up.

 

[kams1973]

What type of centrifugal pumps are you talking about...mission magnum??

 

[niferous]

Lincoln themselves is marketing the same pump design I'm talking about. We are an MRO supplier by the way so I could get their drum pumps straight from them. They're just too dang expensive.

http://www.lincolnindustrial.com/products/generallubricationproducts/generallubricationpumps/airoperateddiaphragmpumps.aspx

 

[A_Pmech]

That's anything but cheaper. A pump like I'm talking about would run about $350 and in hose and fittings I'm looking at another $20 tops. The cheapest 400 lb drum air operated grease gun I can see online is $850.

The cheapest way is to keep pumping the handle.

I doubt a diaphragm pump will move grease. Even if it will, a grease pump is usually rated to provide a maximum pressure of 5,000 PSI +-. Pumping grease through a long hose, then into a small grease zerk, through a grease channel and into a bearing requires a lot of pressure.

You might get away with a diaphragm pump, but if it doesn't work that grease pump is going to cost $370 + $850.

 

[niferous]

What type of centrifugal pumps are you talking about...mission magnum??

We rebuild the Mission Magnums as well as most other pumps. We're a MCM distributor though and that's what we sell new.

We take the pumps in and inspect them and we have a few different options as to replacement. We either rebuild them and charge for parts and labor, or we have a core exchange program. Basically we take a rebuilt centrifugal out to the customer that they can hook up immediately so they don't go on down time. Then we take their old pump back and rebuild it as a core; as long as it's good there is no core charge. The rebuilt pumps are put into the mix so sometimes customers will have a Mission Magnum that needs rebuilding but the rebuilt pump they get is a MCM, Double Life, Badger, etc.

 

[kams1973]

Pneumatic pistol grip guns aren't too expensive. They would be a pain in the *** if you had to pack them by hand instead of using cartridges though. Are you simply replacing wear plates, housings, and impellars? Do you replace the bearings during the rebuild?

IMHO, a diaphragm pump would end in utter failure.

 

[niferous]

Pneumatic pistol grip guns aren't too expensive. They would be a pain in the *** if you had to pack them by hand instead of using cartridges though. Are you simply replacing wear plates, housings, and impellars? Do you replace the bearings during the rebuild?

IMHO, a diaphragm pump would end in utter failure.

I'm thinking maybe a better option would be using a pneumatic grease gun that we refill from the bulk container. Plews makes some hand pumps that could refill the grease guns quickly from the drum.

On the pumps we replace parts as needed. Mission rebuilds them but will not mess with the fluid end which is a joke since that's where most of your serious failures happen.

We inspect the pumps when they come in replace all parts as needed except for all the seals, fasteners, mechanical seal, packing, water slinger, and grease fitting which we replace no matter what. So if the impeller and body is still good and don't show any cavitation we don't replace them. The bearing are inspected and the shaft is completely removed. If bearing are needed we replace them if not we pack them with new grease and reinstall.

Also all the pumps are sand blasted, primed, and painted while they are apart. All pump manufacturers currently assemble the pumps as bare metal units and then paint them as a whole. This causes a lot of rust issues and on top of that most manufacturers are using plain finished fasteners so almost everything is seized up when we get them. After we repaint the pumps we replace all the hardware with zinc coated grade 8 bolts and the B7 studs for the snail housing are zinc plated as well.

The cost savings are at least 45% versus a new pump and actually we build them to a higher standard anyway.

 

[Provincial]

At least in my area good used grease pumps sell for about $250.00, complete with the drum cover and pickup tube. Balcrank pumps are simple, reliable, and parts are fairly inexpensive. Alemite pumps are very good, but parts are expensive. ARO pump parts are very expensive.

Any of these pumps will last for decades if kept properly lubed and supplied with clean, dry air.

Refilling a hand-held grease gun (even a powered one) is an expensive proposition if the employee time/cost is considered.