The shift in dredge pump wear after switching to ceramic liners

I noticed a huge difference in pump life after a job on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge about 8 months ago. We swapped out our old steel liners for ceramic ones on a 12-inch dredge pump. Before, we were replacing steel liners every 3 weeks because of all the sand and gravel. With ceramics, we just pulled the same set after 12 weeks and they barely had any scoring. Has anyone else seen this kind of longevity gain with ceramics, or was our sand just especially rough on steel?

3 comments

3 Comments

simonh7425d ago

Totally agree with you on the ceramic liners making a HUGE difference. We had basically the same experience on a job in Louisiana, running a 10-inch dredge through some nasty, sharp sand and pea gravel mix. Before ceramics, our steel liners would be shot in about 4 weeks flat, with deep grooves worn right through. After swapping to ceramics, that first set lasted us over 14 weeks before we even pulled them to check. The only marking we found was a faint polish where the material was hitting, nothing that would cause failure. Sounds like your sand was just as rough as ours, but ceramics handle that abrasion way better because they're much harder than the steel. I think a lot of guys don't realize how much downtime and replacement cost they're burning by sticking with old steel.

king.wyatt25d ago

Same thing happened with us on a job in Texas... running a 12 inch cutterhead through some real rough river sand. Our steel elbows used to last maybe 3 weeks tops, then we'd start seeing daylight through the wall. We switched to ceramic lined elbows and got 18 weeks out of the first one before we even noticed anything. The only thing we saw was a smooth shiny spot like you said, no real wear at all. It's wild how much money we were burning on steel replacements and the downtime to swap them out.

felix_lane9923d ago

Is it really that big of a deal for most jobs though?