Decatur’s expertise with hollow-shaft, vertical pump motors allowed this customer to get a modern energy-efficient motor replacement quickly rather than waiting weeks to repair the motor. Motor suffered a CATASTROPHIC FAILURE!
When a piece of critical equipment fails, in this case, a Louis Allis 250hp hollow shaft vertical pump motor, decisions must be made quickly.
When the emergency call came in, D.I.E. picked up the motor and followed with an immediate evaluation. Ultimately it comes down to whether the motor should be repaired or replaced, and the time associated with each option. The motor was an obsolete, older design that historically was always repaired due to the complexity of replacing the motor with new. Changing to a newer design capable of the same electromechanical performance and mounting/coupling requirements was a daunting challenge for previous motor repair vendors. Rewinding the motor stator and performing mechanical repairs would take a week or more depending on the variables, all while working around the clock with a significant dollar investment.
Our team was able to identify a current new production motor that would mount in this application and would require only one modification. The motor section of the pump shaft had to be shortened and re-machined to match the height of the new motor’s coupling height enabling the motor coupling to drive the pump shaft and pump. Decatur provided the new NIDEC/ US Electric 250hp vertical hollow shaft motor’s engineering data and directions to follow in shortening the motor section of the pump shaft. The motor was delivered via courier within the following day of the order. The customer was able to utilize a local machine shop to make the modifications on the pump shaft section to be ready for the motor’s arrival so that the installation could immediately occur.
This solution saved tens of thousands of dollars in lost production and emergency repair costs that would have exceeded the cost of new. In addition, Decatur’s team supplied the pertinent key information for the customer to accomplish modifications and enable the installation to promptly begin upon the motor delivery. The result is a new motor replacement that provides greater efficiency through reducing power consumption and cost of this critical need application.
