Domtar Industries – Port Edwards, WI

Situation – While in the mill making a routine call, Crane Engineering’s Sales Account Manager stopped by to see the plant’s maintenance supervisor; Dave Luecht.  Dave asked him to look at one of the two operating pumps that supply the mill with raw (river) water because it was making excessive noise.

Results – Crane investigated and found that the pumps were oversized for the amount of water the mill needed, thus they were running back on their curves, resulting in noise, excess wear and tear, and increased energy usage.  Crane’s evaluation also showed that the mill could run with just one pump, and that one pump would run closer to its best efficiency point.  After much discussion, one of the two pumps was shut off.  The noise went away, and the system worked fine.  The noise was a symptom of a much more serious condition and of inefficiency.

“Crane was very helpful and gave good advice based on their thorough knowledge of our entire system,” Luecht said.  “With the extra pump turned off, the noise problem was solved and the mill could save a considerable amount of money per year in electricity when running one pump instead of two.”