Troubleshooting centrifugal

pumps: rolling element bearing

failures
Diagnosing the cause of bearing f~~~~res in ee~%r~f~~~~pumps requires knowledge of
bearings and and operating
characteristics. itafso 0 edge of the pump%
operating en ta provide, and the duration
of these flow ce ~~a~ti~e~ is also
important.

B
earing manufacturers offer of the load it carries, any excessive Have increased pump internal
excellent reference material for load imparted to the bearing will have running clearances, typically asso-
review of rolling element a dramatic effect. ciated with wear rings, led to
bearing failures, including pictures excessive thrust load? A similar
and photog~a~lls of failed bearings, REARING LIFE = CONSTANT effect will result through blocked
with their respective cause of failure.
(SPEED) x (LOAL))’ impeller balance holes.
These aids do not select a specific
application, such as centrifugal
pumps, instead tending to encompass The list of causes of excessive loading Is the correct amount of grease being
many applications. The causes of may be extensive, but the following added during regressing of grease
hearing failure in centrifugal pumps checks will often reveai the source of lubricated bearing? Over greasing
are often related to areas of hydraulics concern: leads to overheating, with a rest&
or maintenance, which must be tant reduction in bearing internal
included in the analysis, along with Confirm that housing and shaft fits clearance and temporary excessive
the common areas such as lubrication, are within acceptable tolerance for loading of the hearing. Many bearings
maintenance and design.
the service: incur severe life reduction through
over greasing.
There are five prime causes (or areas) - Hot service may require bearing
of rolling element bearing failure: cooiing to m~~intain acceptable Is an adequate escape path available
bearing clearances. to permit any excess grease to escape
l Excessive load - Marginal bearing housing the bearing?
l Improper lubrication clearances may lead to excessive
l Contamination of the lubricant axial loading, where the radial henr- Insufficient preheating in hot service,
l Poor tnaintenance practices ing fails to accommodate thermal resulting in failure to accommodate
l Incorrect specification growth of the shaft, due to tightness thermal expansion of shaft relative to
in its housing. the pump casing.
Figure 1 offers a very basic approach to
centrifugal pump rolling element Confirm that bearing internal - If the shaft grows rapidly before the
bearing failure troubleshooting. It is clearances are correct for the service: casing has had time to expand, the
intended to assist in the diagnosis of _ Increased bearing internal rotating assemhly may reach a point of
failure, but should not be considered as clearance may be required for hot internal interference with the casing.
a comprehensive analysis tool. First service or for motors that are While the interference may disappear
order troubleshooting may be assisted expected to run hot. after the casing reaches operating
through consideration of the listed temperature, the bearing will already
potential causes, which experience has Is the pump being continuously have lost much of its life, even if it
shown covers a majority of centrifugal operated at a low u/oof best efficiency does not incur rapid failure due to the
pump rolling element bearing failures. point (BEP) flow? This can lead initial interference.
to excessive radial forces on the
Excessive load impeller in volute pumps, partic- Misalignment of pump and driver,
ularly single volute pumps, which resulting in excessive loads and poor
Because a rolling element bearing life will be reflected in increased bearing tracking of the rolling elements in the
is inversely proportional to the cube loads. bearing races.

