processing, power generation,

petrochemicals, paper and pulp, paints,

coatings and emulsions. The quality of

design and build is of the highest order, as

is to be expected from an IDEX

Corporation manufacturer, with casings

manufactured from cast iron and

aluminium and pumps heads

available in SS316L, PVC, PVDF

and PTFE. Special constructions

with exotic materials are also

available on demand.

“The introduction of the OBL

pumps range provides us with

the resources to build upon our

market share in metering

pumps, as represented under

the IDEX brand,” says AxFlow

managing director Tony Peters.

I s s u e 1 2 0 1 3

OBL metering pumps provide solutions for

a comprehensive range of applications,

from low flow, low pressure and low

temperature duties for mild or non-

aggressive media through to high flow,

high pressure, high viscosity and high

temperature duties for the most

challenging media. The hydraulic

diaphragm, mechanical diaphragm and

plunger pumps are available in both spring

and positive return mechanisms.

The plunger range comprises one positive

return and five spring return models. All

three categories offer end users both

ATEX and API 675 options, with all pumps

being suitable for both single and multiple

head arrangements

Typical areas of application include water

treatment, oil and gas, chemical

The OBL range of metering pumps in spring and full motion positive return mechanisms, with wet ends available in

plunger, mechanical diaphragm, single and double hydraulic diaphragm versions are now available from AxFlow GB.

Reviewing the Newsletter from January 2011 the opening announcement was: “Sales Top

£10 Million in 2010”. At that time this was a significant milestone. It seems hardly

believable, but just two years on we can report that sales for AxFlow GB in 2012 were

within touching distance of £15 million!  

“The OBL range sits between the

Pulsafeeder standard products and

engineered products business sectors,

thereby meeting the requirements of a

great many industry sectors where plunger

and diaphragm metering pumps can

provide a cost-effective and efficient

solution.”

OBL metering pumps add a new dimension

Strong organic growth in our core pump supply activities has been complemented by increased

sales of Systems and the expansion of our service capabilities throughout Great Britain. During

the past three years we have developed our capabilities to offer in-depth technical know-how in

the application and repair of all types of centrifugal pump. As a result we are forging stronger

relationships with many of the world’s leading centrifugal pump manufacturers. During the year

ahead we can see great opportunities for our new peristaltic pump range and furthermore we

also plan to develop our metering/dosing/ chemical injection business, thereby completing our

pumps offering - Tony Peters, AxFlow GB, managing director

Growth for the 8th successive year

The Coldest Journey is the first ever

attempt to cross the Antarctic continent

during the polar winter. Led by Sir Ranulph

Fiennes, the expedition members and their

Blackmer pumps sailed from London’s

Tower Bridge on 6th December 2012

onboard the SA Agulhas to the Lazarev

Sea coast in Antarctica.

The traverse of the Antarctic will take

place between the two seasonal

equinoxes, 21 March – 21 September

2013, with the ice team travelling from

Blackmer pumps for “The Coldest Journey”AxFlow is providing sponsorship for The Coldest Journey by donating

three Blackmer sliding vane pumps for the unloading and transfer of

jet A1 aviation fuel.

The Wemco WSP is a heavy duty pump

that is equally at ease with clean and

solids laden liquids. Suitable for

applications across a broad spectrum of

industries, this pump has great potential

in the water and wastewater treatment

sector. With a differential head capability

ranging from 3 - 42m the Wemco WSP is

available in port sizes ranging between

50mm (2”) and 250mm (10”), and can

deliver flowrates from 10 - 700m³/h.

Self priming pumps are ideally suited to

any duty with a suction lift where ease of

access to the pump is necessary for

maintenance purposes. Whereas

submersible pumps have the benefit of

being primed by the liquid in which they

are submerged, access can be difficult

when maintenance is required. On the

other hand cantilever pumps are inherently

self-priming but are generally higher in

cost and fall somewhere between self-

priming and submersible pumps when it

comes down to ease of maintenance/

accessibility.

The Wemco WSP pump contains an open

type, two vane impeller manufactured in a

choice of cast iron or CD4MCu. The build

quality enables the pump to handle both

clean and aggressive fluids, with the

maximum for a solid sphere being 38mm

on the 50mm pump and 75mm on the

250mm pump.

Wemco Product Manager Mark

Redgrove, AxFlow Huddersfield says:

“We are offering a cost competitive

self-priming pump as a core product

alternative into the water and waste

treatment market as well as industries

where submersible and cantilever pumps

have previously been

seen as the

easiest choice.”

