Byworth Boilers provides steam and hot water boiler services across a diverse range of industry sectors, and it knows how critical the readily available supply of steam and hot water are to its customers’ production requirements. MEPCA found out why the company’s drive for reliability saw it choosing pumps from KSB UK to feed its boilers.
Byworth places great emphasis on the fact that it manufactures and fabricates many of its components in-house, but it externally sources its boiler feed pumps. In the words of Jason Atkinson, Byworth’s Head of Technical and Product Development: “Pumps are integral to how the boilers work because they feed the boiler with a constant supply of water at the correct pressure and flow rate.”
Since the companies began working together in 2013, KSB UK has sold over 400 Movitec pumps to Byworth.
Keeley O’Neill, OEM Area Sales Manager at KSB UK, takes up the story: “We approached Byworth Boilers in 2012 with an offer to free trial a Movitec VCF4-14 pump on their own boiler system, also used for training to test its reliability and suitability for their systems. This was a great success, and subsequently, Byworth started placing orders in 2013. The company has gradually increased its investment with KSB to a point where we now have in place pricing agreements and a rebate scheme.”
Byworth was the first company in the UK to recognise the potential need for a mobile boiler hire service, and in 2019 Byworth Hire decided to install Movitec pumps on its Boiler Hire units.
The Movitec pump
KSB’s Movitec pump series is a multistage vertical high-pressure centrifugal pump in ring-section design with suction, and discharge nozzles of identical nominal diameters arranged opposite to each other (in-line design) and close-coupled. Designed with hot water and cooling water recirculation, boiler feed, fire-fighting and pressure booster systems in mind, it offers users a range of energy-saving and high-performance features that deliver demand-driven operation.
With lower NPSH values, it provides dependable pump operation and a high level of operating reliability capable of delivering pressure up to 40 bar and flow rates of 190m³/h. Occupying only a small footprint, so ideal for incorporation into plant systems, the Movitec is easy to maintain. Seals are easy to replace, and EasyAccess or cartridge seals can even be replaced without the need to remove the motor.
The KSB Movitec saves energy at the component level due to its high-performance hydraulic system and maximum efficiencies. The pumps are equipped with IE3 motors as standard, and optimum energy savings can be achieved in combination with the KSB SuPremE IE5 motor. Pump sets employing PumpDrive speed control and the PumpMeter monitoring are recommended for fluctuating flow requirements and varying intake pressures.
The latest Movitec models offer an impeller design that significantly improves the pumps’ suction characteristics (NPSH value). The impeller can be used with a number of Movitec variants without requiring modifications to the outer pump casing. This impeller features a modified inlet diameter, vane allowing a slightly diagonal through-flow and a newly designed stage casing, which substantially improves the pump’s NPSH curve.
This proves its worth in applications with critical inlet conditions (e.g. boiler feed applications) as well as applications where the pump takes in water from low-lying tanks or at higher temperatures. Under these conditions, a pressure drop in the intake area may cause cavitation to occur in the first pump stage, resulting in excessive wear and damage to pump components.
Mutual objective
In an era where optimising energy and operating efficiency combine to provide the maximum return on investment, both Byworth with its advanced technology boilers and KSB with its intelligent pumps are pursuing parallel paths. Perhaps this is why Jason Atkinson qualifies his choice of Movitec pumps: “They’re the most reliable in the industry, have a good price point, and we have a good history with KSB.”