28, WORLD PUMPS December 2001 0262 1762/01/$ - see front matter 0 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Improper lubrication Was rhr heartng housing thoroughly dOllC with clean glows, \vhcn
cleaned durtng the last hearing tnstalltng hclt heartnp.
Has the correct vtacostty of oil been replacement!
selecred ro nccommoi1ate maxtmum Shaft and/or heartng houstng surface
heartng temperature! If the inside of the hearing housing is uniformit\ are important. The
painted, aa\ rhe correcr paint useci! he,lrtng must cntcr the heartng
Has the correct type of oil hecn used? houstng \vtthout undue force, applied
- Never uw detergent oils for baring Poor maintenance to the outer race, not the inner race.
luhrtcation. Synthetic oils rolcrate practices An out-of-round shaft can CJUS inner
higher operdting remperarurcs. race dtstorrion.
Mainrenance practices associated
lb the heat-tng houstng oil level with rolling element bcartngs in Rearing housing :ind ahafr ftt
correcrl centrifugal pump deserve tnore tneasuretnenta need ro hc checked ;tt
~ Halfway up the lower ball where no attentton than can he afforded in each bearing replacement. It IS hesr
oil ring or 011 fltnger ts installed. this discussion, hut there remain5 a to check the actual hearing housmg
_ At the hortom of the lcjwer h,lll number of key arcas which art have a bore ad shaft dimensions against the
ahere dn oil ring or otl flinger is major itnpact on hearing life. These actual hearing outer aid inner raw
installed. mainrenancc areas are worthy of diamctcr mea\ttremenr~, rarher than
constdcration \vhen troubleshooting trust tolerances. These measurements
If using oil tntbt lubricariort, check the putnp rolling element hcariq failures. are besr raken to tolerances of one
bearing housing venting ts adequate! tenth of a rhousandth of an inch
Bearing heating ahol,c 125 “C (157 “F) (0.0025 mtn), at comparable tetnp-
Arc regular oil chartEes, if scheduled, should he avoicied. Excessive heating eratures (less than 7 “C [I?.6 OF] tn
complctcd on \chedule! of heartngs prior To installarion can temperature diffcrencc) to ;IVOid
cause metallurgical changes, whtch tneasuretnent error.
If gre;lse luhrtcartd (motor or pump), wll result in early hearing failure.
IL the grraae selection correct an d Rearing housing cleanliness, as mcn-
of the correct consistency (a tnore Cleanliness btandards tnubt be rtoned above, ib always important. as
channelling, burrcry, type of greae for adhered to. Rcplacetnent of hearings any remaining pdrticlea from cl failed
higher apeds)! The oil componenr of in a location where dust or other bearing or foreign marcrtal whtch
the greae shoulcl have the same parttcularr matter is atrhorne should entered the heartng housing ail1 lead
vtscostty as that which would he he avoided. Handling ahould only hc to reduced heartng life.
belectecl for otl bath lubrication.

Contamination of
the lubricant Basic Centrifuqal Pump Bearinq Failure Troubleshootinq

If tn the proxitniry of a source of Poor j Incorrect

Maintenance j Specification
tnotsturc or leaking bteam rhcn check:

r.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . .:

_ If the hearing houstng ts scaled! i Excessive ;

~ If there is any motsture collected in ?nJ.H!?!t!!?.~
: .*........*........,
.

a dratn pot attached to rhc bottom of ; Cleanliness i

the hearing housing! i of Bearings i
~ Whcthcr the dram pot IS dratnd of i.8Fu:i!! ....i
: . .. ... ... ... .. .... .,
.

water before it filla!

i Shaft & Erg. i
- If the heattng houstng is purged Fvirh : Hcusing
dry instrument air, if not on oil tnisr, I..~?~?~ . .. .1
~........““........ I
drtd if a pressure compensated oiler is
i Brg.
installed (if ir ts air purged)! i Housing& i
: Shaft Fits :
:....................I
Are hcartng housing tsolators hcing
i Perpendicularity i
used in place of bushings or lip sedls to ; 8 Concentricity i
better protect the hearing housing from ::..f3lecks
.............*..........i
foreijin tnatertal and/or tnotbture?
i Demagnetizatioi
i.!!.!?.?“k”..........i
15 the luhrtcating oil stored in a sealed
cortrainer to prevent moisture and
” ‘,
foreign matertal conramtnating the
btoreii 0111 Figure 1: Hints for centifugal pump rolling element bearing troubleshooting.