Heavy duty self-priming pump

For our many customers in the water and effluent treatment services sectors

who need a heavy duty self-priming pump, then we have the answer with

the Wemco WSP

Novolazarevskaya (Novo) to the Ross

Sea in the Antarctic winter. During this six

month period the expedition team will

have travelled 2,000 miles, mostly in

complete darkness in temperatures

approaching -90°C. Led by two skiers,

two Finning Caterpillar D6N track-type

tractors will pull two specially developed

cabooses for scientific work,

accommodation and storage, as well as 14

pods containing 70,000 litres of Jet A1

aviation fuel, which is formulated not to

freeze. Unloading the fuel from drums and

transferring the fuel each day will be

undertaken by Blackmer XL1-5A and a

Blackmer XB1C pumps respectively.

AxFlow selected these pumps

because they are robust, are able

to handle the low viscosity fuel at

temperatures down to -90ºC and

have been previously used in cold

weather applications by NERC British

Antarctic Survey.

“The expedition will raise US$10 million for

‘Seeing is Believing’, a global initiative to

tackle avoidable blindness in developing

countries,” says Sir Ranulph Fiennes.

“We have only gone to the best people

for equipment in each field and it was

The British Antarctic Survey who

recommended that we contacted AxFlow

with regard to sourcing appropriate

Blackmer pumps. We are very happy

to have AxFlow as one of our sponsors”.

Packed full of safety sensor devices it is apretty expensive piece of kit with areplacement price tag of around £10million. So when it is set on fire duringtraining exercises, putting out the fire hasto be fast and effective.

BAA Heathrow has recently replaced itsexisting deluge pump system with a state-of-the-art pump system designed andfabricated by AxFlow Windsor. The newunit comprises four Lowara92SV3/2AG185T Vertical multistagepumps with 18.5 kW motors. The pumpshave been sized for a duty of 1746lts/min@ 46.2m/hd giving a total flow rate of5,238lts/min with three pumps running one

Deluge pumps for Heathrow Airport aircraft fire training At London’s Heathrow Airport, trainingfire crews is an almost constant activity, which is why it has a purpose-designed fire training rig constructed from steel to the same size as a Boeing 747.

Diesel transfer pump packages built in rapid time by AxFlow

AxFlow Aberdeen has seen a considerable upsurge in activity within the offshore activity in recent months, notably in itssystems building business. Here, lead times can often be fairly short but the plant always rises to the challenge. In the caseof supplying a diesel transfer pump package for new GE Dual Fuel Powered Generators being installed on the ThistlePlatform, North Sea 16 the time frame from order receipt to delivery was 16 weeks.

being used as a spare. AxFlow Windsorselected these pumps due to their highefficiency and compact footprint.

“The existing pumping arrangement wasusing one pump and a 110kw motor,”reports Richard Maher at AxFlow Windsor.“This ran at full speed regardless of thedemand on the system. The new systemuses one 18.5kw pump when filling thetenders and three 18.5kw pumps to fullycool the rig, so there is a considerablesaving in power consumption. Also thepumps are controlled by ABB ACH550inverters so the running speed can be setto match the duty exactly.”

The project involved the fabrication andassembly of the system, with the valvesand instruments being free-issued by theclient, Wood Group PSN. The systemcomprised a diesel storage tank package,with the Lloyds Certified vessel having a

Ian Jolly,BAA WaterServices, saysthat when the full testof the new pump system was carried out atthe fire training rig all the valves wereopened to produce a full deluge and thepumps succeeded in sending water to allparts of the rig. The current draw is justover half of the previous installation withthe power reduced by the same factor. “In summary the water supply system forthe rig is now fit for purpose, providinggreater flexibility, maintainability and powerreductions,” says Ian Jolly.  “Many thanksto AxFlow for another quality installation.All in all, an excellent result all round.”

12,000 litre working capacity. The pumpskid comprised two Apex API 610 pumpsoperating in a duty / standby modetogether with all the valves andinstruments required for safe and reliableoperation of the system.

The diesel pumping application for thegenerators required the pumps to haveinstalled power of 5.5kW and deliver a flowrate of 10.9 m3/hr at 3.53 Bar. In addition,the pump skid also contained two finefilters required to achieve 50 micron levelof filtered diesel required for the GE

Generators. The system was fabricated inAberdeen under AxFlow supervision andonce completed, the pumps weresubjected to extensive testing over a twoweek period using diesel.

