A Cleaner Alternative for Waste Water Pumping on Offer

KSB (UK) solves the problem of cooling waste water pumps with a closed-loop, jacket-cooling system for its Amarex KRT. The elegantly engineered solution provides a cleaner, more reliable alternative to sewage cooled systems for a variety of applications including waste water, sludge, and storm water transport.

"All motors produce heat when they run, and they must have a way to get rid of that heat — even waste water pumps,"explains Azir Khan, North East Regional Manager for KSB Inc. “Many common pumps employ an open loop cooling system that allows the liquid they are pumping to circulate around the motor, thus using the pumped fluid as a coolant.”

That is a simple solution, says Mr. Khan. However, in environments where the pumped fluid is contaminated by debris such as sewage, the jacket eventually becomes clogged, requiring maintenance crews to frequently shut down the pump and dismantle it to remove the accumulated material.

Mr. Khan says, "The sewage or other material in the open loop cooling system eventually create a coating on the motor surface that actually acts like a blanket, insulating the motor; and interfering with heat transfer. The motor overheats and shuts down — typically in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve."

Of course, an unscheduled pump shutdown is never a laughing matter, so KSB offers a practical alternative. The cooling liquid inside the Amarex KRT jacket is an environmentally safe propylene glycol/water mix. The 38/62 antifreeze mixture enables the closed loop cooling system to protect the pump in temperatures as low as minus 4° F (minus 20° C). An impeller inside the closed loop system circulates the propylene glycol/water mixture so that it constantly flows around the motor, gathering heat, then over a heat exchanger, which dissipates the heat into the pumped liquid via the heat exchanger.

The system is completely sealed against the pumped media as well as the air-filled motor housing. Designed for continuous duty in a completely dry or fully submerged condition, the KRT design greatly simplifies maintenance for pump technicians. Crews need to inspect the coolant only every 8000 hours or two years, and replace the coolant every five years to ensure ongoing, reliable performance.

"KSB's Factory Mutual-certified design is about a decade ahead of competing designs, and has been proving its worth in the global market for over ten years," says Mr. Khan. The KRT can be installed in a variety of configurations to accommodate the requirements of any waste water application.

In addition, as with all KSB pumps, the KRT features precision manufacturing to ensure easy maintenance. Monitoring sensors are teleservice-enabled to permit remote monitoring, and the completely sealed cable entry points provide safe operation, even if a cable is damaged or cut below the water level.

KSB provides municipal waste water management solutions that make pumping applications easier.