www worldpumps corn WORLD PUMPS December 2001 29

 Proper installation procedures. c~>mpletc pump/Jriver alignment A final word
utlli:ing the gu~delincs offereJ by the check.
bearing manufacturers wvlll avoiil
premature Jamage to the hearings Incorrect
&ring fitting on the pump shaft and specification
in the hearing housing. Key here ia
the .rIGdansr of any axial force On occasion thr instailcd btxring
appllcd to the bearing through the may he margln;Il for the aer\-tee
rotatmg elcmenrs, parricularly Ishen appllc~tion. A combmarion of large
installing a hearing in the hearing hearing size anJ high r~~tC~ti~~nal
housing, where tapping of the mner breed may result in a high DN
race will cause Jamage to the rotating number (hearing here m mm x rpm).
elements (halls or rollers). For hali bearings DN numbers in
excess of 200 000 for greabe luh-
ricateii he;rrilngs and 25;7 Oc?i? for
011 bath luhricatcd hearings may
require ccmsultation with the hearing
manufacturer’s appllcaticins engineer,
where hcarrng life has heen below
Demagnetization checks followmg normnl.
heatmg in an imiuction heater are
important. Although many moJcrn C3, lot)ae internal hearing clearance is
bearing inJucti<m heatrrs in~(?rp(~rat~ more ti>lerant of higher shaft radial
automatic demagnetxzation, this loails asaoclateil with low REP flow
simple check can avoiJ the adherence operation.
of any iron haseJ particles, which
would cause early failure. Grfater internal clearance may be
callcJ for \vith roller hearing\.
Improper alignment of pump and
Jriver. Even when the initial Have correct shaft and hearing fits
alignment of the pump anJ driver has been spectfieill
been accompllshcJ satisfactorily, - When in doubt the follou.ing fits
there r-emain two areas of concern may he useii fi>r small to moJerate six
which are often overlooked: bearings (q to 100 mm bore):
(I) H6 for bearing housmgs.
- Failure to realign the pump/driver (ii) k5 for shafts. Stan Shiels runs seminars and
consultation services on all aspects of
under hot ccrndrtiona, appf~cable to
centrifugal pump application through
services operating at a liquici Can duplex angular contact thrubt his company Shiels Turbomachinery Inc.
temperature greater than nominally hearings he installed in place ~>t He has more than 35 years of
experience as a professional engineer
125 “C (257 “F). If the pump is douhlc row hearing5 to accommodate and is a reglstered P.Eng in Canada and
aligned cold, it must he taken out of kno\vn higher thrust loaJs? C.Eng in the UK.
service after a period of at least one
hour of hot service and realigned Has adequate lubrication been CONTACT
while the pump LSstill hot. The only specifieii for the six and speed of the Stan Shieis, Shiels Turbomachinery Inc.,
PO Box 1198, 445 Gage Street,
alternative to this is where the bearing!
LOS 110, Canada.
thermal growth is known with - Hi&er than normally acceptable oil E-mail: stanshiels@aol.com
confidence (perhaps through prey- viscosities may generate excessive Fax: +I 905 468 9865.

ious experience realignmg the pump heat with high speed large bore
when hot, or through measurement hearings operating in an oil bath. Two previous articles that have
appeared in World Pumps on
using devices such ai Essinger balls) - Rearing housing cooling may he re-
rolling element bearings are
and the required cold offset is quired where the DN numher L
worth reviewing as a prelude to
allowed for at the time of initial toward the high siJr of the
troubleshooting: “Application
alignment. acceptable limit.
of roiling element bearings in
centrifugal pumps” by
- Failure to realign the pump after Bearings with filler notches should
Stan Shiels, September, 2000 and
a suction spool piece (usually con- hc avoided in thrust applicati~xx
“Constant level lubricators
taming a strainer) has been removed due to the danger of any reverse
and other bearing protection
and remstalled. Any piping altrra- thrust causing the notch to
devices” by Heinz Bloch,
tion in the vicinity of the pump interfere with loading, leadq to August, 2001.
suction or discharge is cause for a early failure.

30 WORLD PUMPS December 2001