This project is another example of oursystems building and supply capabilitiesthat are available in Scotland. Thiscontract brought together the expertise ofthe pump manufacturer and AxFlow’sfabrication resources to deliver the bestpossible solution that complied with allnecessary regulations and certification.”

AxFlow Ltd, London Head Office: Tel: 020 8579 2111 Email: info@axflow.co.uk Web: www.axflow.co.uk

Aberdeen Base: Tel: 01224 729367Email: infoscot@axflow.co.uk

Huddersfield Base: Tel: 01484 543649Email: service@axflow.co.uk

The pumps, which were installed in 1965,run at around high tide to pump riverwater into the dock. The job ofrefurbishing the No 1 and No 2 VickersArmstrong pumps was given to ourHuddersfield base, where it has thenecessary heavy lifting gear andengineering workshops for pumps of theirsize and weight.

The first pump to be refurbished was theImpounding Pump No2, this being animperial 44-inch vertical, axial flow unitwith a flow rate of 63,500 gpm and a headof 11.33 feet. Our engineers removed thepump and transported it to Huddersfieldwhere it was completely stripped down toallow full dimensional checks, along withan overall condition report. This revealedthat the bottom water lubricated bearinghad worn through the shaft sleeve, in turncausing excessive run-out of the shaft

wearing the impeller vane tips. The maincause of the pump’s poor operation wasthe bottom bearing bush/sleeve. Here, thePEEK bush bearing liner was badly worninto the shaft sleeve causing eccentricrunning and vibration.

The major works to be undertaken were inrelation to the bellmouth, impeller, middlesection of the shaft, mechanical seal andbottom bearing bush. “The bellmouth wasin a poor condition with several holesthrough the casting around the vortexbreaker vanes,” says Mark Redgrove.Remedial work involved re-tipping theimpeller vanes, machining them back tothe impeller’s original size and rebalancingthe impeller to G2.5. The bottom bearingbush was approximately 20mm from itscorrect position. In addition, the outside ofthe bearing bush had worn, and the boltholes had elongated. When the severelyworn shaft sleeve was removed there was

Our busy year has lead toinvesting in new personnel for key positions around the country.Joining AxFlow in recent monthshave been:

Jamie Lane, Site Engineer Windsor;

Kennedy Dedekuma, Service

Engineer/Workshop Technician

Aberdeen; Glen Webber, Site Engineer

Windsor; Cyrille Fomet-Nembot, Internal

Application Engineer/Estimator

Huddersfield; Kevin O’Connor, Internal

Sales Engineer Ealing; Jack Hall,

Apprentice Fitter Huddersfield; and Julie

Nielsen, Accounts Assistant, Ealing.

clear evidence of wear in this area. Thesuccessful solution was to metal spray thearea and machine it back to size.

Once the work was completed, the pumpwas reassembled on site in three sections:the pump sub-assembly, motor sole-plateplus Michell Bearing and the motor, and ithas run very well ever since.

New faces at AxFlow

Windsor Base: Tel: 01344 886633Email: soservice@axflow.co.uk

Durham Base: Tel: 01325 327322Email: neservice@axflow.co.uk

Hull dock gets pumps overhaulAssociated British Port’s (ABP) Port of Hull is one of the UK's leading foreigntrading ports handling some 10 million tonnes of cargo annually. In the pastcouple of years, attention has been given to the maintenance and repair of theimpounding pumps in the King George Dock, these being critical to maintainingthe water level in the dock at key times of the day.

Hose pumps make their markSix months on from its launch and our realAx pump

range has established itself in the AxFlow portfolio.

AxFlow realAx peristaltic pumps reflect new thinking in peristaltic pump technology, giving

end-users the widest selection of models available in the market. Employing both shoe and roller technologies the realAx pump range

comprises four series and 24 models, giving capacity rates from 0.16 ml/rev throughto 20 l/rev and pressures from 2 to15 bar. All four series are available ex-stock alongwith a comprehensive range of replacement hoses.

The complete series of seal-less realAx pumps offer users reversible rotation,corrosion and abrasion resistance, high dosing accuracy, dry running withoutdamage and easy cleaning/low maintenance. The pump comes in four versions: bareshaft, gear reducer (fixed speed), integrated inverter and mechanical variable speed.Accessories include: leakage detector, batch controller, vacuum equipment anddischarge pulsation dampers.